We are pleased to announce the distinguished members of the Program Committee for SciDataCon 2025, composed of leading experts in data science and Open Science. This year’s committee includes prominent individuals from across the globe, with expertise spanning scientific data management, research data science, and interdisciplinary collaboration.
The Program Committee members are renowned figures from the Committee on Data of the International Science Council (CODATA) and the World Data System (WDS), including:
Shaily Gandhi, Senior PostDoc at the Geo-social AI Research Group, IT:U, Linz, Austria. Shaily is a GIS expert with over 12 years of experience. She holds a PhD in Geospatial Technology from CEPT University, India, with a focus on bridging GIS and governance. Shaily has been recognized as a Geospatial World 50 Rising Star (2023) and an ISC Fellow (2024). Previously, she served as Deputy Center Head for the Center for Applied Geomatics, CRDF, and Program Chair for the M.Tech in Geomatics at CEPT University, India. Her research explores Spatial data, data science, GeoAI models for urban domains.
orcid.org/0000-0002-8893-2130
Meredith Goins, Executive Director of the WDS’s International Program Office (WDS-IPO) has over 10 years of experience supporting the grant peer review process for the U.S. federal government, including science writing, reviewer recruitment, and data management. Meredith earned her bachelor’s degree in communications from East Carolina University, Greenville, NC, and her Master of Sciences in Information Sciences from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, where she is currently a Ph.D. candidate focusing on scholarly communications. Her research interests include peer review and organizational governance.
orcid.org/0000-0002-0575-6240
Simon Hodson, Executive Director of CODATA since August 2013. Simon Hodson is an expert on data policy issues and research data management, and has contributed to influential reports such as the OECD-CODATA report on Business Models for Sustainable Data Repositories. He chaired the European Commission’s Expert Group on FAIR Data which produced the report Turning FAIR into Reality, and he was vice-chair of the UNESCO Open Science Advisory Committee, tasked with drafting the UNESCO Recommendation on Open Science. Simon is also a member of the Data Documentation Initiative Scientific Board, and was the coordinator of the WorldFAIR Project. Simon has been engaged with content and organisation of SciDataCon, part of International Data Week, since its origin in 2016.
orcid.org/0000-0003-3179-7270
Reyna Jenkyns, Associate Director of the WDS International Technology Office (WDS-ITO). Before joining the WDS-ITO, Reyna worked at Ocean Networks Canada (ONC), where she managed the Data Stewardship team, providing metadata and data management, geospatial services, and expedition support. As a scientific programmer, she generated data products for the NEPTUNE observatory and contributed to Oceans 3.0 tools and interoperability with other ocean data providers. From 2018 to 2024, she served on the Board of the CoreTrustSeal, which defines certification criteria for research data repositories. Reyna holds a Bachelor of Mathematics from the University of Waterloo and a Master of Science in Ocean Physics from the University of Victoria. Her prior work experience includes roles in oceanographic monitoring systems, aerospace, and information technology.
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6975-6816
Leo Lahti, CODATA Executive Committee member and professor in Data Science at the University of Turku, Finland, where his team focuses on computational analysis of complex natural and social systems. He coordinates international developer networks in open data science and computational humanities methods, and organizes international training events on a regular basis. He is also vice chair for the national open science and research coordination in Finland, board member in Open Knowledge Finland, member of the global R/Bioconductor Community Advisory Board and a certified Carpentries Instructor.
orcid.org/0000-0001-5537-637X
Devika Madalli, Director of INFLIBNET in India. Formerly a professor at the Indian Statistical Institute, she has extensive experience in Open Science, Data and Knowledge Management, and Open Data Repositories. She co-chairs RDA groups on Research Evaluation, Global Research Commons, and SDGs, and has worked with UNESCO, OECD, and the European Commission. A Fulbright and Erasmus Mundus fellow, she is also on the advisory board of Universal Decimal Classification and chairs OpenAccessIndia.
orcid.org/0000-0002-1501-0346
Matthew Mayernik, joint Editor-in-Chief of the Data Science Journal since August 2021. Matt is a Project Scientist and Research Data Services Specialist in the NCAR/UCAR Library. He is also the Deputy Director of the NCAR Library. His work is focused on research and service development related to research data curation and digital science generally. His research interests include metadata practices and standards, data curation education, data citation and identity, and social and institutional aspects of research data.
orcid.org/0000-0002-4122-0910
Claudia Bauzer Medeiros, full Professor of Computer Science at Unicamp, Brazil, and a member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences. She specializes in managing and analyzing scientific data across large, heterogeneous sources, from satellite data to sensor networks. With over 25 years of experience in multidisciplinary research, she has coordinated international projects in biodiversity, health, and environmental planning. Claudia has received numerous awards, including the Anita Borg Agent of Change Award, and is involved in FAPESP's eScience and Data Science program.
orcid.org/0000-0003-1908-4753
Daniela Santos Oliveira, Program Manager at WDS-IPO, has extensive experience as a researcher and research coordinator in the Social Sciences field. She earned her PhD in Speech Science from the University of Tennesee Health Science Center and a Masters in Portuguese Studies from Universidade de Aveiro, Portugal. Daniela also spent five years managing a psychology research laboratory, where she collaborated on big data projects in the language development field.
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1061-0801
Hana Pergl, Operations Manager CODATA since 2019. Hana has been supporting strategic activities of the CODATA leadership, including coordination of selected events, such as SciDataCon, projects and initiatives of importance to CODATA members. Prior to working at the CODATA Secretariat, Hana has been managing operations of the GO FAIR International Support and Coordination Office and served as project manager to the ELIXIR research infrastructure. Earlier in her career, she worked for a decade in an international corporation.
orcid.org/0000-0002-4462-6465
Hugh Shanahan, Professor of Open Science and Computer Science at Royal Holloway, University of London, has a background in computational biology, focusing on transcriptomics and metagenomics, alongside expertise in computational and theoretical physics. After completing a PhD in Lattice QCD in 1994, he worked in Bioinformatics from 1999. He co-chairs the CODATA-RDA Research Data Science Schools and was part of the Fairs FAIR consortium on academic data management based on FAIR principles.
orcid.org/0000-0003-1374-6015
