KEYNOTES

Amber Budden, National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS), Director of Learning and Outreach

Director of Learning and Outreach at the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, I am an open science facilitator, community manager and data literacy trainer. I lead the NCEAS Learning Hub and short course activities; co-lead DataONE and the Arctic Data Center, with a focus on supporting the community in open science learning and practices; collaborate on Make Data Count in exposing data level metrics to promote transparency and credit; and am co-PI of the Permafrost Discovery Gateway. Across these roles I provide project management, support community development, develop e-resources, provide training and outreach to user communities, implement communication strategies, engage in public speaking and plan and facilitate meetings and events.

Previous research activity includes bibliometrics, publication practices and behavioral ecology. I served as a member of the Board of Directors for the National Postdoctoral Association during its development, chairing the strategic planning and publications committees. I have a PhD in behavioral ecology, joint BSc in Psychology and Zoology and qualification in youth and community work. I am an inaugural fellow of the AAAS Community Engagement Fellowship Program (CEFP) and a current CEFP mentor.

Richard Dean, ESR Data Science Accelerator Lead.

Richard is a Data Scientist at ESR, a crown research institute that deals with nitty gritty real world problems affecting human communities covering everything from forensic science to human health, biowaste, microplastics and the environment. Before joining ESR, he worked as a Senior Data Scientist for Public Health England, an executive agency of the UK’s Department of Health.

In his current role, he works across the whole organisation on projects that gain insight from big data sets. He is also responsible for driving forward ESR’s data science initiative which involves training staff through data carpentries and pushing the boundaries through an engineering, robotics, innovation, coding and automation club – Erica for short.

Richard was the first member of staff from PHE to graduate from the UK government digital service ‘data science accelerator’ programme. In 2019, he brought the scheme to New Zealand through an internal accelerator programme within ESR. A second cohort is currently being planned and will run from February – May 2020.

He has a BSc in Information Systems Management from Durham University and wrote an MSc thesis on public health data interoperability standards while working in Durham.

He moved to New Zealand in November 2017 with his Kiwi wife and is trying his best to raise two crazy kids – one born in the UK and one born in NZ.

Richard’s claim to fame is that he is one of New Zealand’s most successful mini golf coaches, having convinced his wife to travel to Kosovo for the 2016 World Adventure Golf Masters, where she won a bronze medal – New Zealand’s first ever medal in international match play.

Rosie Hicks, CEO Australian Research Data Commons 

Rosie Hicks is the Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Research Data Commons (ARDC). The ARDC is a transformational, sector-wide initiative enabled by NCRIS, that works with researchers from universities, government and industry partners to build a coherent national and collaborative research data commons.
Rosie has expertise and extensive knowledge of the Australian research infrastructure sector, and leadership experience as the former CEO of the Australian National Fabrication Facility (ANFF). Her career, spanning Japan, UK and Australia, includes every aspect of scientific instrumentation from product development and technical marketing to the management of multi-user facilities working in environments that cross academic and industry domains.

Micaela Parker, Executive Director, Academic Data Science Alliance

Micaela Parker is Executive Director of the Academic Data Science Alliance (ADSA). ADSA is a domain-agnostic organization that supports university researchers in their efforts to collaborate around data-intensive tools, methods, and responsible applications. By building networks of data science practitioners and thought leaders, ADSA enables better sharing of knowledge, ideas, and lessons learned.

Before launching ADSA, Dr. Parker served as Program Coordinator for the Moore-Sloan Data Science Environments and Executive Director for the University of Washington’s eScience Institute. In this role, she handled operations, developed research and training programs, participated in strategic planning and fiscal oversight, and worked directly with university and industry partners and funders.

Prior to 2014, Dr. Parker was a senior research scientist in UW’s School of Oceanography, where she also earned her PhD. She has been involved in many large, interdisciplinary projects bridging oceanography and genomics. Coming from a data-rich domain, she appreciates the new data-driven world for all its benefits and challenges. She now enjoys facilitating collaborations to help researchers navigate this fourth scientific paradigm.

Conference Dinner Speaker

Ian Griffin, Otago Museum Director

Appointed director in 2013, Ian’s tenure at Otago Museum has been marked by an emphasis on science engagement and outreach, and a greater focus on the Museum’s extensive collection. Under his leadership, the Museum has introduced the Taoka Digitisation Project, increased collection staff numbers and strengthened science programming, both at the Museum itself and within the wider community. Ian has also overseen the development of the Museum’s Perpetual Guardian Planetarium and the Tūhura Otago Community Trust Science Centre, which encompasses 45 hands-on interactives and a tropical butterfly enclosure.

Prior to joining Otago Museum, Ian held a number of leading positions in science engagement including directorships at the Armagh Planetarium in Northern Ireland, the Astronaut Memorial Planetarium and Observatory in Florida and the Science and Industry Museum in Manchester. He has also served as chief executive officer of Stardome in Auckland, head of public outreach at NASA and chief executive of the Oxford Trust.

While undertaking research for his PhD in astronomy, Ian discovered 26 asteroids. His enthusiasm for the night sky remains undimmed and in his spare time he can often be found chasing aurora and photographing comets and constellations. He shares his knowledge through a weekly column in the Otago Daily Times and is a strong advocate for the preservation of Dunedin’s dark skies. In recognition of his contribution to science communication in New Zealand, Ian was awarded the Prime Minister’s Science Media Communication prize in 2015, and in June 2019 was made a Companion of the Royal Society Te Apārangi.