The winner of the ‘Sarah Jones Award for exceptional contribution to fostering collaboration in Open Science’ – organised by the Research Data Alliance (RDA) – will be announced during an official award ceremony on Thursday 14 November 2024 during the Closing session of the 23rd RDA Plenary Meeting in Costa Rica. We at GÉANT are proud to support this initiative and invite our community to watch the live ceremony and join us as we celebrate the memory of our dear colleague.
About Sarah Jones and the Sarah Jones Award
Sarah Louise Jones was born in 1982 in Blackpool, UK. She worked at HATII (Humanities Advanced Technology and Information Institute) at the University of Glasgow for 15 years on various Research Data Management and digital preservation projects and services. For most of this time she was part of the Digital Curation Centre (DCC) where she covered different roles including Associate Director. Sarah moved to the Netherlands in the summer of 2020 and joined GÉANT as EOSC Engagement Manager, where she supported National Research and Education Networks (NRENs) with Open Science. Sarah was well known in the international Open Science community, with a long involvement in the fields of data management, data policy, FAIR data, and the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC). Sarah invested a huge amount of time and effort into advocating for true openness. She believed in community and its power, and was a true believer in the RDA. She said it was ‘her tribe’. A fantastic colleague and a wonderful friend, Sarah’s energy, passion, and enthusiasm was infectious. She was professional, prepared and passionate about her work and had an incredible work ethic, but she also infused her enthusiasm and energy into social networking. Sarah passed away in December 2023. We at GÉANT continue to miss her terribly.
To ensure that Sarah’s legacy is carried on, in June 2024, the RDA published a call for nominations for individuals who have demonstrated exceptional contributions to fostering collaboration in Open Science, leading to positive change and impact.
Throughout the submission period, many excellent nominations were received, evaluated by a panel of judges and shortlisted according to the nomination and selection criteria. Following interviews with shortlisted candidates, the panel ultimately selected a winner whose contributions stood out.
How to join the Award Ceremony
You can tune in to the award ceremony and find out who is the winner of the first edition of the Sarah Jones Award by joining the live streaming on Thursday 14 November at 20:30 UTC | 20.30 GMT | 21:30 CET | 14:30 local time Costa Rica.
Live stream link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86375759213?pwd=qmKNCgTStbgfCUbrLLbWZimOPb9SY1.1
Password (if required): 555555
We look forward to welcoming you to this event as we share the winner of this special award in memory of Sarah Jones.
