Digital Science, a technology company that invests in and incubates technology companies serving the needs of scientific and research communities today announced the appointment of Simon Porter to the role of VP Academic Relationships and Knowledge Architecture. Porter joins Digital Science’s Research Metrics team from the University of Melbourne, where he has worked for the past 15 years.
Porter is joining the recently appointed Managing Director, Daniel Hook, in Digital Science’s growing team to help build innovative external partnerships in Europe, North America and Australasia, and work with the company’s senior team to formulate product strategy.
During his time at the University of Melbourne, Porter held roles that spanned the Library, Research Administration, and Information Technology. He has forged a career transforming University practices in how data about research is used, both from administrative and eResearch perspectives. In addition to making key contributions to research information visualisation and discovery, Porter is well known for his advocacy of Research Profiling Systems and their capability to create new opportunities for researchers. Over the past three years, he has established and run the annual Australasian conference on research profiling. In 2012, Porter was the program chair of the third annual VIVO conference held in Miami.
Commenting on the appointment, Daniel Hook, Managing Director of Digital Science said: ‘We’re extremely proud that Simon is joining Digital Science’s growing team. He brings a deep understanding, passion and vision for how tomorrow’s research systems will be different and better than today’s. His experience of bringing about real change with research, data and discovery will be critical to foster collaboration between Digital Science and our institutional partners.”
Simon Porter said: ‘I am honoured to be a part of the hugely exciting next stage of Digital Science’s growth and its mission to allow researchers to work smarter and discover more. I look forward to being part of a team that continues to build close relationships with institutions, funders and publishers to ensure Digital Science is aligned with the needs of its partners and clients.’
