Keynote Speakers

Niklas grew up as a traditional reindeer herder and has for many years-initiated partnerships between Sámi communities and the EU-INTERACT network. He is elected to the board of directors of INTERACT -nonprofit association (International Network for Terrestrial Research and Monitoring in the Arctic) that is a network of 99 terrestrial field bases scattered across all Arctic countries and in adjacent northern boreal and alpine areas. There, Sámi reindeer herders and researchers have collaborated, in projects, to monitor and develop new knowledge about the impacts of climate change. Labba has worked together with researchers in different multi-disciplinary projects seeking to understand scientific, linguistic, and indigenous perspectives of snow cover changes in the sub-Arctic. His contributions in many ways include his own extensive knowledge about reindeer herding in the sub-Arctic environment, arranging field excursions, and acting as the link person between reindeer herding communities and researchers.

At IDW 2025, Niklas is looking forward to presenting Sámi knowledge-, culture- and businessdata. The Sámi people are divided into four countries (Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia) where each country has its own database system, including data concerning the Sámi people.

In Niklas’s presentation, delegates can expect to hear how “artificial intelligence and machine learning need data to be efficient, and the question that has raised is if sámi knowledge-, culture- and business data shall be open access data?”

Dr Lin is a Research Fellow at Academia Sinica, Taiwan and his main research speciality includes migration study, labor study, scientific and statistical computing, big and open data, data science and data engineering, and open science. Having worked in Taiwan’s Bureau of Statistics & Census as research scientist, Dr Lin has an abundance of real-world experiences in processing, integrating, and enriching various sources of large-scale raw data, as well as in survey planning, sampling design, and conducting surveys.

Alfred has been serving as consultant for a number of Taiwan’s central government agencies.

As a speaker at IDW 2025, Alfred is looking forward to discussing How Scientific Computing, Data Science, and Open Science Revitalize and Empower Hard-to-reach Population (HRPs): A Two-decade Research on Taiwan Indigenous Peoples (TIPs). Alfred is eager to share about TIPs, negative impact of data shortages, data revolution in TIPs, overcoming legal and ethical issues, data transparency and accessibility, and positive impacts on policy making that revitalises TIPs and make HRPs visible again.

Professor Marcia Lynne
Langton AO, FASSA, AFTSE
Professor Marcia Lynne Langton AO, FASSA, AFTSE is a Yiman and Bidjara woman from Queensland. She is the Associate Provost and Foundation Chair of Australian Indigenous Studies at The University of Melbourne and Director of the Indigenous Studies Unit at Onemda in the Melbourne School of Population and Global Health at The University of Melbourne. In 2022 she was appointed as a Redmond Barry Distinguished Professor.
Widely recognised as a major figure in Indigenous Australian rights and advocacy, Langton was a key contributor to the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody (1989), and the Native Title Act (1993) and several policy initiatives. She is currently a chief investigator on numerous research projects concerned with Indigenous health, domestic and family violence, and Indigenous data and governance. 
She is widely published. Her most recent books include Welcome to Country. A Guide to Indigenous Australia (2021), Law: The Way of the Ancestors, co-authored with Professor Aaron Corn (2023), Dhoombak Goobgoowana: A History of Indigenous Australia and The University of Melbourne – Volume 1:Truth (2024); 65,000 Years: A Short History of Australian Art – Co-Edited with Judith Ryan AM (2024) and Indigenous Knowledge: Australian Perspectives (co-edited with Professor Aaron Corn and Dr. Samuel Curkpatrick (2024). Doombak Goobgoowana: A History of Indigenous Australia and the University of Melbourne – Volume 2: Voice will be launching in 2025.

