Sara Graves, CODATA Secretary General Bonnie Carroll, CODATA EC Member

1. CODATA Activities and PlansBoard on Research Data and Information / US CODATAFebruary 26-27, 2013 Sara Graves, CODATA Secretary General Bonnie Carroll, CODATA EC Member

2. CODATA Conference and GA CODATA Conference in Taipei, Taiwan – October 30-31, 2012 with several hundred attendees CODATA General Assembly met in Taipei, Taiwan – November 1-2, 2012. The President acknowledged the importance of expanding the membership structure of the organization. To this end he welcomed Mongolia, Finland and Czech Republic as new Members. Representatives of each country were present at the meeting and each gave a brief presentation to the delegates. Approval of formal membership was presented to the delegates and after discussion the following Resolutions were adopted. Approval of Mongolia The 28thGenerally Assembly unanimously approves the application of Mongolia, under the Mongolian Academy of Sciences, to become an official Member of CODATA with immediate effect, thereby allowing Mongolia to exercise its vote at the meeting. Approval of Finland The 28thGenerally Assembly unanimously approves the application of Finland through the Council of Finnish Academies to become an official Member of CODATA effective from 2013. Approval of Czech Republic The 28thGeneral Assembly unanimously approves the application of the Czech Republic to become an official Member of CODATA effective from 2013.

3. ICSU/CODATA Review The review panel appointed by ICSU attended the meeting as observers. Dr. Kari Raivio, Chair of the Review Committee, briefly introduced the panel and its work. On behalf of the panel he expressed his appreciation to the CODATA Community for all its input into the work of the panel and noted that the panel had many constructive discussions over the course of the three day conference. The first draft of the report is scheduled to be complete in early spring.

4. Membership Strategy Statute 3.1 – Membership Modify: 3.1 CODATA shall be composed of seven kinds of members: Add: f) Affiliate Member. An Affiliate Member shall be an international organization, an academic institution, or a research institution having an interest in data science and a desire to work with CODATA in support of CODATA’s mission. Affiliate Members shall pay annual dues and receive benefits as determined and updated periodically by the Executive Committee. Applicants for Affiliate Membership must be approved by the Executive Committee and must pay their first year’s dues before receiving any privileges of membership. Affiliate Members who are fully current on their annual dues 90 days in advance of the General Assembly have the right to vote on one Delegate to represent the category of Affiliate Members at the General Assembly. A minimum of five (5) Affiliate Members in good standing is required to elect a Delegate. The Delegate has the same rights as other National and Regional Member delegates to nominate candidates, vote in elections, vote on Task Groups, and vote on financial issues. If there are more than fifty (50) Affiliate Members in good standing, the General Assembly may authorize an additional Delegate to represent the Affiliate Member category. g) At-Large Member. An At-Large Member shall be an individual scientist, expert, or other professional having an interest in data science and a desire to work with CODATA in support of CODATA’s mission. At-Large Members shall pay annual dues and receive benefits as determined and updated periodically by the Executive Committee. Applicants for At-Large Membership must be approved by the Executive Committee and must pay their first year’s dues before receiving any privileges of membership. At-Large Members who are fully current on their annual dues 90 days in advance of the General Assembly have the right to vote on one Delegate to represent the category of At-Large Members at the General Assembly. A minimum of ten (10) At-Large Members in good standing is required to elect a Delegate. The Delegate has the same rights as other National and Regional Member Delegates to nominate candidates, vote in elections, vote on Task Groups, and vote on financial issues. If there are more than one hundred (100) At-Large Members in good standing, the General Assembly may authorize an additional Delegate to represent the Affiliate Member category.

