Strengthening DataCite's Community Governance: Welcoming New Members to the Executive Board

We are pleased to announce the results of the 2026 DataCite Board elections, which were confirmed during last week's annual Business Meeting of the General Assembly. 

Along with the DataCite membership, DataCite's Board plays a central role in supporting robust community governance, global representation, and collaborative stewardship of open research infrastructure. Individuals from DataCite member organizations are eligible to stand for election. In support of equity, diversity, and balanced geographical representation, we encourage candidates from all regions and backgrounds. For the 2026 election cycle, we had open seats due to term completions of four existing Board members – one for the Middle East and North Africa region, and three for Europe.

We warmly welcome the following newly elected Board members:

Bessem Aamira
Head of IT, CNUDST, Tunisia

Véronique Stoll
Director of Recherche Gouv, Ministry of Higher Education and Research, France

Jose Benito
Gonzalez Lopez
Head of Institutional Repositories, CERN, Switzerland

Merilen Ivask-Oprelianska
Research Database Specialist, University of Tartu Library, Estonia

The Board and the DataCite community also wish to express sincere gratitude to long-time Board members Mohamed Ba-Essa (Abdullah University of Science and Technology), Mark Hahnel (figshare), Marco Marsella (FAO), and Salvatore Mele (CERN), who are completing their terms in 2026. Their dedication, expertise, and commitment to DataCite's mission have been invaluable in shaping the organization's strategic direction and governance over many years of service.

We are grateful to all candidates, voting members, and member organizations who contributed to this year's election process. We look forward to the year ahead and to continuing our work together to improve DataCite as a shared open infrastructure — built by, for, and with the global research community.