Marcy Collinson is an accomplished strategic leader in academic research and technology, currently serving as Director of Worldwide Academic Research at Microsoft. In this capacity, she spearheads innovation through cross-sector initiatives that integrate research, public sector collaboration, policy development, and digital transformation. With extensive expertise in go-to-market strategies and AI-driven solutions, Marcy excels at building partnerships across commercial, academic, governmental, and non-profit sectors, providing guidance on ethical and scalable approaches to technological advancement. She has established collaborative communities and manages international  alliances with organizations such as the Research Data Alliance (RDA), the Research Software Alliance (ReSA), and GÉANT. Her portfolio includes oversight of federal programs and agreements involving NIH STRIDES, NSF CloudBank, NASA, FDA, and CSIRO. Additionally, Marcy has contributed as a review panelist for grant opportunities supporting software sustainability within the US DOE-Advanced Science Computing Research (ASCR) and has served as a member of the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) Networking and Information Technology Research Development (NITRD) MAGIC council. Recognized as a Subject Matter Expert in Data Management and Sharing Policies (DMPs/DMSPs), her career began in biological anthropology, progressing through roles in veterinary medicine, nursing education administration, fundraising, and higher education. Before joining Microsoft, Marcy managed research partnerships and cloud services at Oracle and Amazon Web Services (AWS).

Dr Connie Clare is responsible for managing engagement with the global RDA community and facilitating its growth. She has a background in scientific communication and experience building user communities around international data repositories for science, engineering and design. Her PhD in Developmental Biology explored nutrient metabolism, epigenetic programming and developmental origins of adult health and disease.

Alex Delipalta is the Director of RDA Europe, the regional office of the Research Data Alliance tasked with supporting the European RDA community, providing the link between global and regional initiatives and contributing to the work of the RDA through European Commission-funded projects. Alex has been a part of the RDA community since 2018 working with the RDA Secretariat. She is the RDA TIGER project coordinator. Before joining RDA Europe formally, she spent six years at the Digital Curation Centre, where she held multiple roles, including that of Strategy and Operations Specialist. Alex holds a BA in English Language and Literature from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, and an MSc in Developmental Linguistics from the University of Edinburgh.

Wim Hugo is the Chief Technology Officer for DANS, an institute of KNAW (Dutch Royal Academy of Science) that focuses on provision of high-quality, state-of-the art digital repository services for research data and the associated expert knowledge in the field.

Prior to joining DANS, Wim had a similar role with the South African Environmental Observation Network for more than a decade. During this time, he served on the Scientific Committee of the World Data System, and contributed to GEO, GEOBON, ILTER, RDA, and the establishment of CoreTrustSeal.

He is active in many Horizon Europe projects, with a focus on persistent identifiers, improvement of repository services and establishment of graph-like knowledge infrastructure.

His formal education was in Chemical Engineering, and in a 40-year career he has worked in systems engineering, management consulting, and policy and decision support both in the private and public sector.

Aleksandra Lazić is a researcher in social psychology and public health communication, soon to complete her PhD at the University of Belgrade. In 2020, she co-founded REPOPSI – the Repository of Psychological Instruments in Serbian – and has since managed it at the LIRA Lab, promoting open research practices through talks, workshops, and outreach. In 2022–2023, she led an EOSC Future and Research Data Alliance-funded project to further develop the Repository. Since 2023, Aleksandra has served on the Executive Committee of ABRIR, contributing to projects that improve global accessibility and representation in open and big-team science, and as a Coordinator of the Open Science Community Serbia. She has also been an active member of the Research Data Alliance since 2020 and is currently part of its Ambassadors Coordination Group. In 2024, she received the inaugural ‘Sarah Jones Award for exceptional contribution to fostering collaboration in Open Science’. At IDW 2025, Aleksandra is looking forward to sharing the highlights of the year since her Award and announcing the call for nominations for the 2026 edition.

Martina Stockhause is a Senior Data Manager at the German Climate Computing Center (DKRZ). Her current role focuses on the development and implementation of federated research infrastructures, which includes the joint management of the IPCC Data Distribution Centre (DDC) and providing the data citation component for a federated climate research infrastructure. She contributes her expertise to expert groups including the WCRP ESMO Infrastructure Panel (WIP), DataCite’s Community Engagement EMEA Expert Group and the IPCC Task Group on Data Support for Climate Change Assessments (TG-Data). She has served as Earth and Space Science Informatics (ESSI) Deputy Division President in the European Geosciences Union (EGU). Martina has been a member of the RDA since its inception and has contributed to a number of Interest/Working Groups. She is a Co-Chair of the Complex Citation Implementation IG.

At IDW 2025, Martina is looking forward to discuss Complex Citation and provenance with the interdisciplinary community: How can these be integrated into research and publication workflows? And how into ongoing open data initiatives such as the Cross-Domain Interoperability Framework (CDIF) among many others.

