Council

The RDA Council maintains the vision of the RDA, ensuring the guiding principles of the organisation are maintained, and formally endorses RDA Working and Interest Groups and Recommendations.

The Council is responsible for the overall oversight, success, strategy, and sustainability of the RDA. The powers and authority, together with the processes governing Council membership and responsibilities of the Council are described in the RDA Governance Document.

Elected Council Members also serve as Trustees for the RDA Foundation, an official Charity registered in England and Wales under Company Number 9021881. Details are described in the Foundation’s Articles of Association.

The RDA Council nominations and election process is outlined in the RDA Foundation UK (legal entity) Articles of Association, the RDA Governance Document and the RDA Council Election Processes & Procedures Document. Details about the specific process for the nominations and the terms of reference for the Nominations Committee are set out in the RDA Council Nominations Terms of Reference.

Membership

Council Members are nominated by a Nominations Committee and elected by the general RDA membership. In addition to the 9 elected members, the Council has one permanent representative from UKRI-STFC, the Foundation’s legal entity host, and other consensus forming non-voting members representing the Organisational Advisory Board (OA and OAB), Regional Advisory Board (RAB), Technical Advisory Board (TAB), and the Secretary-General.

Elected Council Members serve three-year terms and may be reelected for a maximum of two consecutive terms. Two co-chairs serve offset two-year terms. Full details on the Council election processes, balancing criteria and procedures (updated in 2022) are available in the RDA Council Election Processes & Procedures document.

Juan Bicarregui (co-chair)

Head of Data Division

Science and Technology Facilities Council, UKRI

Federico Cetrangolo

Executive Secretary and Administration Manager

LA Referencia – Red Latinoamericana y de España de Ciencia Abierta

Sara Garavelli

Strategic European Engagement
and Coordination Development
Manager, CSC – IT
Center for Science in Finland

Rosie Hicks

CEO
Australian Research Data Commons

Wolfram Horstmann

Director & CEO
FIZ Karlsruhe – Leibniz-Institute for Information Infrastructure

Amy Nurnberger

Program Head for Data Management Services
Massachussetts Institute of Technology

Joy Owango

Executive Director
Training Centre in Communication, Faculty of Science Technology and Innovation, University of Nairobi

Joy’s Profile

Mikiko Tanifuji

Deputy Director
Research Center for Open Science and Data Platform (RCOS), National Institute of Informatics (NII)

Marta Teperek

Program/Project Manager

Dutch Research Council (NWO)

Lee Wilson (co-chair)

Director of Research Data Management
Digital Research Alliance of Canada

Council Rotation Schedule

Term expires 2027	Term expires 2028	Term expires 2029
Marta Teperek	Lee Wilson (2nd term)	Wolfram Horstmann (2nd term)
Mikiko Tanifuji	Amy Nurnberger (2nd term)	Sara Garavelli (2nd term)
Federico Cetrangolo	Rosie Hicks	Joy Owango

Meetings

The Council meets once a year in person, at the annual hybrid plenary and four to five times at virtual meetings. Minutes of the meetings are available below:

2026

9 February – virtual

2025

17 October – in person, IDW 2025
17 July – virtual
24 April – virtual
6 March – virtual

2014-2024

Minutes 2024
Minutes 2023
Minutes 2022
Minutes 2021
Minutes 2020
Minutes 2019
Minutes 2018
Minutes 2017
Minutes 2016
Minutes 2015
Minutes 2014

Subcommittees

Since its inception in 2013, the RDA Council has established several subgroups to assist in Council business and to advise Council in important areas. Subgroup members are appointed by Council and may include members outside of the official Council.

