RDA's 20th Plenary - Committee Members

Professor Sverker Holmgren, Director of Chalmers e-Commons

Sverker Holmgren is the Director of Chalmers e-Commons at Chalmers University of Technology, where he is also a Professor of Scientific Computing. Chalmers e-Commons is Chalmers digital infrastructure for research, providing integrated support to Chalmers researchers with a focus on data management, analysis and publication. The infrastructure comprises Chalmers Data Office, computing facilities and expertise in a span of research fields. Chalmers e-Commons is also Chalmers node in the relevant national and international digital infrastructures and initiatives, e.g. the Swedish National Data Service (SND), the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) and the Swedish large-scale computing/data analysis initiative.

Holmgren has a long history of engaging in e- and data-infrastructures locally, nationally and internationally. Besides leading the local effort at Chalmers, he is currently a member of national reference groups on data management, open science and EOSC. He is also the Chalmers Delegate in the EOSC General Assembly and a Co-Chair of the EOSC Task Force on Researcher Engagement and Adoption. Holmgren is a permanent Expert in the Swedish Delegation to the European Strategic Forum for Research Infrastructure (ESFRI), a member of the ESFRI IG, and a Swedish Delegate in the European e-Infrastructure Reflections Group (e-IRG). Earlier, Holmgren held a professorship at Uppsala University where he also served as the Dean of Mathematics and Computer Science for six years. He has also had a part-time position at the funding agency NordForsk as the Director of the Nordic eScience Globalisation Initiative.

Professor Max Petzold, Director Swedish National Data Service (SND)

Professor Petzold is the director of the National Swedish Data Service (www.snd.se) with the purpose to provide a coordinated and secure structure for describing, depositing, sharing, and finding research data. SND is governed by a consortium consisting of the nine largest Swedish universities: University of Gothenburg, Chalmers University of Technology, Karolinska Institutet, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Lund University, Stockholm University, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Umeå University, and Uppsala University. After professor Petzold was appointed as director 2015 SND has undergone major changes to develop, grow, and expand its activities. The organization now supports 35 universities and other authorities in establishing and running local data access units and secure data storage of well-documented research data following the FAIR-principles. A major undertaking has been to revise the structure of SND to be able to handle sensitive health data within Open Science.

As a professor in biostatistics professor Petzold is mainly active within the global public health area and is also heading the School of Public Health and Community Medicine in Gothenburg.

Hilary Hanahoe, Secretary General, Research Data Alliance

As Secretary General of the Research Data Alliance (RDA) since 2018, Hilary’s responsibilities include leadership of RDA’s membership, effective management of the RDA organization and its legal entity (RDA Foundation), engagement with RDA stakeholders and organisations, and sustainable stewardship of the dynamic, active, and high-impact community. She is passionate about the work of the Research Data Alliance and its vibrant community. As part of her role, she raises awareness of the RDA activities and outputs, advocates for new members and increased engagement in the Alliance. She is also involved in the financial and organisational sustainability of RDA on an international level. 

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Monica Lassi, Transformation Leader at IKEA

Monica Lassi, PhD, is based in Sweden and works as transformation leader at IKEA, focusing on digital transformation. She has a background as senior advisor to top management at Swedish universities, and to national and international digital infrastructure organisations. Monica Lassi received her PhD in Library and Information science from Gothenburg University, Sweden, exploring a socio-technical approach for designing infrastructures for facilitating new practices for data sharing. 

On the European level, Monica Lassi has worked in development and infrastructure projects including the NeIC-coordinated projects Puhuri, and EOSC Nordic, as well as environment and ecosystem focused projects such as ENVRIPlus. Further, she took part in formulating the bylaws for the EOSC Association upon its formation. Nationally, Monica Lassi contributed to work leading up to the Swedish government official investigation of the organisation, management, and funding of research infrastructure. During her time in academia, she formed and led a national grassroots network, gathering members from many different professions, perspectives, and organisations into a highly valued national collaboration for sharing and discussing ideas, learning with and from each other across boundaries, and acting as a sounding board for projects related to digital infrastructure for data management and research. 

Monica Lassi’s expertise lies in the intersections between the technical, organisational, and human aspects of the formation and transformation of e-infrastructures and data management practices.

Sabina Anderberg, Senior Advisor in Open Science, Stockholm University

Sabina Anderberg works as a Senior Advisor in Open Science, at Stockholm University. She is involved in a  number  of  national  working  groups,  for  example,  the  Research  Data  Working  Group  at  The  Association  of  Swedish  HEIs,  the  Swedish  National  Data  Service (SND)  DAU council  and  others to mention some.  Finally, Sabina is one of the co-chairs in task force  group  “Upskilling  countries  to  engage  in  EOSC”  that  is  part  of  the EOSC Advisory Group Research Careers and Curricula.

Sabina has a Master’s degree in Library Science from the University of Borås and a Bachelor of Arts in Social Anthropology from the University of Gothenburg.