Mikiko Tanifuji is the Director of the Research Center for Open Science and Data Platform (RCOS) National Institute of Informatics (NII), Japan leads the development of Japan’s Research Data Cloud (RDC), a national infrastructure supporting all scientific domains—from data management to publication and open access monitoring. As a key figure at NII, Japan’s central hub for research data infrastructure, she actively collaborates with international initiatives such as the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) and the FAIR Digital Object Forum (FDO). She also engages with global communities including COAR and the Research Data Alliance (RDA), contributing best practices to advance a globally interoperable open science ecosystem. With deep expertise in research data infrastructure and scholarly publishing, Mikiko drives international partnerships and promotes the Global Open Research Commons (GORC) through strategic implementation. She has served on the RDA Council since April 2024.

Dr Andrew Treloar has worked in the digital research infrastructure space for over 25 years, with  an academic background in digital humanities. He led the project to establish the Australian National Data Service, and then worked as part of the small team that set up the Research Data Alliance (RDA), where he served as co-chair of the Technical Advisory Board for 7 years. He is currently Director, International Strategy for the Australian Research Data Commons. He co-chairs the Global Open Research Commons Interest Group and International Implementations Working Group within the RDA, and also chaired the Program Committee for International Data Week 2025.

Dr CJ Woodford is a research officer with the Digital Research Alliance of Canada, where he identifies and ensures representation of researcher’s needs in national advanced research computing, research software, and research data management projects, programs, and policy. CJ is a co-chair of the Global Open Research Commons Interest Group and International Implementations Working Group. Previously, CJ was a dedicated World Data System International Technology Office research associate for the GORC initiative. His background is in science communication, education, project management, and astrophysics research with a focus on high performance computing. CJ also works part-time as the Education Coordinator for Discover the Universe, a Canadian astronomy education non-profit, and is a part-time Master’s of Library and Information Studies student at the University of Alberta.

Ana Arjona is Associate Professor of Political Science at Northwestern University, Co-Editor-in-Chief of the journal Perspectives on Politics, and the founding director of the Network of Studies on Drugs in Latin America (REDESDAL). She obtained her PhD in political science from Yale University (with distinction) and has been a fellow at the Earth Institute at Columbia University, the Kellogg Institute for International Studies at the University of Notre Dame, and the Kaplan Institute for the Humanities at Northwestern University. She served as director of the Center for the Study of Security and Drugs at Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá, Colombia (2018-2019), where she was a visiting professor at the School of Economics. 

At IDW 2025, Ana is looking forward to presenting The Urgency of Data Validation in the Social Sciences: An Illustration with Civil War Research.

In Ana’s presentation, delegates can expect a call for greater attention to measurement validity in the social sciences. “I will argue that validating data requires more than improved methods—it also demands theoretical clarity and deep contextual knowledge.

Professor Dame Juliet is a Professor at the University of Auckland. She has chaired the Marsden Council, served on the Board of Directors of Plant and Food Research, and is currently on the Board of Te Papa, the National Museum of New Zealand and the New Zealand Food Waste Champions. During her six (6) years as the Prime Minister’s Chief Science Advisor, she supported the science community to provide advice to the PM, Ministers, and the public on a wide range of topics, including the response to the Whakaari | White Island eruption, the Covid-19 pandemic, rethinking plastics, commercial fishing, and food waste. Juliet had a keen interest in strengthening connectivity between researchers and policy and on the role that data plays in this discourse.

At IDW 2025, Juliet is looking forward to presenting Data, evidence, and policy: tips and tricks to help walk the tight-rope between research and policy in a messy and political world. 

Agnes Kiragga leads the Data Science Program at the African Population Health Research Center in Nairobi, Kenya. With over 20 years of experience, she specializes in utilizing diverse data, including African longitudinal population cohorts. She leads the Data Science Without Borders (DSWB) multi-country project, Implementation Network for Sharing Population Information from Research Entities (INSPIRE) network, and spearheads data management and analytics cores for multi-country research projects. Her work aims to use data science tools for the real world and data generated in Africa.

As a speaker at IDW 2025, Agnes is looking forward to presenting Strengthening Data Systems for Evidence Generation in Africa: The Data Science Without Borders Project. Agnes said “I’m really excited about the fantastic line up of speakers we have for this event! In my talk, I’ll dive into our experiences with data science projects in Africa. I truly believe the audience will connect with the impressive advancements in data utilization and discover the incredible potential and rising demand for data solutions across various African communities. It’s going to be an inspiring discussion!”

