SPARC has named Emily Ford as the new Director of the Open Research Funders Group (ORFG), a global coalition of nearly two dozen philanthropic organizations committed to advancing open research practices in service of the public good. In her new role, Ford will lead the group’s efforts to promote the open sharing of research outputs across the charitable and educational sectors.
Ford joins ORFG from Portland State University, where she has served since 2011 as the urban and public affairs librarian at the Branford Price Millar Library. In addition to her academic role, she recently completed a three-year term as president of the Portland State chapter of the American Association of University Professors, where she gained extensive experience in member-led organizational governance and collaborative decision-making.
Ford brings a long-standing commitment to open scholarship and critical engagement in library science. In 2008, she co-founded In the Library with the Lead Pipe, a peer-reviewed, open-access journal that created space for early-career librarians, unconventional ideas, and candid dialogue often absent from traditional publishing platforms. She served on the editorial board of the journal until 2015.
Her scholarly contributions include Peer Review: A Critical Primer and Practical Course (Portland State University, Press Books, 2022) and Stories of Open: Opening Peer Review Through Narrative Inquiry (Association of College and Research Libraries Press, 2021). In recognition of her service, she received a faculty excellence award from Portland State University’s library in 2016. Ford holds dual master’s degrees in Information Science and Library Science from Indiana University Bloomington.
Ford has described her appointment as a culmination of long-standing admiration for SPARC’s work in the open movement and expressed enthusiasm for contributing to its mission on a full-time basis. As Director of ORFG, she aims to deepen member engagement at a time when philanthropic funders are poised to play a pivotal role in shaping the future of open science. ORFG’s member organizations collectively manage more than $255 billion in assets and distribute approximately $12 billion annually in grants.
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