The Research Data Alliance (RDA) and the Digital Research Alliance of Canada (the Alliance) are pleased to announce the formation of a regional partnership, aimed at further representing the practices and interests of the Canadian data community while also facilitating the regional adoption of RDA standards and practices through the organization and implementation of various initiatives and activities.
Regions become RDA Regions through the negotiation of a Formal Partnership Agreement with RDA. An RDA Region is loosely defined as a “national level” geographic entity or consortium of “national-level entities.” Regional partnerships are fundamental to RDA, as they provide the essential connection to the regional community, helping us to understand and support local data professionals’ needs, as well as ensuring increased multilingualism across the global community.
Through this partnership, the Alliance has agreed to run activities to support growth in RDA membership and adoption of outputs in Canada. In return, RDA will disseminate the efforts of the Canadian data community to its international audiences. This facilitation of connections and shared interests will be accomplished through various approaches, including, but not limited to:
- Creating a forum for sharing knowledge between Canada and RDA
- Adopting program development within the region
- Strengthening RDA leadership within the region, furthering the impact of Canada within the RDA global community
- Sharing of resources between RDA and Canada to increase advocacy and dissemination activities (meeting coordination, member reporting, website management, communications and marketing support)
- Collaborating on small grant opportunities within Canada to foster member engagement
- Participating in meetings (RDA Regional Assembly, RDA Council Meetings, Canadian data conferences, etc.)
- Providing RDA Secretariat support
Hilary Hanahoe, RDA Secretary General stated, "We are appreciative of this partnership and look forward to further collaborating with the region on challenges related to the open sharing and re-use of data. Through cross-promotion of our activities and accomplishments, we will undoubtedly raise awareness, increase engagement and accelerate innovation.”
Mark Leggott, Director of International Relations at the Alliance also commented, “This new regional partnership with RDA provides Canada with the opportunity to build our international presence, and we look forward to working with the organization to share best practices, collaborate on initiatives, and overall, help create further impact in reducing the barriers to data sharing and exchange.”
Join the RDA in Canada community forum to stay up to date on RDA - Canada activities, events, updates etc.
Subscribe to the Alliance newsletter and follow the Alliance on Twitter and LinkedIn for the latest updates on Digital Research Infrastructure in Canada.
About the Research Data Alliance (RDA):
The Research Data Alliance (RDA), launched as a community-driven initiative in 2013, builds the social and technical infrastructure to enable open sharing and re-use of data. RDA has a grass-roots, inclusive approach covering all data lifecycle stages, engaging data producers, users and stewards, addressing data exchange, processing, and storage. Membership of RDA is free. For more details see - https://www.rd-alliance.org/about-rda
About the Digital Research Alliance of Canada (the Alliance):
The Digital Research Alliance of Canada serves Canadian researchers, with the objective of advancing Canada’s position as a leader in the knowledge economy on the international stage. By integrating, championing and funding the infrastructure and activities required for advanced research computing (ARC), research data management (RDM) and research software (RS), it provides the platform for the research community to access tools and services faster than ever before. For more details see -https://alliancecan.ca/en/about/alliance