Jaron Porciello has been named as an area editor for the Cambridge University journal Data & Policy, an open access journal dedicated to the potential of data science to address important policy challenges.

Data & Policy aims to promote a new theory of policy-data interactions by publishing work that considers systems of policy and data and how they relate to each other, according to the journal. The peer-reviewed journal accepts contributions from academia and other experts, such as international organizations, government, non-profit or private sectors, and the general public.

Area editors play an important role in strategic development for the journal. According to Data & Policy, area editors help commission and review papers; promote community activities; and provide thought leadership across core areas of interest. Porciello will join the interdisciplinary area with a focus on data-driven transformations in policy and governance.

Porciello is an information and data scientist in the Department of Global Development, part of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, and she brings together technology, group work and research methods to connect policy and science across a global food system. She is co-director of Ceres2030 and Agriculture in the Digital Age, and has extensive experience leading and managing global projects in agriculture and rural development.

”The digital revolution has transformed policy and data interactions, and there's a real need to better understand how data is being used to inform decision-making,” Porciello said. “This area is complex and highly dimensional, and the scientific and domain expertise needed to inform how data governance is shaped cannot be informed from one discipline or one sector. Data & Policy provides a forum for interdisciplinary, multi-sector expertise to come together to answer these questions.”

Zeynep Engin, editor-in-chief for Data & Policy, said she is delighted to have Porciello join the area committee.

“Jaron’s expertise on digital technology and data analytics in agriculture will be a valuable contribution to the committee, which, with the other area committees, will play an integral part in the strategic development of the journal and the conference,” Engin said.

Porciello will lead a special track at the sixth International Data for Policy Conference in London from Sept. 14-16, 2021. The special track “Arguments, algorithms and tools: what do we need to shape policy and confront misinformation post-pandemic?” will explore lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic with an emphasis on the relationship between discourse quality and algorithmic mediation.

This article also appeared in the CALS Newsroom.

Matt Hayes is associate director for communications for Global Development in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.