The CODATA Officers and Executive Committee are pleased to announce that Professor B. Burçak Başbuğ and Professor Virginia Murray have been appointed as interim co-chairs of the CODATA International Data Policy Committee (IDPC).
Burçak and Virginia are committed to advancing the work of the Data Policy in Times of Crisis (DPTC) collaboration with UNESCO, which has now reached an important stage: implementing and testing the recommendations contained in the UNESCO-CODATA Toolkit.
They will also oversee the important process of reorienting and refocusing the IDPC’s work. By virtue of this important mission, Burçak and Virginia have also been appointed ex officio members of the CODATA Executive Committee. They have the full support of the CODATA Officers and Executive Committee at this important time for the work of DPTC and IDPC. The interim status will be reviewed at the CODATA Executive Committee meeting currently planned for late 2026.
We thank the previous chair, Mr. Francis Crawley, for his committed and active work for the IDPC during his three-year term from 2022-2025.
Professor B. Burçak Başbuğ is a Professor of Statistics and Disaster Science at the Middle East Technical University (METU), Ankara, Türkiye. She has been working on global disaster risk reduction and governance since the 17 August 1999 Marmara earthquake. More details of her career can be found on the METU website and in Burçak’s LinkedIn account.
Professor Virginia Murray is currently an Honorary Professor at University College London, having worked as a public health doctor committed to improving health emergency and disaster risk management for the UK Health Security Agency. She is currently the chair of the Steering Group for the UNDRR/ISC Hazard Information Profile Steering Group for the 2025 update. Virginia is also an ISC Fellow.