Helen Glaves

The 2016 Ian McHarg Medal is awarded to Helen Glaves in recognition of her distinguished research in information technology applied to marine geoscience and, in particular, to her contribution to advance data sharing across different disciplines and organisational boundaries.

Helen Glaves is a driving force in promoting open standards and open access and has been dedicated to bringing together specialists from different corners of the world to address data barriers. Her collaborative research in common vocabularies, metadata formats for discovery and data exchange, data formats, sensor observation and measurements metadata formats, data preservation and value‐added viewing services are helping to remove these barriers and advance research on data interoperability and data management.

Glaves’ contributions to marine geoscience research are remarkable. Ecological planning and ecosystem based management approaches require open access to a vast array of data types. She has initiated, or been an active participant in, several high-profile projects that have contributed to significant advances in the stewardship of and access to marine research data. A common theme has been to establish collaborative relationships among partner organisations and to continue making progress toward harmonisation of research results published in different repositories. She has devoted her career to breaking down barriers and to creating environments that foster long-lasting, collaborative research partnerships.

Also of highlight is her commitment to mentor early career scholars and students despite not holding a traditional teaching position at a university, as well as her efforts in bringing together the international marine community. Glaves participates in (and leads) key international initiatives such as GEO, RDA (Research Data Alliance) or Belmont Forum in order to align results and harmonise efforts on data management. Her persistent and continuing efforts to achieve international cooperation on data management and data preservation make her a worthy recipient of the Ian McHarg Medal.