Dr. Michaela Bilic-Merdes is a Programme Director at the Department of Scientific Library Services and Information Systems at the German Research Foundation (DFG). Trained as a molecular biologist (PhD at Heidelberg University, Germany), she began her career in scientific publishing, holding various positions with major publishers in Germany and the US. In these roles, she drove change management processes and helped shaping the digital transformation of scholarly publishing. In 2016, Michaela made the transition from publishing to research funding and joined the DFG as a Programme Director for the Specialized Information Services, where she contributed to building a nationwide infrastructure for advanced scientific information provision.
Today, she focuses on Open Science, with a particular interest on the topic of data tracking. She is also actively involved in national and international working groups on Open Science, including the Science Europe Working Group on Open Science and the German Alliance of Science Organizations Working Group on Digital Infrastructures, Services and Data Tracking.