Fiona Bradley is the Director of Research and Infrastructure at The University of New South Wales (UNSW) Sydney and leads the Library’s scholarly communications and repositories, digital and physical infrastructure, and corporate services. She has previously held roles with the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) and Research Libraries UK representing libraries and their users at global and national levels. Fiona is Chair of the IFLA Open Science and Scholarship Advisory Committee and an Open Access Australasia Executive Committee member. She is also a PhD candidate in Political Science and International Relations at the University of Western Australia.

At IDW 2025, Fiona will speak on how the increasingly open and connected nature of research relies on robust infrastructures to ensure knowledge is discoverable and accessible in the long term. While many countries have embraced open science policies and other strategies to boost investment in research evaluation, publishing reform, and infrastructure development, significant barriers and inequities still exist in other regions. Her presentation will emphasize the importance of monitoring open science as a means to measure progress, celebrate successes, and identify areas needing further attention.

Dina N. Paltoo, Ph.D., M.P.H., C.P.L. is the Deputy Director (Acting), Policy and External Affairs at the National Institutes of Health (NIH)’s National Library of Medicine (NLM). In this role, she is a senior advisor to the NLM Director on scientific strategy and establishes and implements policy frameworks that guide NLM’s research, operations, and public services. She establishes partnerships and oversees NLM’s relationships across the NIH, Department of Health and Human Services, Federal agencies and external organizations on initiatives and activities to bridge technology and science policy.

Previously, Dr. Paltoo was the Assistant Director, Scientific Strategy and Innovation at NIH’s National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI).  She has also served as the Assistant Director for Policy Development at NLM, the Director of the Division of Scientific Data Sharing Policy and the Director of the Genetics, Health, and Society Program within the NIH Director’s Office of Science Policy, and a Program Director at NHLBI.  

Dr. Paltoo received a B.S. in Microbiology and Ph.D. in Physiology and Biophysics from Howard University, a M.P.H. from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and a Certificate in Public Leadership from Washington University Olin Business School at The Brookings Institution.

As a speaker at IDW 2025, Dina is looking forward to presenting “Open Research and Federated Systems: Disciplinary, Regional and International Perspectives”.

Bernie is a Computer Scientist and Bioinformatician specialising in human omics. His mission is to translate cutting-edge biomedical research into significant improvements in human health through the application of scalable, efficient, and robust computational methodologies. Working at the University of Melbourne, he carries out the dual roles of Associate Director (Human Genome Informatics) at Australian BioCommons, and Bioinformatics Lead at Melbourne Bioinformatics. He also co-leads the Cancer Community within the Global Alliance for Genomics and Health (GA4GH),  and is co-lead of the technical working group of the Pan Prostate Cancer Group (PPCG). Supported by funding through NCRIS, Bioplatforms Australia and the MRFF, the Human Genome Informatics (HGI) division of Australian BioCommons is delivering national scale digital research infrastructure to support the storage, sharing and analysis of Australia’s research omics collections, working alongside several leading national omics institutes. Major ongoing HGI initiatives include the establishment of the Australian Cardiovascular Disease Data Commons, and the national GUARDIANS program.

At IDW 2025, Bernie Pope is “thrilled to discuss the remarkable growth in research programs within Australia, driven by cutting-edge omics technologies. The current human omics research ecosystem is facing significant infrastructure challenges due to the explosion of complex data. This situation creates an urgent need for coordinated investment and scaling.

Dr Sandra Collins is the Director of the University College Dublin Library. Originally a mathematician, she has worked in digital innovation and cultural heritage over 30 years in the public and private sectors. She was previously the Director of the National Library of Ireland, and the founding Director of the Digital Repository of Ireland in the Royal Irish Academy. She received her PhD in nonlinear fluid dynamics from UCD in 1996, and has been recognised with awards for Research, Innovation and Impact, and four Irish eGovernment Awards. She is the Chairperson of the Irish Government’s Advisory Committee on the Representation of Women and Women’s Stories in the National Collections and has served on the Irish Government’s Expert Advisory Group on Commemorations, the Government’s Open Data Governance Board, the Government’s Scientific Advisory Forum for ‘Creating our Future’, and multiple European Commission Expert Advisory Groups. She served as a member of the RDA Council for 6 years and is a Board member for RDA Europe.