The Financial Subcommittee recommends to Council and monitors policies and rules for sound financial practice of the RDA Foundation. The subgroup recommends periodic financial reports to the Council for approval. Policies and processes include, but are not limited to:

– Internal controls and signing authority
– Expenditure authority and approvals
– Planning and budgeting

– Financial reporting requirements

– Conflict of interest rules
– Taxation and audit obligations
– Contracting and purchasing policies
– Policies around organisational matters, employees and contractors

Members 2024: Kevin Ashley, Juan Bicarregui (Chair), Hilary Hanahoe (Secretary General), Amy Nurnberger, Bridget Walker (Secretariat)

In November 2020, Council established a short term RDA task force focusing on:

– Identification of appropriate and achievable revenue models for RDA
– Aligning financial strategies / plans with the strategic focus for 2021-2023
– Engaging with regional offices / representatives to align revenue and business models

Members: Ingrid Dillo (RDA Council co-chair), Hilary Hanahoe (Secretary General), Bob Hanisch (Council), Natalie Harrower (RDA EU Regional Office representative), Rebecca Koskela (RDA US Executive Director), Mark Leggott (Council)

The Legal Subgroup is responsible for the oversight and due vigilance of the legal affairs of the RDA. This subgroup is a standing subgroup and called upon where necessary. Members are legal experts called to deal with the subject matter requiring attention.

As defined in the RDA Governance Document, Council chooses a Nomination Committee each year. The Nomination Committee is responsible for the effective and efficient execution of the annual RDA Council elections to replace the Council members stepping down that year. The Nominations Committee is also responsible for ensuring the eligibility criteria are met and encouraging candidates to stand.

For full details please refer to the Terms of Reference for the RDA Council Nominations Committee.

Members (2024): Michelle Barker (Affiliate Member), Ingrid Dillo (Council), Natalie Harrower (RDA Community), Raphael Ritz (Regional Partner), Wouter Schallier (RDA Community)

Members (2023): Juan Bicarregui (Council), Sandra Collins (Council), Edit Herczog (Council), Rosie Hicks (RAB), Matthew Lucas (Community), Shelley Stall (OAB)

Members (2022): Juan Bicarregui (Council), Robert Hanisch (Council), Natalie Harrower (Community), Matthew Lucas (Funders Forum), Natalie Meyers (Community), Andrew Treloar (Community)

Members (2021): David Carr (Funders Forum), Mark Leggott (Chair, Council), Isabelle Perseil (TAB), Gaby Pinto (Community), Shelley Stall (OAB)

Members (2020): Dina Paltoo (Funders Forum), Frankie Stevens (TAB), Helen Kay Raseroka (Council), Rebecca Koskela (OAB) Mark Leggott (Chair, Council)

Members (2019): Ross Wilkinson (Chair, Council), Francoise Genova (TAB), Kevin Ashley (OAB), Matthew Lucas (Funders Forum), Devika Madalli (Community)

Members (2018): Fran Berman (Chair, Council), Andrew Treloar (TAB), Kevin Ashley (OAB), Josh Greenberg (Funders Forum), Imma Subirats (Community)

In addition to the RDA Council Subgroups described above, during 2017-2018, four drafting groups worked on the development of the RDA Strategy for 2018 – 2021. These groups considered: RDA Value Proposition, Financial Sustainability, Growth Management and Regional Engagement. In 2018 and 2019, a further set of subcommittees and task forces were set up by Council to assess RDA membership models, RDA Plenary Meeting Structures, Regional Engagement.

2018 – 2019 Subcommittees | Task Forces

2017 – 2018 Subcommittees

Emeritus Council Members

Name and Term	Name and Term	Name and Term
Joyce Gosata Maphanyane 2020-2026
Maria Cruz 2024-2025	Patricia Munoz Palma 2024-2025	Jill Benn 2019-2025
Claudia Maria Bauzer Medeiros 2018-2024	Ingrid Dillo 2018-2024	Jason Haga 2018-2024
Edit Herczog 2017-2023	Robert Hanisch 2019-2023	Sarah Jones 2023-2023
Sandra Collins 2017-2023	Mark Leggott 2019-2022	Kay Raseroka 2014-2020
Fran Berman 2014-2019	Bernard Minster 2016-2019	Ross Wilkinson 2014-2019
Doris Wedlich 2014-2018	Michael Stanton 2014-2018	Satoshi Sekiguchi 2014-2018
John Wood 2014-2017	Patrick Cocquet 2014-2017	Tony Hey 2014-2016