5 February 2026

Join Joseph Gum, team member for the Repository Crisis Scorecard research project, and WDS’s Reyna Broadhurst and Meredith Goins for a hands-on workshop to help repositories evaluate their resilience during normal operations.

WDS calls on all data repositories to join us for this two-hour workshop today, 5 February, from 10:00 to noon PT | 13:00 to 15:00 ET |18:00 to 20:00 UTC to learn more about the scorecard, begin completing it, and discuss insights and questions that came up during the quiet individual work.

Office Hours:

Two 1-hour office hours will be held two weeks later to help individuals who need more time and further assistance in completing their scorecard. If you are unable to attend the webinar on 5 February, you can still join us for one of our office hour sessions on 19 February!

Thursday, 19 February

5:00 PT | 8:00 ET | 13:00 UTC

Thursday, 19 February

11:00 PT | 14:00 ET | 19:00 UTC

Celebrate International Love Data Week with WDS! Join our expert panel—featuring speakers from Research Organization Registry (ROR), DataCite, Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information (KISTI), and Worldwide Protein DataBank (wwPDB)—to explore how persistent identifiers (PIDs) strengthen trust and facilitate discovery in research data. 

To accommodate our global community, we’re hosting two sessions for different time zones:

When: 10 February at 19:00 UTC 

Featuring: Use case from Worldwide Protein DataBank (wwPDB), highlighting their experiences with PIDs for data discoverability and integrity 

When:10 February at 23:00 UTC

Featuring: Use case from Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information (KISTI), covering benefits, challenges, solutions adopted, and lessons learned from implementing PIDs in their workflows 

Both sessions will present real-world experiences, practical guidance, and opportunities for Q&A—supporting data professionals, librarians, research managers, and repository staff in integrating PIDs into their workflows.

The Académie des Sciences supports research, science education, and scientific life as a whole. The Academy’s reports provide the tools to understand scientific debate and thus contribute to shedding light on societal issues. It has conducted research on the political, ethical, and societal challenges posed by scientific questions since its creation in 1666. The Academy participates in the dissemination of knowledge; is involved in societal debates; and contributes to education, promotes scientific culture, and contributes to the internationalization of science. 

WDS and The Académie des Sciences are well suited to partner together to further research and the dissemination of scientific knowledge. Both WDS and The Académie des Sciences work toward contributing to relevant scientific research and the global scientific community. The Académie des Sciences became an associate member of the World Data System in March 2013.

Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) is an international consortium of 800+ academic and research bodies, providing leadership and training in data access, curation, and analytical methods for social science. ICPSR collaborates with funders, including federal US agencies, to develop themed data collections and projects. Their research delves into digital curation challenges and policy initiatives. 

WDS and ICPSR share a common goal to ensure data is stored and preserved following the FAIR principles for long-term data storage. As caretakers of data long-term, ICPSR works diligently to maintain stringent data management policies, a practice supported by the WDS mission. The data management policies used by ICPSR align well with WDS’ work to aid in the creation of accessible, first-class data, making the partnership between WDS and ICPSR ideal. ICPSR became a regular member of the World Data System in February 2016.

This two-day workshop will be held 5-6 March 2026 at the University of Hamburg in Hamburg, Germany. It will focus on the interfaces between language- and text-based research data and related disciplines in the fields of society, health, and medicine. The aim of the workshop is to examine domains that have not yet been the focus of Text+ and to explore how research data management (RDM) for text- and language-based research can be designed in these interdisciplinary contexts.

Registration Deadline: 12 February 2026

Registration Fee: €40.00

The Social Sciences and Humanities Open Marketplace is hosting a series of eight hands-on workshops beginning 20 February 2026. Workshop participants will be able to design and implement customized application scenarios by utilizing the SSH Open Marketplace to create, curate, and disseminate tailored resource lists or complex catalogs that meet the specific needs and standards of their respective research communities.

Training Series Learning Objectives:

The Repositories and Digital Preservation webinar, hosted by Controlled LOCKSS [Lots of Copies Keep Stuff Safe] (CLOCKSS), will feature Dr. Luís Miguel Nunes Corujo, co-author of “Preservation and Digital Repositories: Connections, Possibilities, and Needs,” and Dr. Alicia Wise from CLOCKSS. They will explore how repositories and digital preservation work together to protect our scholarly and cultural record. This session will cover why preservation and repositories form essential research infrastructure, the often-hidden costs and organizational commitments behind ensuring long-term access, the vital role of digital curation in safeguarding institutional memory and societal heritage, and what it takes to build resilient, future-ready systems in an era of rapid technological change. 

