Alastair Dunning has been appointed the new Director of DANS, Dutch Centre of Expertise and National Repository, CESSDA’s Dutch Service Provider. Alastair will step into the role on 5 October this year. He succeeds Anja Smit, who retired earlier this year.

Dunning is currently the Head of Research Services at the TU Delft Library and has held various senior positions during his career, including Director of the international data repository 4TU.ResearchData.

Dunning says he is keen on working within the CESSDA network, and looks forward to to DANS continuing to play an active role within the consortium: 

"Good research crosses international borders. The underlying data is no exception. As the new director of DANS, I am keen to drive forward CESSDA's role as a connecting force for social science data in Europe,” said Dunning. 

Dunning has previously worked for the Arts and Humanities Data Service and Jisc in the United Kingdom, the Europeana Foundation, 4TU.ResearchData and TU Delft in the Netherlands. As the Director of DANS, he hopes to “have the opportunity to continue shaping the relationship between research and the digital world, working closely with stakeholders at the national and international level and, of course, with DANS’ own expert staff.”

CESSDA welcomes Dunning to the consortium and we look forward to working with him when he steps into the role. We would also like to thank Anja Smit for our time together, and wish her all the best in her retirement.