NERC - NERC celebrates prestigious international appointments

"We are pleased to announce that two members of the NERC team have been appointed to high-profile positions with international science organisations. Mark Thorley, head of science information at NERC, will join the International Council for Science's Committee on Freedom & Responsibility in the Conduct of Science. He will use his expertise in open access publishing and in managing scientific information to support the committee's objectives, one of which is to promote scientists' freedom of access to data, information and research materials. The appointment underscores the strength of NERC's commitment to open access to our research outputs, including making data available as openly and widely as possible. This allows the huge amounts of information our researchers produce to be shared across the scientific community, and to be put to use to create wider social and economic benefits. NERC is investing heavily in projects that aim to apply the power of new methods of dealing with 'big data' to environmental research. We are delighted that Mark will be able to showcase NERC's work in this area as well as share his considerable experience and skills on this important committee. Meanwhile Dr Bill Eason, NERC's head of technologies and infrastructure, has been appointed deputy chair of the Environment Strategy Working Group of the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI). He is currently acting chair for the working group as it assesses proposals for major European projects to provide new infrastructure for environmental science. ESFRI is updating its Roadmap of Research Infrastructure, and the successful proposals will be included in the new roadmap when it is published in 2016. ESFRI's mission is to help direct the strategic development of new scientific facilities and infrastructure across Europe to ensure EU nations get the greatest possible benefit from investment in this area. We know that Bill will make a huge contribution to this group, bringing significant insight and talent to the role.  We congratulate both Mark and Bill on their appointments ..."