New Chair of the Board for SPARC Europe

The SPARC Europe Board elected a new Chair of the Board at its March 2019 Board Meeting. The new Chair is Mr Ignasi Labastida i Juan.

Ignasi works in the Research Unit of the CRAI (Learning and Research Resources Center-Library) at the University of Barcelona (UB). Ignasi has been working on making Open Access, Open Science and Open Education a reality for almost 20 years. He oversees the Open projects at the University of Barcelona (open access, open science, open education resources). He is also a member of the Steering Committee of the Information & Open Access Policy Group at the LERU and co-author of the LERU Roadmap on Open Science and Research Data and a member of the Working Group on Open Science at CRUE (Spanish National Conference of Rectors). Ignasi also introduced Creative Commons to Spain leading the porting of the licenses and their translation into six languages. He has also been part of the LIBER WG on copyright; and still has a firm interest in author rights.

       “I am honoured to chair the Board of SPARC Europe, especially now – at a time when we are expecting what could amount to sweeping change to the current scholarly publishing system. In the coming years we will see how Plan S principles are implemented by funders, publishers, service providers and research institutions. We will also see how the FAIR principles will be extended from research data to any research output. We can also expect to see a shift in how institutions foster and influence this change by contributing funds to open infrastructure, and by supporting a reimagining of the way research is assessed.  SPARC Europe will contribute to making openness a reality and the default. Members of SPARC Europe are committed to realising this change; and I look forward to working with the Board to help achieve it.

I would like to thank Jan Erik Frantsvåg for the many years of service he has devoted to SPARC Europe as a member and chair of the Board. In this, his final year on the Board, his advice will be invaluable. While there is much work ahead,  I believe we will succeed with the help of our Board members, especially the newly-elected vice chair Marlène Delhaye, and our executive director Vanessa Proudman.”