We are delighted to announce that Carly Robinson will be joining SPARC as a Senior Policy Fellow. In this newly-created role, she will lead the organization’s efforts to advance open research policies with a specific focus on promoting best practices in the use of persistent identifiers (PIDs) and metadata. Her role will also include exploring the intersection of AI and research access policies, as well as collaborating with SPARC’s broader advocacy team.
Robinson has a wealth of experience working in policy and leadership roles for nearly 10 years in the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI). As the Assistant Director leading the Office of Information Products and Services since 2019, she oversaw teams focused on providing PID services, managing search tools for finding DOE-funded research, and curating metadata describing research outputs.
Robinson has an in-depth knowledge of the federal public access policy landscape, co-authoring the 2023 DOE Public Access Plan and leading agency implementation efforts. She also served on the White House National Science and Technology Council’s Subcommittee on Open Science, co-chairing subgroups on both persistent identifiers and open science infrastructure and providing PID subject matter expertise.
A recognized international leader in the open research and persistent identifier communities, Robinson has held elected board positions with key PID organizations, including ORCID and DataCite, and serves on various PID working and steering groups. She has also built and managed PID services at DOE OSTI, including the U.S. Government ORCID Consortium serving 15 federal agencies, DOI services supporting about 80 repositories assigning identifiers to R&D outputs funded by DOE and other agencies, and the first US government service assigning DOIs to awards.
Robinson was previously a AAAS Science & Technology Policy Fellow serving in the US Senate and then the DOE Office of Science where she helped develop DOE’s first policy for digital research data management. She also has past experience working in the Office of Government Relations at the University of Colorado.
Robinson became aware of open research while a graduate student attending a National Association of Graduate-Professional Students legislative action days event in Washington, D.C. “I first learned about the idea of open access through a SPARC presentation and was able to bring that back to the University of Colorado student government,” said Robinson, who worked with the CU students and university libraries to garner broader support for a campus-wide open access policy.
Robinson says she’s looking forward to working with SPARC to advance policies related to persistent identifiers and high-quality metadata, both of which are hugely beneficial for the research ecosystem.
“I’m excited to bring my public access background and PID infrastructure development experience from within the federal government into this new role where I’ll be able to work more directly with SPARC members and advance policies in their interest,” Robinson said.
Robinson has a Ph.D. and master’s degree in atmospheric chemistry from the University of Colorado, and a bachelor’s degree in applied physics from Michigan Technological University.