Dr. Dinesh Katre, Senior Director & Head of Department (HOD), Human-Centred Design and Computing Group, Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), Pune won the Emmett Leahy Award for 2020. Dr. Vijay P Bhatkar founder Executive Director of C-DAC and Chancellor of Nalanda University presented the award to Dinesh Katre.

• He was honoured with the award for his sustained leadership on the issues of digital stewardship and preservation over the past years and for his endeavours in creating the National Digital Preservation Program and its flagship project – Center of Excellence for Digital Preservation.

Note:

i.Due to COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 award ceremony was organised in India at the C-DAC, Pune.

ii.The international members of the Emmett Leahy Award Committee participated in the event over a virtual platform.

Key Points:

i.He supported to provide a robust and trustworthy platform for preserving digital materials.

ii.He played a major role in the introduction of ISO 16363 standard in India.

iii.He led the team that developed Digitalaya, e-library and Archiving system

iv.With his collaborative efforts with Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA), National Cultural Audiovisual Archive (NCAA) received world’s first certification as a trustworthy digital repository in 2017.

About Emmett Leahy Award:

i.The Emmett Leahy Award was instituted in 1967 in the United States of America (USA) to honour the pioneers in the field of Information and record management & the winners were awarded by the Emmett Leahy Award Committee.

ii.The award recognises the contribution of the individuals which has a major impact in the profession.

iii.Preservica is the sponsor organization of the Emmett Leahy Award.