10 June 2025

The WDS Community Map has been a valuable resource for some time, offering an up-to-date representation of the global reach of our community. Regular updates ensure it accurately reflects the individuals and organizations that make up WDS.

The map features four key layers, allowing users to explore the structure of the WDS community in detail:

Scientific Committee Members: Locations of committee members who guide WDS in its scientific endeavors.

IPO and ITO Staff: The teams at the International Program Office and International Technology Office who manage daily operations.

WDS Members: Profiles of trusted members contributing to data stewardship worldwide.

Early Career Researchers’ Network: A view of emerging professionals actively engaged in data science.

By openly sharing this information, we aim to foster collaboration and provide a clear understanding of the breadth and composition of the WDS community.

Visit the map today to explore and connect with the people and organizations that form the foundation of WDS!

The WDS Members’ Forum will take place leading up to IDW 2025 on Sunday, 12 October both online and in person in Brisbane, Australia, from 13:00-17:00 AEST. The event will be hybrid, but we strongly encourage your physical attendance for networking and engagement.

To register for this FREE member’s event, visit: https://worlddatasystem.org/members-forum-2025/.

The WDS Members’ Forum is an opportunity for the WDS community to report on their specific developments, activities, and progress, as well as to discuss the strategic and organizational objectives of the WDS. The forum will consist of a Scientific and a Plenary Session, where members will have the opportunity to report on their activities, engage with other members, discuss membership issues, and provide feedback. The WDS Bylaws require that ALL WDS members participate in the forum with a report of their activities.

We are thrilled to announce that the program for SciDataCon 2025, part of International Data Week (IDW) 2025, is now published! This premier conference will take place from 13-16 October 2025, in Brisbane, Australia, and will feature an exciting lineup of sessions, presentations, and posters showcasing the latest advancements in data science and stewardship.

Explore the full program here: SciDataCon 2025 Program

Don’t miss your chance to join us at the most cost-effective rate! The early-bird registration deadline is 15 July 2025. Secure your spot today and be part of this global gathering of data professionals.

We look forward to welcoming you to Brisbane for an unforgettable week of collaboration, innovation, and discovery.

The World Data System (WDS) Asia-Oceania Conference 2025 is set to take place in Beijing, China, 8-12 September. The Asia-Oceania (A&O) region plays an important role in multi-disciplinary data collection, storage, management, mining, stewardship, and even knowledge discovery in the world. The WDS China Group, the WDS community of Japan, and other stakeholders in the A&O region are dedicated to establishing an open-data network in the A&O region through the collaboration. 

This event is organized by the WDS China Group, hosted by the Institute of Geographical Science and Natural Resources Research (IGSNRR), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), and the Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research (ITP), CAS. 

The theme of the conference is “Open Data Governance and Collaborative Network” with seven sessions: 

Abstract and exhibition proposal Submission deadline: 15 June 2025

Registration deadline: 1 August 2025

Event: 8-12 September 2025

The Coalition for Networked Information’s Spring 2025 Membership Meeting videos are now openly available on the CNI website and on CNI’s  YouTube and Vimeo channels. Two videos of interest are from WDS members: Data Curation Network and California Digital Library. 

What Are We Even Doing Here? Building a Community of People Working with Data 

Sophia Lafferty-Hess, Duke University 

Wanda Marsolek, University of Minnesota  

Watch Here 

The Collaborative Metadata Enrichment Taskforce (COMET): Uniting Stakeholders for Collaborative Metadata Enrichment 

John Chodacki, California Digital Library 

Watch Here

We welcome the Arctic Research Foundation (ARF) to the WDS community! ARF became a Candidate member of WDS in April 2025. They are a Canadian nonprofit organization established in 2011 to address the unique challenges of the Arctic through scientific research and community collaboration. ARF operates a fleet of research vessels and mobile laboratories, facilitating scientific missions and cultural initiatives across Canada's Arctic regions. Their work encompasses various areas, including climate change, food security, and community development, often in partnership with Indigenous and northern communities. By joining WDS, ARF aligns with global efforts to promote open and transparent data sharing, ensuring that their extensive Arctic research data is accessible and usable for the broader scientific community. This collaboration underscores ARF's commitment to advancing Arctic research through effective data stewardship and international cooperation.

We welcome Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) to the WDS community! CPUT became a Regular member of WDS in April 2025. Located in Cape Town, South Africa, CPUT is a leading institution in technology education and innovation. As the only university of technology in the Western Cape and the largest in the region, they offer a diverse range of accredited undergraduate and postgraduate programs across six faculties. In 2018, CPUT launched eSango, its research data repository powered by Figshare, providing a platform for researchers to store, share, and discover research data. The repository supports the university's commitment to open access and good data management practices, aligning with international standards and promoting transparency in research.

The International Science Council’s (ISC) Committee for Freedom and Responsibility in Science is organizing a webinar on 11 June to reflect on how the right to participate in and benefit from science can be upheld to benefit all, and on its practical significance for the scientific, human rights, and policy communities and beyond.

