Merc Fox

Merc Fox is the founding director of the CODATA's first program office, the Center of Excellence in Data for Society (CEDS).  Merc is an STS practitioner with deep roots in interdisciplinary research and multilateral science cooperation.  In her current role, she leads a portfolio of governance and research projects that explore the relationship between data and society.  She also administers the CEDS Global Data Forum, which leverages expertise in science policy and data diplomacy by convening global stakeholders to solve problems surrounding data in society.  While pursuing her graduate education, she owned and operated a knowledge brokerage that served both small private venture capital and startup firms, as well as large clients, such as the Library of Congress, George Mason University, Virginia Tech, the University of Melbourne, and the Regulatory Science Institute.  Prior to that, she worked at the U.S. National Academy of Sciences (NASEM)--first, in the Division on Earth and Life Sciences and later in the Policy and Global Affairs Division--on a broad range of programs, including science ethics, disaster diplomacy, metagenomics, women and minority engagement in STEM, science diplomacy, global health, cooperative engagement with Iran and Russia, and cooperative threat reduction. 

Ms. Fox is an observer of the US National CODATA Committee (NASEM) and sits on the editorial board of Blockchain in Healthcare Today.  She holds advisory board positions with Global Women in Blockchain and the FDA/Xavier PharmaLink Consortium Culture and Infrastructure Working Group, and she is an active member of the CODATA International Data Policy Committee, the Research Data Alliance, World Data Systems, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the National Center for Science Education, the American Association of University Women, the Forum on Science Ethics and Policy, the Latin American Scientific Society of Agroecology, and the Society for Social Studies of Science. 

CEDS is hosted at the University of Arizona and incubated by the Data Science Institute (Data7), the School of Information (iSchool, College of Social and Behavioral Sciences), the Center for Digital Society and Data Studies (CDSDS, College of Social and Behavioral Sciences), and the Native Nations Institute (NNI).