Natalie Harrower

Dr. Natalie Harrower is the Executive Director of the Canadian Research Data Centre Network (CRDCN). She serves on the Office of the Chief Science Advisor’s National Data Framework Advisory Committee, the Canadian Foundation for Innovation Major Science Initiatives Data WG, the Health Data Research Alliance and the FAIR-IMPACT High Level Advisory Committee.

From 2015-2022 she was Director of the Digital Repository of Ireland, Ireland’s national research infrastructure for data from the humanities, social sciences and cultural heritage. Under her leadership, DRI transformed from a project-funded repository to an award-winning national research infrastructure with a prominent international profile and multiple partnerships across Europe.

Over the last decade, Dr. Harrower has championed Open Science, research infrastructures, and data best practices. She steered Ireland’s National Open Research Forum towards the first national roadmap and budget for Open Science. She helped develop international policy and guidelines on the European Commission’s high-level expert group on FAIR data, the European Open Science Cloud’s (EOSC) first FAIR working groups on Metrics and Certification, the ALLEA Open Science Taskforce, and the OECD Global Science Forum’s expert group on Business Models for Sustainable Data Repositories. A longstanding contributor to the Research Data Alliance, she currently serves as co-chair of the National Data Services interest group. Peer review positions have included Vice-Chair for the European Commission’s Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions Postdoctoral Fellowships, review panel for Switzerland’s SSH Data and Research Infrastructures, and past judge of the Digital Preservation Coalition’s International Digital Preservation Awards.

Dr. Harrower started her career as a researcher and lecturer. She holds a PhD in Drama (performance studies and film) from the University of Toronto, an MA in Political Science (political theory) from York University, and an honours BA in Political Studies and Drama from Queen’s University at Kingston

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