Transparency to Sustain Open Science Infrastructure (TSOSI) is a new initiative launched in September 2024. It aims to strengthen the sustainability of open science infrastructure by spotlighting the organizations that fund it. In its launch year, TSOSI has worked with DOAJ, DOAB, SCOSS, SciPost, PeerCommunityIn, Couperin and OPERAS. TSOSI's guiding principle is: “The more we highlight those who have funded, the more funders we will attract”. TSOSI collects data from infrastructures and spotlights all the organizations that have financially contributed to them.

They are holding an informational webinar on 16 June at 20:00 UTC.

The Open Science: Monitoring Progress and Assessing Impact conference will be held 7-8 July 2025 in Paris, France. You may register for either in-person participation (limited capacity, early registration is strongly encouraged) or online participation.

Organized in collaboration with UNESCO, PathOS, OpenAIRE, the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) Track, and the Open Science Monitoring Initiative (OSMI), this event will bring together global actors to discuss tools and approaches to monitor the implementation and impact of open science policies and practices.

The conference will also mark the culmination of the PathOS project, launched in September 2022 under European Union funding, and provide a platform to validate findings and support the ongoing implementation of the UNESCO Recommendation on Open Science.

As open science gains momentum globally, this conference will be an opportunity to reflect on progress, address challenges, and foster collaboration across initiatives. A detailed agenda will be shared in due course.

Join thought leaders and innovators on 8-9 July for Charleston In Between 2025 as they explore how librarians and information professionals can lead through uncertainty, drive equity, and shape the future of scholarly communication.

Panels include:

The conference will be held in-person in Berlin, Germany, with all conference sessions available to join live via Zoom and recorded for on-demand viewing.

Peer Review Week is 15-19 September 2025. What events will you be hosting, supporting, or attending to support data peer review? See: https://peerreviewweek.net/index.php for updates and ideas!

ICSTI 2025 Annual Conference

The International Council for Scientific and Technical Information (ICSTI) is hosting their 2025 Annual Conference and General Assembly in Zurich, Switzerland, 18-19 September.

This year's conference workshops follow the theme of “Bridging Open Science Ethics and Infrastructure”, and are free and open to all.

Requests for formal invitations should be sent to addie.cox@icsti.org

DEVELOP offers 10-week, paid, applied research opportunities for students, recent graduates, early or career-transitioning professionals, and military personnel and veterans. From 15 September – 21 November, teams will work alongside science advisors to conduct feasibility studies that apply NASA Earth observation data to support partner organizations’ decisions. Applications are due Friday, 13 June. Check out the website for more information and to start your application.

For more than thirty years, the International Astronautical Federation (IAF) and the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) have co-organized a technical workshop ahead of each International Astronautical Congress (IAC). In 2025, the workshop will adopt a new dual focus — Space for Oceans and disaster-risk management — reflecting the IAC2025 theme: “Sustainable Space: Resilient Earth.”

The workshop is organized by the IAF with the support of the UNOOSA with the theme “Resilient Coasts, Resilient Earth: Innovative Space Solutions for Coastal Resilience and Emergency Management”, and the call for abstracts is open until 15 June 2025.

Date: 26-28 September 2025, in conjunction with the 76th International Astronautical Congress (IAC)

Venue: International Convention Centre, Sydney, Australia

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science provides a portfolio of high-performance computing facilities housing some of the world’s most advanced supercomputers. These leadership computing facilities enable world-class research for significant advances in science.

Open to researchers from academia, government labs, and industry, the Innovative and Novel Computational Impact on Theory and Experiment (INCITE) Program is the major means by which the scientific community gains access to the most capable, most productive, fastest open science supercomputers in the United States. The program aims to accelerate scientific discoveries and technological innovations by awarding, on a competitive basis, time on supercomputers to researchers with large-scale, computationally intensive projects that address “grand challenges” in science and engineering. 

The 2026 INCITE Call for Proposals is open until 16 June 2025.

The National Cancer Institute’s (NCI) Office of Data Sharing (ODS) is excited to welcome you to their upcoming inaugural data jamboree to promote the sharing, access, and reuse of pediatric and adolescents and young adults (AYA) cancer datasets.

To raise awareness of existing childhood cancer data resources (see examples here), and promote data utility and interdisciplinary collaboration, the jamboree is calling on investigators, postdocs, and late-stage graduate students interested in utilizing pediatric and AYA cancer data as part of their research as well as citizen scientists to collaborate and explore scientific questions to solve to inform better diagnosis and treatment options for children and AYA patients. Computational expertise is not required to participate.

Interested parties/individuals are required to register and submit a project abstract (to solve a specific problem with a project team or look to join a team) by 23 June 2025.

The 2025 Charleston Conference will be in-person 3-7 November in Charleston, South Carolina, United States, and online 17-21 November. They are seeking proposals on topics related to collection development and acquisitions, including, but not limited to, the following threads:

The deadline for submissions is Friday, 27 June 2025.

CODATA is leading a task in the new European Open Science Cloud (EOSC)-funded project, EDEN, and would like your input. EOSC EDEN is exploring current practices in identifying, selecting, and appraising data for long-term preservation across sectors and global contexts. Your insights will help build a clearer picture of how “long-term” is defined and implemented today.  

