Stirling academic joins new national open government network group

A senior University of Stirling academic has been appointed to a new national panel set up to promote open government.

Dr Eddy Borges-Rey, Associate Dean for Research in the Faculty of Arts and Humanities, has been selected to sit on the new steering group for Scotland’s Open Government Network. The Network is a coalition of active citizens and civil society organisations aiming to make government work better for people through enhanced transparency, participation and accountability.

As a member of the Steering Group, Dr Borges-Rey will work with the government in developing a new Scottish action plan to promote open government.

Dr Borges-Rey said: “I have been doing research on open data, data journalism and data literacy over the last seven years, and I truly believe in the ability of data to empower citizens and communities.

“As co-director of the research network Life in Data – which includes stakeholders such as The Scottish Cities Alliance, the Data Lab, Wikimedia UK and Young Scot – that seeks to explore ways of embedding data literacy in policy-making and curriculum design, I believe being part of Scotland’s Open Government Partnership Steering Groups is the right avenue to action these ideas and to enhance overall data literacy in Scotland.

“This way, citizens will be not only able to access open data freely available, but to make better sense of it.”

The Network was formed on the back of Scotland joining the Open Government Partnership’s Subnational Pilot Programme. Through initiating outreach and increasing engagement across Scottish civil society, the Network serves as an engine for new ideas and as a collective voice to collaborate with and challenge government.

Membership of the Network is open to any individual or civil society organisation.