OTTAWA, July 6, 2015 – CARL is pleased to announce that Chuck Humphrey, Research Data Management Services Coordinator for the University of Alberta Libraries, has accepted a two-year secondment to become the initial director of the Portage research data management network. (PDF)
Portage aims to coordinate and expand existing library-based expertise, services and infrastructure so that Canadian researchers will have access to the support they need for research data management (RDM). Portage will have two major components: a network of expertise to provide access in both English and French to a comprehensive set of resources, tools and experts; and a preservation and discovery system to connect the various infrastructure and service components needed for national preservation and discovery of data.
Chuck Humphrey has supported data services at the University of Alberta since 1992, and has worked on numerous regional, national and international initiatives to increase access to data for teaching and research purposes. He was involved in OECD Global Science Forums on Data and Research Infrastructure for the Social Sciences in 2010-2011 and on Ethics and Big Data in 2014-2015. Chuck was the lead investigator on a University of Alberta Libraries’ successful application for a data centre in the Canadian International Polar Year (IPY) Data Assembly Centres Network, which has now become the Canadian Polar Data Network. He currently serves on the Steering Committee of Research Data Canada; is a Board member of the Consortia Advancing Standards in Research Administrative Information; and has been a key participant in CARL’s Project ARC working group, which developed the vision and framework for Portage, as well as a current CARL working group that is developing a generic, bilingual Data Management Planning tool.
As the initial Director of Portage, Chuck will further define the parameters, scope and governance of the network, seek the resources for it, and oversee the initial stages of development. One of the goals of this phase is to create a foundation of expertise to sustain the network in years to come.
“Chuck is one of Canada’s preeminent experts in research data management, and we are fortunate that he has agreed to lead the collaborative implementation of Portage during its first two years,” said CARL President Martha Whitehead, Vice-Provost and University Librarian, Queen’s University. “We appreciate also that University of Alberta has agreed to allow him to take on this important national role at this critical moment in the development of networked research data management capacity in Canada.”
“I am delighted that Chuck’s expertise, developed over many years at the University of Alberta, will contribute to CARL’s national research data initiative at this critical time” added Gerald Beasley, Vice-Provost (Learning Services) and Chief Librarian at the University of Alberta Libraries.
Chuck will assume this his new position on September 8, 2015.
CARL members include Canada’s twenty-nine largest university libraries as well as Library and Archives Canada and NRC Knowledge Management. Enhancing research and higher education are at the heart of its mission. CARL promotes effective and sustainable scholarly communication, and public policy that enables broad access to scholarly information.
For more information:
Susan Haigh, Executive Director
613.482.9344 ext. 101
