RDA Update - Keynote Tonight and other great information

March 23, 2020

Greetings to our North American Community,

Salutations à notre communauté nord-américaine,

Saludos a nuestra comunidad norteamericana,

We hope each of you, your families, and loved ones stay safe, germ-free, and remain in good health. While we are all sad that the entire RDA community was not able to come together for Plenary 15 in Melbourne, our plan is to bring you periodic updates on our progress moving forward. We recognize the emergence and growth of this global pandemic relates directly to many RDA Working and Interest Groups.

The expertise and efforts of our community are invaluable, and we would like you all to know how deeply we recognize and value your commitment. Here are ways are ways to continue with our vital work:

• Tonight! The Virtual Plenary 15 is taking place and is OPEN and free for all to attend: https://www.rd-alliance.org/plenaries/rda-15th-plenary-meeting-australia. The keynote address this evening (for the Americas time zones) by Priyanka Pillai, Academic Specialist in Research Data Stewardship and Health Informatics, The University of Melbourne, will be presented by webinar (and recorded), focusing on "The Role of Data in a Rapid and Coordinated Response to Infectious Disease Outbreaks." You can register for this timely session at: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/1798388012282974220
• With the US National Library of Medicine: Please see White House Call to Action that NLM has been involved with on using AI on machine-readable dataset of literature with RDA
• Health-focused groups, including the Reproducible Health Data Services WG, Health Data IG, and Blockchain Applications in Health WG, are promoting implementation of methods to enhance the transparency, reliability, and reproducibility of research results for policy and practice.
• Work from groups in The Humanities, Agriculture and Climate research, Sustainable and Global Development, and Indigenous Data Sovereignty can support efforts to ensure the populations at highest-risk will be recognized, respected, and supported in these times of need.

Finally, we also want to let you know that we are still planning actively for Plenary 16 in Costa Rica. While there are many unknowns regarding the COVID-19 impact for November, we will continue our work towards a wonderful P16 and keep you updated as this progresses. Thank you for your engagement and commitment to the RDA!

Warmest regards,

Leslie McIntosh-Borrelli
United States
 

Marcela Alfaro Córdoba
Costa Rica
 

Mark Leggott
Canada