Founding members

The founding members for the Committee on Data in Research have been announced following a national call for expressions of interest supported by Te Apārangi the Royal Society of New Zealand.

On behalf of the establishment group for the Aotearoa New Zealand Committee on Data in Research, I am pleased to present the recommended roster for the committee.

• Maryam Alavi, Plant and Food Research, Data Science

• Michelle Blake, University of Waikato/Council of New Zealand University Librarians/Open Access Australasia Executive Board/International Association of University Libraries Executive Board, Library

• Bapon Fakhruddin, Tonkin + Taylor, Engineer/Disaster Risk Resilience

• Richard Hartshorn, University of Canterbury/CODATA Executive Committee/IUPAC Secretary General, Chemistry

• Nick Jones, NeSI/RDA Organisational Advisory Board, Research Software & Data - Skills & Infrastructure

• Tahu Kukutai, University of Waikato/Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga/Global Indigenous Data Alliance, Demography

• Andrew Lensen, Victoria University of Wellington, Artificial Intelligence

• Barry Milne, University of Auckland/COMPASS, Social Sciences

• Gerald (Jay) Naepi, Matada Research Group, Pacific peoples

• Grace Walker, University of Otago/Ngāi Tahu Research Centre/Think Analytic Ltd, Psychology/Data Science

We received approximately 30 expressions of interest, and it was very challenging to develop a roster that we believe provides a balance of discipline expertise, sector representation, career stage, and diversity.

We did note, in particular, that there was a pleasing number of expressions of interest from early career researchers. The establishment group will be recommending to the new committee that an early career group be established within the forum, and this idea did have some influence on our recommendation.

We wish to emphasise that the terms of reference for the committee specify a regular turn-over of membership, and we anticipate that applicants who have been unsuccessful in this round or any other members of the wider forum will join the committee in future.

We have called the meeting of the wider forum, with a view to securing your approval of our recommendations, and we hope that you will be able to attend that meeting and participate in the work taken on by the forum.

Ngā mihi

Richard Hartshorn