5. Activities with other organizations The Secretary General gave a summary to delegates on various CODATA activities that took place since the 27thCODATA General Assembly in collaboration with other partner organizations in particular its work with: • ICSU/OECD on Nanomaterials • Group on Earth Observations in particular with the Data Sharing Task Force • The ICSU World Data System • Integrated Research on Disaster Risk • International Society for Digital Earth • ICSU Committee on Freedom and Responsibility in Science Details of these activities and others can be found in the presentation in Annex Eight. The Delegates emphasized the importance of reaching out to new partners and developing new activities. Concerning interaction with ICSU- and in particular Future Earth- the new 10 year programme on integrated earth system research for global sustainability established by ICSU, ISSC, the Belmont Forum, UNEP, UNESCO, UNU and WMO as observer http://www.icsu.org/future-earth a brief discussion took place on CODATA’s involvement in the initiative as it evolves. This was strongly encouraged. CODATA and WDS have an important role to play in addressing the data challenges that will inevitably arise as the initiative develops. Hard lesson can be learned from the IPY experience in this area.

6. CODATA Strategic Plan The Secretary General of CODATA gave a detailed presentation of proposed Strategic Plan 2013-3018, including a review of the 2006-2012 Plan. (Annex Nine for details). The plan was well received by delegates and some discussions centered on the importance of strengthening collaboration with the ICSU WDS as both organizations evolved. Reference was made to the SCCID recommendations in this regard. Moving forward the following resolution was adopted: “The 28thCODATA General Assembly sincerely thanks Dr. Robert Chen and the Strategic Planning Committee for its work on the Draft Strategic Plan 2013-2018 as presented to the delegates. The delegates approve the draft document subject to the Strategic Planning Committee updating the Plan to reflect the discussions at the Assembly and submit same to the 58th Executive Committee for final ratification. It further directs the Executive Committee to put in place the relevant mechanisms necessary for implementation”

7. Early Career Scientists Activities Paul Laughton presented the activities of the Early Career scientists at the meeting. (Annex Ten) This followed discussions by the delegates. They subsequently approved the following resolution: The 28thCODATA General Assembly approves the establishment of an Early Career Working Group and invites the Early Career scientists who participated at the 23rdCODATA Conference to liaise with the Secretary General to formulate the Terms of Reference of the Group together with the proposed list of working group members and outline of their activities. These should be submitted to the 58th Executive Committee for ratification. It directs the Executive Committee to appoint an official EC liaison to the early career Working Group.

8. Task Groups The Following Task Groups were approved for the period 2012-2014:  Anthropometric Data and Engineering  Advancing Informatics for Microbiology  Data at Risk  Data Citation Standards and Practices  Earth and Space Science Data Interoperability  Exchangeable Materials Data Representation to Support Scientific Research and Education  Fundamental Physical Constants  Global Information Commons for Science  Global Roads Data Development  Linked Open Data for Global Disaster Risk Research  Octopus: Mining Space Data and Terrestrial Data for improved Weather Climate and Agricultural Predictions  Preservation of and Access to Scientific and Technical Data in/for/with Developing Countries (PASTD)

9. CODATA Officers and Ordinary Members elected by the 28thCODATA General Assembly Secretary General Sara GRAVES, (US) (2012-2016) Treasurer: John BROOME, (Canada) (2012-2016) Ordinary Members 2012 – 2014 Niv AHITUV (Israel) Alok BHATTACHARYA (India) Bonnie CARROLL (USA) Refiloe MABASO (South Africa) Hiro-o HAMAGUCHI (Japan) Der-Tsai LEE (Academy of Sciences located in Taipei, China) Mark THORLEY (UK) Mary ZBOROWSKI (Canada)

10. Data Science Journal The 28th CODATA General Assembly thanks Prof. Gojobori for the report of the Journal Working Group and the presentation of alternative options for the Data Science Journal (DSJ) developed in consultation with Prof. Iwata. The General Assembly also sincerely thanks Prof. Iwata and the Japanese National Committee for CODATA for their continued support of the DSJ and willingness to explore new ways to achieve CODATA's goals with regard to the journal. The 28thCODATA General Assembly is especially excited about the potential for enhancing the visibility and stature of the DSJ by partnering with a major publisher such as Nature Publishing Group, Wiley-Blackwell, or the Public Library of Science (PLOS). The General Assembly asks the Executive Committee to work with the Journal Working Group* to define basic and desired criteria for such a partnership and then initiate more direct discussions with interested publishers, bearing in mind the need for flexibility in financial models for readers and authors. The Executive Committee is authorized to determine how the Journal will be published for the next four years. * Takashi Gojobori, Shuichi Iwata, Robert Chen, Mark Thorley and Sara Graves

