Theresa Pardo, CTG deputy director, was recently named to the Advisory Board of the Data Center for Applied Research in Social Sciences (BIIACS), which is part of Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas, A.C. (CIDE) in Mexico. The mission of BIIACS is to address the serious limitations regarding access to information in social sciences research in Mexico and Latin America. This information bank will allow Mexico to progress in the area of digital information systems, which enable the creation of infrastructure that facilitates user access, as well as to connect and collaborate with a broad network of universities and organizations around the world that are already incorporated.

The current director of BIIACS is former CTG post-doctoral fellow Ramon Gil-Garcia. According to Gil-Garcia, “BIIACS not only seeks to become a depository for information, but to develop into an important node over the medium term in an international network of information banks able to provide access to localized databases in different countries around the world.”

The objectives of BIIACS are:

• To gather, preserve, and provide access to databases in the field of Social Sciences.
• Undertake comprehensive analysis (quantitative and qualitative) of the available information.
• Support and facilitate better decision making based on reliable information and scientific analysis of the highest quality.

The Advisory Board is made up of representatives from CIDE and diverse external organizations that produce or consume large amounts of information with the potential to help BIIACS to better understand and resolve social problems. As a member of this board, among other duties, Theresa will help to guarantee the donation of databases, provide support to financing activities as well as to give practical advice on the management of information and databases.