Date and Time: 23 February 2026, 15:00 UTC 

The 3rd FAIR Digital Objects (FDO) Conference will be held 24-27 March 2026 in Vienna, Austria. The conference will focus on strengthening trust and data governance, establishing of a global FDO ecosystem, and advancing dataspace integration. Attendees will have the opportunity to participate in shaping the next steps together with experts from different regions of the globe and from different sectors. 

Important Dates: 

Regular Registration – 1-28 February 2026 

Late Registration – Starts 1 March 2026 

The State of Digital Preservation in Repositories: Policies, Practices, and Gaps webinar, hosted by Controlled LOCKSS [Lots of Copies Keep Stuff Safe] (CLOCKSS), will feature José Manuel Barrueco (University of Valencia, Spain), co-author of a comprehensive systematic literature review on digital preservation in institutional repositories, and Dr. Alicia Wise (CLOCKSS). During their in-depth conversation, they will unpack what we actually know about preservation policies, strategies, tools, and implementation across global institutional repositories and why so many repositories remain unprepared for long-term stewardship. 

Date and Time: 24 March 2026, 16:00 UTC 

The Society for Imaging Science and Technology (IS&T) Archiving 2026 conference will take place 20-23 July 2026 at Harvard University’s David Rubenstein Treehouse in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. The conference will showcase the latest research in imaging, digitization, and their related fields; delve into emerging technologies, strategic approaches, and policy frameworks; highlight case studies as benchmarks; and explore diverse platforms and visualization methods to deepen connections with collections. Registration opens 30 March 2026. 

Key Themes: 

The Digital Library Federation (DLF) is inviting participation in their DLF Assessment Interest Group's (DLF AIG) working group on metadata. Anyone interested in contributing time to digital library assessment can join a DLF AIG working group, regardless of DLF membership or forum attendance. 

How to Participate:

For questions about the larger DLF Assessment Interest Group, contact the DLF AIG leader, Kate Flynn (kef@uic.edu). For questions about participating contact Hannah Tarver (hannah.tarver@unt.edu).

The 46th COSPAR Scientific Assembly and Associated Events (COSPAR 2026) will be held 1-9 August 2026 in Florence, Italy. The call for abstracts is currently open and will close on 13 February 2026. Conference registration details can be found here.

The Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) Open Science Conference offers scientists from various disciplines and countries the opportunity to present their work, network, and participate actively in SCAR’s scientific activities. The 12th SCAR Open Science Conference will take place in Oslo, Norway, from 8-19 August 2026. The program features 50 sessions across the Physical Sciences, Geosciences, Life Sciences, Humanities, and Social Sciences, along with a large selection of cross-disciplinary themes. 

Abstract Submission Deadline: 28 February 2026

Special Collection: Open Data for Quantitative Diachronic Linguistics

Researchers, scholars, and practitioners are invited to contribute to a Special Collection of the Journal of Open Humanities Data (JOHD) that focuses on open data for Quantitative Diachronic Linguistics. The special collection focuses on open data for quantitative diachronic linguistics. Data papers describing openly available datasets relevant to diachronic linguistics, regardless of language, language family, or historical period are welcomed. 

Abstract Submission Deadline: 28 February 2026 

Deadline Extended: JOHD Special Collection on Language Data Reuse 

Researchers working with language datasets are invited to contribute to a new Special Collection of the Journal of Open Humanities Data (JOHD), focusing on the innovative reuse of mono- and multilingual language datasets across the humanities. This initiative seeks to highlight diverse cases where existing deposited language data has been repurposed within research projects from any humanities discipline. Submissions may also describe how data reuse efforts have led to the creation of new datasets. 

This is the last chance to submit. Those interested are encouraged to submit discussion papers (3,000–5,000 words) that detail the reuse of one or more existing language datasets, ideally those created by others. 

Submission deadline: 1 March 2026 

The Global Data Festival and Kenya Space Expo & Conference will take place 2-5 June 2026 in Nairobi, Kenya. The conference is now accepting proposals for sessions. Framing questions, focus topics, and submission guidelines for session proposals can be found here.