11. Future Earth: Global Earth Change CommunityWorkshop CODATA and WDS participated in November at the Future Earth: Global Earth Change Community Workshop held in UNESCO in Paris. We Co-Chaired a Data Management Break-out Session within the workshop. This discussed data management requirements and challenges of Future Earth. A report on the Session was presented to plenary: http://www.icsu.org/future-earth/whats-new/events/gec-project-workshop. CODATA and WDS are now discussing submitting a nomination  for the Future Earth Scientific Committee as follow up to the Call for Nominations circulated by  ICSU regarding same. We also had a number of informal meetings with ICSU regarding data issues within the initiative as it evolves.

12. Application to ICSU CODATA in December submitted a grant application to ICSU under its Grants Program 2013. If successful this will build on the Nano Material activities commenced last year and discussed in Taipei. It will focus on The Description of Materials on the Nanoscale. This activity is taking place in collaboration with many of the ICSU Scientific Unions. The Core Team of the CODATA/VAMASWorking group, who are leading this project, is scheduled to meet at CODATA Headquarters in May 2013.

13. FutureNanoNeeds CODATA is currently working withtheCentre For BioNano Interactions (CBNI) School of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, University College Dublin- the lead organization- on a European funding application focussed on FutureNanoNeeds(Note CODATA is but one of many partners in this consortium). We are now in phase 2 of the proposal process. Will keep you posted on how this evolves.

14. Research Data Alliance A CODATA/RDA Working Group proposal will be submitted this week to the Research Data Alliance http://rd-alliance.org/ on “Legal Interoperability of Data”, for its consideration. The official launch of RDA will take place in March in Sweden. CODATA will be represented at the event.

15. WSSF Conference CODATA and WDS have submitted a joint panel proposal for consideration to the World Social Science Forum, WSSF Conference in October 2013. http://www.wssf2013.org/ If accepted this will focus on “Data Management Challenges For Social And Natural Sciences"

16. 58th CODATA Executive Committee Preparations are currently underway for the 58th CODATA Executive Committee which will take place in Paris of 15th and 16th of April. This will piggy back with the WDS Scientific Committee meeting. Representatives of both organizations will meet to discuss joint collaborative opportunities as the organizations move forward- with particular emphasis on preparations leading to the International Conference in New Delhi in 2014.

17. 2014 Conference Plans CODATA secretariat is currently discussing logistics with our Indian Colleagues on possible conference dates and locations for the 2014 event. This will be discussed in greater details at the Executive Committee in April.

18. CODATA Dues Structure The CODATA Dues Committee, appointed to Review CODATA Dues Structure, as discussed in Taipei, has had series of teleconferences since November  to discuss the Review Strategy. The first report of the Group is almost complete and will be circulated shortly to the Executive Committee members.

19. Strategic Plan 2013-2018 The Chair of the Strategic Planning Committee is updating the Strategic Plan 2013-2018 as discussed in Taipei and this will be circulated to the Executive Committee for consideration and ratification and a mechanism put into place for implementation.

20. Ancillary Administrative Actions • Report of end of year activities can be found on http://www.codata.org/highlights/Highlights2012.pdf • January Newsletter can be accessed on http://www.codata.org/resources/newsletters/Newsletter_105.pdf • Follow up has been made with the elected Task Groups in Taipei and the March Newsletter will be a special edition focused on their perspectives of the data challenges in the context of their activities over the coming two years. • 2012 Audit is currently under preparation and will be discussed by the Executive Committee in April.