Professor Madalli is the Director of the Information Library Network (INFLIBNET) at Gandhinagar, an autonomous Inter-University Centre (IUC) of the University Grants Commission (UGC) in New Delhi, India. Prior to joining INFLIBNET, Dr Madalli served as a Professor of the Documentation Research and Training Centre, Indian Statistical Institute and as an adjunct faculty, DISI, University of Trento, Italy. Dr Madalli has extensive experience in teaching, research and capacity building. Her interest lies in the area of Open Science, Open Educational Resources (OERs), Open Data Repositories, Knowledge Organization and Digital Information Infrastructures and Semantics.

Professor Madalli has served as a member of the Karnataka Evaluation Authority (KEA), and as a member of the Technical Advisory Board of Research Data Alliance (RDA). Professor Madalli also served as Co-chair for RDA interest groups on Research Evaluation, Global Research Commons and RDA-SDG group. She is a member of the governance board of DRYAD and The Global Sustainability Coalition for Open Science Services (SCOSS). Dr Madalli has served as an expert/consultant to UNESCO, UNFAO, OECD, Commonwealth of Learning and European Commission and has traveled to about 50 countries on professional assignments. She has been awarded Fulbright and Erasmus Mundus fellowships.

Professor Madalli is on the advisory board of Universal Decimal Classification. She serves as the chair of OpenAccessIndia Working Group. She served on the advisory panel and scientific committees of several international conferences such as SWIB, ICADL, MTSR, SCIDATACON, LODLAM and ICSD. She serves as a member of editorial panels of prestigious journals such as Knowledge Organization (ISKO), DSJ, Library Hi-Tech among several others and has published widely.

Professor Madalli’s advice for students or early career researchers attending their first IDW: “If data workflows are of interest to you please make sure you attend IDW 2025 because this is one forum that engages on the entire spectrum of topics from theory to practice of data.”

Dr Mchunu is a director within the International Grants and Partnerships Division of the NRF. She holds a doctoral degree in Fungal Genomics, with expertise in biotechnology, fungal genomics, and Open Science. Dr Mchunu is passionate about advocating for science/knowledge accessibility across Africa.

Her research focuses on utilizing genomics and data-driven approaches to address environmental challenges, particularly in water management and pollution control.

Mchunu has previously served as a Senior Researcher at the Agricultural Research Council of South Africa within the Biotechnology Platform, focusing on Covid-19 and pathogen surveillance in wastewater, fungal genetics, cannabis, and African legume genomics. She has also held academic positions as a senior scholar in the Department of Biotechnology at Durban University of Technology for over 15 years.

Her international experience includes research appointments at leading institutions such as the University of Cincinnati (USA), Lund University (Sweden), Tianjin University (China), and the Centre for Chemical Biology (Malaysia). Notably, Mchunu was the first recipient of the Young Scientist Programme between China and South Africa, recognizing her pioneering work in biotechnology and genomics.

Mchunu’s work is characterized by her commitment to building continental and global research partnerships, driving the advancement of science and technology in Africa, and promoting equitable access to scientific knowledge through Open Science initiatives. Mchunu continues to actively champion the cause of open science, driving forward initiatives that support research infrastructure, policy development, and the overall democratization of scientific knowledge on the continent.

Rodrigo Roa is Executive Director of the Data Observatory in Chile, a public–private–academic foundation that curates, processes, and publishes large-scale datasets to drive science, innovation and evidence-based decision-making. A lawyer by training, he has over 20 years’ experience in management, mediation and regulatory frameworks, and has worked across legal, scientific and technological sectors. He previously served in senior roles in academia and government, and has been recognised for his leadership in innovation, governance and open science policy.

He has led national and regional initiatives including SURDATA Alliance (a network promoting FAIR data practices), and platforms such as IDEOS, Rasgos.cl and ALeRCE. Under his direction, the Data Observatory has advanced Chile’s FAIR Data Strategy, established the first national CODATA Committee in South America, built a national consortium for DataCite, and become an active member of the Research Data Alliance (RDA).