We are deeply saddened to share that our colleague Sarah Jones has passed away unexpectedly. Sarah was a prominent figure in the world of Open Science and Open Research, at once involved with numerous projects through her position as the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) Engagement Manager with GÉANT and in her various roles with the Research Data Alliance (RDA). Above and beyond her contributions and involvement with our community, Sarah is fondly remembered for her infectious personality and inspiring presence.
Many WDS members and staff benefited tremendously from working alongside Sarah, and she will be sorely missed in our community.
ITO Associate Director Reyna Jenkyns first met Sarah at the 2020 National Data Services Framework Summit in Ottawa, organized by Research Data Canada (RDC). David Castle, now WDS Scientific Committee Chair, was previously Chair of the Steering Committee for RDC, and Mark Leggott was the RDC Executive Director. At the 2020 Summit, Sarah was presenting on EOSC activities, and in her usual fashion, delivered one of the major highlights of the conference. Her radiant personality and keen awareness of data developments contributed so much to the community.
ITO Research Associate CJ Woodford met Sarah within the first month of working with the WDS at a Global Open Research Commons (GORC) working group meeting in September 2022. Working with Sarah on the GORC outputs for the interest group and working group was always a joy. Sarah typically brought challenging perspectives to discussions and encouraged the work to go further than originally planned. Sarah, CJ and fellow GORC co-chair Andrew Treloar co-presented the culminating work of both GORC groups at International Data Week 2023 in October. Sarah’s ambition and inspiring energy will be thoroughly missed at RDA, and especially so within the GORC sphere.
The WDS grieves the loss of Sarah Jones, and we express our heartfelt condolences to her family, friends, and colleagues.