Organisational structure

The Research Data Alliance activity began in earnest in August 2012 with the establishment of an international Steering Group by funding agencies in the US, EU and Australia. The Steering Group was charged with developing the RDA by defining its charter and organizational structures, and with promoting its aims and mustering support for its activities. This effort is currently underway with the goal of presenting a proposal to the first RDA Plenary meeting in March.  Component groups within the RDA are currently being established including Working Groups, an initial Council and Secretariat staff.

The intention is to progressively elect or appoint members for all component organizational groups as the RDA moves to full operation. Governance issues will be discussed at the coming RDA Launch and Plenary Meeting in Gothenburg on March 18-20 2013.

Steering Group

The initial group of RDA funders is working with a Steering Group of community experts from non-governmental structures to form the RDA.  To date, the NGS has engaged the community through a series of meetings and outreach efforts, as well as intensively working together to develop a framework for the RDA.  As a major priority, the NGS is working with the community to create the first Working Groups for the RDA, which will provide the mainstream “work products” of the organization. This NGS group includes the following individuals:

• Fran Berman, Professor of Computer Science, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
• Juan Bicarregui, Acting Director e-Science, STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
• Leif Laaksonen, Collaboration Director, CSC Finland
• Beth Plale, Director Data to Insight Center, Professor of Computer Science, Indiana University Bloomington
• Andrew Treloar, Director of Technology, Australian National Data Service
• Ross Wilkinson, Executive Director, Australian National Data Service
• Peter Wittenburg, The Language Archive, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics
  

RDA Council

The RDA Council is responsible for the oversight, sustainability, and overall success of the RDA.  The Council’s responsibilities include approval of candidate Working Groups to ensure alignment with RDA goals.   The Council currently is comprised of the following individuals and is envisioned as growing to a group of 9 over the next two years:

• Fran Berman, Professor of Computer Science, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
• Ross Wilkinson, Executive Director, Australian National Data Service
• John Wood, Secretary General of the Association of Commonwealth Universities

Secretariat (in formation) staff

Administration for the RDA is carried out by the Secretariat.  Current staff performing this function for the RDA include:

• Stefanie Kethers, ANDS
• Ilona Rantakallio, CSC
• Herman Stehouwer, MPG
• Mark Parsons, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute