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Policy & Ethics Research Area

College of Information Science faculty are leaders in policy and ethics research, including data and information ethics, intellectual property and copyright, law and public policy, open access, rule-oriented data management systems, social justice, and surveillance and society.

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View Select Current & Recent Research

Faculty

Select Current & Recent Research

Current and recent funded faculty research in this area includes but is not limited to the following projects:

Open and FAIR Samples: Maturing the Sample Data Ecosystem
PI: Natalie Raia (The University of Arizona)
Co-PI: Andrea Thomer (The University of Arizona)
Funding: National Science Foundation, $599,462
Project Dates: January 1, 2026 – December 31, 2028 (estimated)
Summary:
This project advances FAIR principles in the Earth and space science sample data ecosystem by promoting widespread adoption of persistent identifier (PID) infrastructure, ensuring that samples are uniquely identified, persistently linked to research outputs and properly cited in the scholarly record. Through analysis, coordination, education and community engagement across researchers, sample repositories, data repositories and publishers, the project aims to build a more integrated and sustainable open science infrastructure for sample-based research.

FAIROS RCN: Ethical Open Science for Past Global Change Data
PI: Andrea Thomer (The University of Arizona)
Funding: National Science Foundation, $246,097
Project Dates: January 1, 2023 – December 31, 2027 (estimated)
Website: eos-rcn.github.io/web/home
Summary:
In this Research Coordination Network (RCN), researchers aim to build technical and social capacity among community-curated data repositories in the quaternary sciences (e.g., paleoecology, archaeology, paleobiology). They are doing this by supporting technical implementation of ethical open science principles and developing communities of practice focused on FAIR principles.