Prof. Dr. Francisca Oladipo

Vice-Chancellor, Thomas Adewumi University, Oko, Nigeria

Prof. Dr. Francisca Oladipo is the Vice-Chancellor of the Thomas Adewumi University in Nigeria. She is the Executive Lead of VODAN-Africa. She is a Computer Scientist and expert on FAIR Data in Africa. She leads the VODAN country teams. These VODAN country teams have been established in Nigeria, Uganda, Rwanda, Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Somalia, Tunisia, Liberia, Guinea Bissau, Zimbabwe, Namibia and South Africa.

Prof. Dr. Janice Busingye

Director of Administration

Prof. Dr. Janice Desire  Busingye is the Treasurer of VODAN responsible for administration and finance. She holds a Doctorate in Community Education and has experience as the Deputy Vice Chancellor of Administration and Finance at Kampala International University where she served for almost a decade. She is based in Uganda. She designed some learning modules and was also responsible for overseeing the quality and certification of the e-learning curricula under the DISH programme.

Her Excellency, Julia Duncan Cassell

Former Honourable Minister of Gender, Children & Social Protection, The Republic of Liberia

Hon. Julia Duncan-Cassell is the Gender Advisor of VODAN. She is the former Minister of Gender for Liberia and works closely with Former first Female President, Hon. Ellen Johnson - Sirleaf on the rights and participation of women in crisis situations.

Dr. Sakinat Folorunso

Olabisi Onabanjo University, Nigeria

Dr. Sakinat Folorunso leads the training programme of VODAN. She is a Computer Scientist with Olabisi Onabanjo University in Nigeria. Her work involved active advocacy for women in tech, particularly in the Women in AI (WAI), for which she is the Nigerian Ambassador, Women in Machine Learning (WiML) adn Women in Data Science (WiDS).

Prof. Dr. Mirjam van Reisen

Professor of FAIR Data at Leiden University Medical Center

Prof. Dr. Mirjam van Reisen is the Principal Investigator of VODAN, a research programme established under LUMC Chair FAIR Data Science. She has established the AHDS FAIR Data Point programme on neglected diseases with Prof. Dr. Meta Roestenberg, the AHDS - ANC programme on women’s health with the Department of Gynaecology and the Hackathon for the training of PhD students in FAIR Data Science.

She is the scientific director of conferences held on FAIR science in 2024 and 2025. She is an advisor of the Africa University Network on FAIR Open Science. She coordinates the PhD Network on Globalisation, Accessibility, Innovation and Care (GAIC), founded under her chair at Tilburg University on International Relations, Innovation and Care.

Aliya Aktau

PhD Researcher

Aliya Aktau leads the work on the FAIR Data Points for VODAN. She worked to establish catalogues of data from the clinical study on Schistosomiasis mansona infection, together with Prof. Dr. Meta Roestenberg in LUMC. She developed the training of certified data stewards in VODAN. She currently has a PhD position at LUMC.

Prof. Dr. Mohammed Mpezamihigo

Vice-Chancellor, Kampala International University

Prof. Dr. Mpezamihigo is the Vice-Chancellor of Equator University of Science and Technology in Uganda. Equator University, which includes the medical research university hospital, is proud to coordinate the VODAN-Africa Research Community, established with the Leiden University Medical Centre (LUMC). VODAN-Africa was established during the pandemic in 2020.

Its success across Africa has led to the establishment of the Africa Health Data Space  (AHDS) with dedicated programmes which target women’s health in the AHDS ANC programme, under the leadership of the Africa University Network on FAIR Open Science and the patronage of HE Fortune Charumbira, President of the AU Pan African Parliament and Former first female President of Africa, HE Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. As VODAN has expanded, it has rebranded as the Value-driven Ownership of Data and Accessibility Network.