Submission Deadline: 1 March 2026, 23:59 East Africa Time

The CLARIN Conference 2026 will take place in Brighton, United Kingdom and online from 29 September-1 October 2026. The conference is organized for the wider Humanities and Social Sciences (SSH) community to exchange experiences and best practices in working with the CLARIN infrastructure and to share plans for future developments. Submissions describing CLARIN-related work addressing the following aspects are invited:

Submission Deadline: 6 April 2026

The Integrated Research on Disaster Risk (IRDR) program is taking submissions for an upcoming special issue in the Journal of Hazards, Risk and Resilience (JHRR). This special issue will focus on advancing community-based disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation, with a particular focus on innovative research led by young scientists. Themes and submission guidelines can be found here. 

Submission Deadline: 30 April 2026

The European Open Science Cloud Association (EOSC) Federation has three open calls to support the growth of its organization:

Enrollment Call – EOSC Tripartite Governance:

Invites organizations to join the second wave of the EOSC Federation’s build-up phase, requiring them to enroll as an EOSC Node, submit a Project Charter, develop use cases, and demonstrate their capacity to function as a community gateway. No funding provided.  

Preparatory Grants – EOSC Gravity:

Designed to support the preparatory work of potential future EOSC Nodes. The main objective is to develop a Project Charter for a subsequent, separate application to the Enrollment Call of the EOSC Tripartite Governance. Total funding: €800,000 Maximum grant amount: €50,000 per project 

Inter-project Grants – EOSC Gravity:

Aims to expand the services offered through the EOSC Federation and to demonstrate the benefits for end users. This can be achieved in two ways: by developing scientific use cases, or by piloting the onboarding of new services into existing EOSC Nodes, without the requirement to become an EOSC Node at this stage. Total funding: €400,000 Maximum grant amount: €50,000 per project 

Submission Deadline: 18 February 2026

Schmidt Sciences is requesting proposals to the Humanities and AI Virtual Institute (HAVI), aimed at fostering research in the digital humanities with a particular focus on artificial intelligence. Ideal projects will have co-Principal Investigators with expertise from both the humanities and AI and will address research questions from both domains. This request is open to universities and non-profits globally. 

Two funding levels will be open for application:  

Level I: $100,000 - $299,999 

Aimed at new research projects without an established record of past success. It could be newly established collaborations or established teams, but the research is in an early stage.  

Level II: $300,000 - $800,000 

Aimed at scaling up and expanding mature projects. Applicants should be prepared to discuss the results of a previous planning or prototyping stage and how further funding will enable their project to reach its intended goals. 

Submission Deadline: 13 March 2026 

The 10 New Insights in Climate Science, a joint initiative of Future Earth, The Earth League, and the World Climate Research Program, is requesting input from experts in the global community of climate change researchers. Contributions from researchers around the world, spanning disciplines across the natural and social sciences, are invited to complete this form. Relevant topics encompass a broad scholarship on the underlying bio/geophysical patterns and processes of the climate system, the impacts of climate change, as well as the means and barriers to addressing the climate emergency.

Completing the questionnaire takes approximately 10 minutes.

Submission Deadline: 8 February 2026

The International Association of Scientific, Technical & Medical Publishers (STM) is requesting feedback on the draft of the STM Alt Text Task & Finish Group (TFG) Draft Image-Type Taxonomy for Scholarly Images. This draft is the result of a collaborative effort by STM members to support accessible publishing, with a focus on helping authors and publishers write better image descriptions (alt text). The Task and Finish Group (TFG) includes accessibility experts and publishing professionals from across the US, UK, and Europe. The draft taxonomy is available for public comment until 28 February 2026. Feedback will help ensure this resource is useful, usable, and inclusive. 

A virtual overview of the draft report, including a demonstration of the interactive tool that complements the taxonomy, will be held live on 10 February 2026.

The LOCKSS Program at Stanford University is conducting research to assess digital preservation practices, capacity, and needs at memory institutions worldwide, expanding on a survey conducted in 2019 as part of the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS)-funded Stepping Stones project. Data from this new survey will help identify the geographic regions and communities with the greatest need for new digital preservation services and networks, highlight potential opportunities to build community-owned preservation infrastructure, and complement other assessment projects related to digital preservation, including the National Digital Stewardship Alliance's (NDSA) Staffing Survey and the Digital Preservation Coalition's Rapid Assessment Model (DPC-RAM). 

All those who work with born-digital and digitized collection materials in any institutional setting are welcome to participate. The survey should take about 15 minutes to complete and questions can be previewed here.

Sign up to receive monthly WDS updates and news.

Have something to share in our next newsletter? Send us the information below!