Helen Glaves

Mrs Helen Glaves

Organization Name

British Geological Survey

Professional Title

Programme Manager/Project Manager

The RDA is evolving from a grassroots organisation to one that is respected across a range of different organisations and fields of expertise that includes data managers, scientists and policy makers. As such the RDA Technical Advisory Board needs to consist of people who are embedded in their own communities whilst also having a wider understanding of the issues being addressed by the RDA with regard to the promotion of wider sharing of data across many different domains and applications. 

As an active member of the RDA from its inception I have supported this mission to promote data sharing for a diverse range of users across many disciplines and who have increasingly innovative and complex requirements. I am currently co-chair of the Marine Data Harmonisation, Active Data Management Plans and Virtual Research Environments interest groups and am also a member of a number of the other interest groups and working groups connected to my areas of interest and expertise. To further support, promote and understand the activities of the RDA I have also regularly participated in the IG/WG Chairs meetings and co-hosted the recent 5th RDA IG/WG Collaboration Meeting in Nottingham, UK. 

In my ‘day job’ I am the Senior Data Scientist at the British Geological Survey (BGS) with responsibility for contributions to several EU-funded projects addressing data sharing both on the European and International scale. These including acting as project coordinator for the Ocean Data Interoperability Platform (ODIP II) and work package leader for ENVRIplus (http://www.envriplus.eu), the European Plate Observing System (EPOS) and EVER-EST projects. In addition I also participate in a number of other national and international initiatives directly related to the sharing, re-use and preservation of data including the Belmont Forum’s e-Infrastructure and Data Management initiative (http://www.bfe-inf.org/). 

My career began in the geosciences with a BSc. in Geology but as my work became increasingly aligned with various aspects of informatics I also obtained a second BSc. in Information Technology with a focus on database design. My current research interests in data management, long-term data preservation and geo-informatics are also driven by a desire to understand how certain aspects of information technology can better support the scientist. In 2016 I received the European Geosciences Union McHarg Medal in recognition of the contribution that I have made to the advancement of data sharing across different disciplines and boundaries in the marine domain.