Rebecca Koskela, Executive Director Research Data Alliance US, Ronin Institute

Rebecca Koskela is the Executive Director of Research Data Alliance US. Rebecca has a background in scientific data management, bioinformatics, and high-performance computing. Prior to her current position, she was Executive Director of DataONE (Data Observation Network for Earth). She leads the cohort of data repositories assembled to apply for the CoreTrustSeal certification as part of the AGU Coalition Enabling FAIR Data Project.

Her bioinformatics positions include Life Sciences Informatics Manager for Alaska IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence (INBRE) and the Biostatistics and Epidemiology Core Manager for the Center for Alaska Native Health Research at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, member of the senior management team at the Aventis Cambridge Genomics Center, bioinformatics specialist at the Mayo Clinic, Director of Informatics in the Department of Genetics at Stanford University and member of the staff at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. In addition to her bioinformatics experience, Rebecca specialized in system performance and analysis at Sandia National Laboratories, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Cray Research, Intel, and IBM.

Ari Asmi, PhD eMBA, Director, Research Data Alliance Association (Europe) AISBL

Ari has a background in climate science, working in the interface between atmospheric observations and climate models. After his doctorate, he started to work on more interoperable observational data development, and he also became an active member of the rapidly developing Research Data Alliance. He has been involved in the core team developing the ENVRI community of European environmental research infrastructures, being part of direction of the major cluster projects ENVRI PLUS and ENVRI FAIR, as well as participating in different roles in several other European Commission funded projects particularly in connection to EOSC. In addition to his pan-European and domain specific skills, Ari has significant knowledge of national level Open Science environments and the research data management challenges faced by Research Performing Organisations (RPOs). He was appointed as the director of the Research Data Alliance Association (Europe), in 2022.

Vigdis Kvalheim, director, Division of Research and Knowledge Resources

Sikt (Norwegian Agency for Shared Services in Education and Research) was established on 1 January 2022 through a merger between NSD (Norwegian Center for Research Data AS), Uninett AS and Unit – the Norwegian Directorate for ICT and Joint Services in Higher Education & Research. Vigdis Kvalheim has a long-standing career in the research and data infrastructure business through various positions, most recently as Director of NSD.

Kvalheim has been engaged in infrastructure building on the Nordic and European level, through NSD’s and now Sikt’s role as Norwegian Service Provider in the Consortium of European Social Science Data Archives (CESSDA ERIC), and Data Archive for European Social Survey (ESS ERIC). She has also participated in several EC-funded projects and was the Acting Managing Director of the Consortium of European Social Science Data Archives (CESSDA ERIC). Together with colleagues at the major universities in Norway she initiated the Norwegian RDA node, coordinated by Sikt.

Special interest: Legal framework condition, legal practice and its implication for data access and data sharing within and across national borders.

Vigdis Kvalheim holds a Bachelor of Public Administration from the University of Bergen and a Master of Business Administration from NHH Norwegian School of Economics.

Sara Garavelli, EOSC Program Manager at CSC - IT Center for Science and EOSC Association Director

Sara Garavelli works as EOSC Program Manager at CSC – IT Center for Science in Finland and is the coordinator of the EOSC Finnish Forum, the EOSC national structure supported by the Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture in charge of organising the EOSC activities and engagement at country level. Since January 2021 Sara is one of the members of the Board of Directors of the EOSC Association.

Sara has more than ten years of experience in the areas of stakeholder engagement, outreach and international collaboration in the research infrastructures landscape. Sara has a degree in Telecommunications engineering and a Masters degree in logistics and organisation for industry and commerce.

Gabriela Pino Chacon, Universidad Nacional, Costa Rica. 

Gabriela is an academic from vice-rectory of Universidad Nacional. She has considerable experience in research and project management. Participation in the coordinating team of the institutional plan of indigenous peoples. She holds positions of Professor at the School of International Relations in Universidad Nacional and Profesor at the Doctorate in Education of the Universdad De La Salle.

Hilary Hanahoe, Secretary General, Research Data Alliance

As Secretary General of the Research Data Alliance (RDA) since 2018, Hilary’s responsibilities include leadership of RDA’s membership, effective management of the RDA organization and its legal entity (RDA Foundation), engagement with RDA stakeholders and organisations, and sustainable stewardship of the dynamic, active, and high-impact community. She is passionate about the work of the Research Data Alliance and its vibrant community. As part of her role, she raises awareness of the RDA activities and outputs, advocates for new members and increased engagement in the Alliance. She is also involved in the financial and organisational sustainability of RDA on an international level. 

Read more.

Professor Sverker Holmgren, Director of Chalmers e-Commons

Sverker Holmgren is the Director of Chalmers e-Commons at Chalmers University of Technology, where he is also a Professor of Scientific Computing. Chalmers e-Commons is Chalmers digital infrastructure for research, providing integrated support to Chalmers researchers with a focus on data management, analysis and publication. The infrastructure comprises Chalmers Data Office, computing facilities and expertise in a span of research fields. Chalmers e-Commons is also Chalmers node in the relevant national and international digital infrastructures and initiatives, e.g. the Swedish National Data Service (SND), the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) and the Swedish large-scale computing/data analysis initiative.