The survey is suitable for members of staff at any level in your organization and does not ask for any sensitive information. It will take approximately 5-7 minutes. Your input will support a growing, diverse preservation community.

For any questions about the survey or the work of EDEN WP1, please contact the task lead, Laura Molloy, at laura@codata.org.

The survey is open until 30 June 2025.

The Call for Submissions for the 20th International Digital Curation Conference, IDCC26,  is now open! The conference will take place in Zagreb, Croatia between 16-18 February 2026.

The main theme of IDCC26 is AI, austerity, and authoritarianism: contemporary challenges in digital curation. Submissions are invited to consider how these forces affect the work of the digital curation community and steps we take to stay resilient. While recognizing the financial and political challenges the contemporary environment presents, the call is open to optimism through examples of resilience and resistance in digital curation activities to sustain momentum in open scholarship and promote social change. More information about the sub-themes for the conference is available here. 

Submissions are open for papers, lightning talks, posters until 11 July 2025, and workshops until 25 July 2025.

If you have any questions about IDCC, please contact them by email to idcc@dcc.ac.uk.

The INQUA 2027 Congress, scheduled 28 January to 3 February 2027, in Lucknow, India, invites proposals for workshops and training courses aligned with its theme, "Quaternary Science as Societal Services." These sessions aim to engage students, early-career researchers, and the broader scientific community in forward-thinking research that connects Quaternary science with societal challenges.

Proposals are welcomed in areas such as natural processes and geohazards, climate variability, the Anthropocene, AI/ML applications in Quaternary science, and issues of inclusivity and diversity. The submission deadline is 25 June 2025, with notifications sent by 25 July 2025.

The 2026 L'Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science International Awards are now accepting nominations for exceptional female scientists in the fields of Life and Environmental Sciences. This prestigious program, established in 1998, recognizes five outstanding researchers—one from each of UNESCO’s five global regions—with a €100,000 award to honor their significant contributions to science.

Since its inception, the program has awarded 137 endowments, underscoring its commitment to elevating women in science worldwide. For detailed eligibility criteria and application guidelines, please refer to the official 2026 Call for Nomination and Rules and Regulations.

Nominations are open until 4 July 2025.

The American Geophysical Union’s (AGU) annual conference is coming up! It will be 15-19 December 2025 in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States.

Abstract submissions open 11 June and close 30 July.

The Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS) Biology and Ecosystems Panel has launched an open consultation to seek expert input on the draft specification sheets for its Biology and Ecosystems Essential Ocean Variables. Stakeholders from within the ocean biology and ecosystem research community are invited to contribute to the review process by 10 August 2025.

The CoreTrustSeal Board is seeking input for proposed changes to the requirements to take effect for 2026-2028.  CTS values their community members' opinions and feels the process of updating these trustworthy data repository requirements will be most successful with as much community participation as possible.

The community is built around a Peer-to-Peer review process. This helps each other protect their data assets for future generations by challenging each other to be the best repositories they can be. CTS knows that the ever-changing landscape everyone works in requires periodic review of the requirements and procedures.

The CoreTrustSeal Board appreciates your time and effort in completing this survey and providing valuable feedback on the CoreTrustSeal Requirements. They will not individually respond to each survey but will make every effort to reflect them in the revisions of the Requirements.

The estimated duration of this questionnaire is 20 minutes and will be active until 15 August 2025.

Progress and outcomes will be shared in the coming months.

The Charleston Conference is going abroad! They will be hosting the 2026 Charleston Conference Asia at the Royal Orchid Sheraton in Bangkok, Thailand, 26-28 January 2026.

The call for papers, preliminary agenda, registration fees, sponsorship and exhibitor details, plus an interest form to find out when registration opens is all available on their website.

The deadline for submissions is Friday, 15 August 2025.

The European Research Council (ERC) has announced the 2025 Advanced Grant (AdG) call (ERC-2025-AdG), a funding opportunity designed for established, leading principal investigators (PIs) who wish to pursue groundbreaking, high-risk research projects. The grants support research in any field and are carried out in public or private research organizations located in EU Member States or Associated Countries. The evaluation process is based solely on the criterion of excellence, assessing both the quality of the research proposal and the PI's track record.

For detailed information on eligibility criteria, application procedures, and evaluation processes, please refer to the official ERC Advanced Grant 2025 Call. The deadline is 28 August 2025.

The International Development Research Centre of Canada (DRC-Canada) has launched a survey as part of a case study focused on the Venezuelan scientific diaspora. Its purpose is to gather information provided by members of this diaspora, in order to make it available to international funding agencies interested in supporting scientific-academic engagement and collaboration initiatives between the scientific diaspora, their country of origin, and other Science, Technology, and Innovation (STI) ecosystems in Latin America. This project takes the Venezuelan case as a reference, approaching it as a case study whose findings could be relevant and transferable to the analysis of other scientific diasporas in similar contexts.

The survey will be open until 31 January 2026.

The International Science Council (ISC) co-leads the 5th International Polar Year (IPY-5) 2032–33 process together with the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR), the International Arctic Science Committee (IASC), and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). With the IPY-5 Planning Phase well underway, ISC Members are strongly encouraged to get involved by:

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