CIESIN director Alex de Sherbinin, in his role as member of the US Committee for CODATA, along with former director Robert Chen, both participated in a two day US Research Data Summit in October 2023 at the National Academy of Sciences (NAS). A report of the Summit is now available from the National Research Council (NRC). The objectives of the Summit were to:
- Increase coherence of interests and activities among the cross-sector research data organizations
- Increase communication and collaboration across sectors on shared priorities
- Reduce duplication of effort
- Position the United States to be well-represented in international discussions on research data
In her introductory remarks at the Summit, Marcia McNutt, president of NAS, stated that the Summit served as a catalyst for promoting cooperation and collaboration among U.S. research data organizations in an environment where research data activities are increasingly being undertaken at national and global scales. She noted that this would allow the United States to more effectively advance national interests and also benefit from international research data initiatives.
Martin Halbert, the then science advisor for public access for the National Science Foundation (NSF), emphasized the importance of open data, and added that data sharing does not happen without effort, emphasizing the costs involved in cleaning the data, documenting the structure of the data, and maintaining the data in accessible repositories. “Almost every decision involved in sharing research data entails cost-benefit trade-offs of the sort,” he said, “and it’s no surprise that it’s so intensely debated today.”
CIESIN has been a leader in open data for science and decision making. Its NASA-funded SEDAC is a member of the World Data System (WDS) and active in CODATA.