Holmgren has a long history of engaging in e- and data-infrastructures locally, nationally and internationally. Besides leading the local effort at Chalmers, he is currently a member of national reference groups on data management, open science and EOSC. He is also the Chalmers Delegate in the EOSC General Assembly and a Co-Chair of the EOSC Task Force on Researcher Engagement and Adoption. Holmgren is a permanent Expert in the Swedish Delegation to the European Strategic Forum for Research Infrastructure (ESFRI), a member of the ESFRI IG, and a Swedish Delegate in the European e-Infrastructure Reflections Group (e-IRG). Earlier, Holmgren held a professorship at Uppsala University where he also served as the Dean of Mathematics and Computer Science for six years. He has also had a part-time position at the funding agency NordForsk as the Director of the Nordic eScience Globalisation Initiative.

Professor Max Petzold, Director Swedish National Data Service (SND)

Professor Petzold is the director of the National Swedish Data Service (www.snd.se) with the purpose to provide a coordinated and secure structure for describing, depositing, sharing, and finding research data. SND is governed by a consortium consisting of the nine largest Swedish universities: University of Gothenburg, Chalmers University of Technology, Karolinska Institutet, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Lund University, Stockholm University, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Umeå University, and Uppsala University. After professor Petzold was appointed as director 2015 SND has undergone major changes to develop, grow, and expand its activities. The organization now supports 35 universities and other authorities in establishing and running local data access units and secure data storage of well-documented research data following the FAIR-principles. A major undertaking has been to revise the structure of SND to be able to handle sensitive health data within Open Science.

As a professor in biostatistics professor Petzold is mainly active within the global public health area and is also heading the School of Public Health and Community Medicine in Gothenburg

 Bridget Walker, Operations & Accounts Manager, Research Data Alliance

I joined the RDA Foundation on 1st March 2019 to support the daily operations of the RDA and its Secretary General. Since the early 1990s I have had two careers running parallel with and complimenting each other. I have been a teacher of English to Italian learners and held various positions in the field of administrative and executive assistance within public and private organisations. Communication has always been at the forefront of both careers, establishing and maintaining successful and functional connections between people. Utilising my organisational and communication skills, I am very happy to join the RDA and assist in coordinating activities for its international staff and members.

Irina Hope, Events Specialist, Digital Curation Centre, University of Edinburgh 

Irina is an Events Specialist in the Digital Curation Centre (DCC), Edinburgh, UK. DCC helps to plan the Research Data Alliance plenary meetings including the 20th Plenary meeting in Gothenburg, Sweden (21-23 March 2023). Irina coordinates planning stages and covers logistical aspects of event management. 

A highly motivated and organised individual with 7+ years of international experience in events-based and administrative industries. She has been involved in organising XXII Winter Olympic Games, national and international sport events, small private and large corporate conferences. 

Martin Brandhagen, Research Data Advisor, Swedish National Data Service (SND)

I am a Research Data Advisor, working for the Swedish National Data Service (SND) since 2012. My education and research background is in nutrition and epidemiology. My main focus at SND is within the field of health and medical research data.

I’m also involved in the work for FAIR data and the use of persistent identifiers for research data.

Najla Rettberg, Project Manager, Research Data Alliance Europe

Najla Rettberg is a Project Manager at the RDA Association. She is involved in EOSC-related projects, including EOSC Future, as part of the widening engagement in EOSC efforts, and has been part of the European infrastructure landscape projects for over ten years. Her background is in libraries and Arabic studies.

Connie Clare, Community Development Manager, Research Data Alliance

Connie is a former PhD researcher in Developmental Biology at the University of Nottingham in the UK. She has been a member and co-chair of the RDA since 2019, and has experience in scientific communication and community management. She was previously the Community Manager at 4TU.ResearchData, an international data repository for science, engineering and design disciplines. In her current role as Community Development Manager at the RDA, Connie is responsible for managing engagement with the global RDA community and facilitating its growth.

Maria Kinger, Coordinator Chalmers Data Office, e-Commons, Chalmers University of Technology

Maria has a background as librarian, with long experience of researcher support, mainly on electronic publishing, copyright, Open Access, and data publishing questions. Besides working as a librarian at a technical university, she has been engaged in national projects advocating Open Access in Sweden and at local level in building Chalmers first publication database CPL, later developed into a CRIS-system (publication and project data), RESEARCH.chalmers.se. Today she is working partly at the Division of Information Resources and Scientific Publishing at Department of Communication and Learning in Science (CLS), and since 2020 she is the coordinator of Chalmers Data Office (CDO), helping to building a new support function for RDM and data publishing within Chalmers e-Commons.

Meghan Underwood, Director of Operations, Research Data Alliance (US)

Meghan is the Director of Operations for RDA-US. She helps the team stay organized, handles reimbursement reports from members awarded travel grants, assists with communications and video production, and performs general administrative duties for the team and the Secretariat. Meghan has a Bachelor of Arts in Communications, and a background in office management and medical billing. Meghan also supported the RDA COVID-19 WG initiative and helped see it to fruition.