4 December 2025

The World Data System (WDS) invites all members, data repositories, publishers, scientists, and scholars looking for trustworthy digital repositories (TDRs) to join us at our Town Hall at the American Geophysical Union (AGU) Conference 2025, in New Orleans. We will share our recent research and discuss how the WDS meets the needs of its members and the data community through training, outreach, and engagement on behalf of digital data repositories worldwide. The overarching goal of the WDS Town Hall is to give the community a voice into WDS’s actions, activities and engagements, helping the organization meet user needs.  

Time: 13:00-14:00 CST 

Date: Wednesday, 17 December 2025 

Session: TH33F - World Data System Town Hall: Building Trustworthy Digital Repositories and Meeting User Needs Through Outreach, Advocacy, and Research 

Location: 267-268 (NOLA CC) 

WDS is also proud to highlight our members’ sessions, presentations, and posters in support of advancing their value narratives. If you are attending AGU25, review the WDS Member flyer to see what contributions our members are making! 

The full AGU25 program can be viewed here. 

Nominations are still open for the 2026 WDS Data Stewardship Award. This distinguished recognition celebrates early-career data stewards who have demonstrated:    

Nominees should be within 10 years of completing their Master’s, PhD, or equivalent professional training. Nominations are welcome from peers, organizations, or as self-nominations.  Private sector nominees must clearly show community value beyond profit.

Nomination Deadline: 16 January 2026  

Review Period: February-March 2026  

Award Announcement: April 2026 

Join us in congratulating WDS’s Scientific Committee member Devika Madalli on her appointment to the ORCID Board. ORCID has announced the results of their yearly board member election. The individuals elected will begin serving on the ORCID Board in March 2026 and will complete a three-year term. Congratulations to the new board members: Nicolas Fressengeas, Devika Madalli, Heath Marks, Steve Pinchotti, Carly Robinson, and Mercury Shitindo.  

As the holiday season approaches, we wanted to inform you that our office will be closed from 22-26 December 2025 and again 31 December-2 January 2026. 

Please keep in mind that responses will be delayed until we return.  

We appreciate your understanding and support throughout the year. Thank you for your continued partnership, and we look forward to serving you in 2026! 

The Geisteswissenschaftliches Asset Management System (GAMS) is an OAIS-compliant digital asset management system designed for the long-term archiving, publication, and curation of digital resources across all humanities disciplines. Designed and developed at the Department of Digital Humanities (formerly the Center for Information Modelling) at the University of Graz, GAMS empowers research staff, teaching staff, and students to manage and publish their work in a citable format enriched with robust metadata. Adhering to the FAIR data principles, GAMS supports open access through Creative Commons licensing, while also maintaining strong policies for the protection of sensitive data.   

As a Regular member of WDS since October 2025, GAMS brings its expertise in open, sustainable, and high-quality research data management to a global network committed to advancing data sharing and stewardship. Both organizations share a dedication to open access, long-term preservation, and rigorous curation standards, ensuring that humanities research data remains accessible and reusable for future generations. By integrating GAMS’s robust infrastructure and commitment to best practices with the WDS community, researchers benefit from enhanced visibility, interoperability, and trust in their digital resources—further supporting the global movement toward transparent and collaborative scholarship.

The UK Archive for Marine Species and Habitats Data (DASSH) stands as a flagship initiative of the Marine Biological Association (MBA), building on the MBA’s longstanding commitment to advancing marine science. As the UK Data Archive Centre (DAC) for marine species and habitats data within the Marine Environmental Data and Information Network (MEDIN) partnership, DASSH plays a pivotal role in the stewardship of the United Kingdom’s marine biodiversity information. Serving as the UK node for OBIS, DASSH ensures that UK marine biodiversity data is not only preserved but also flows seamlessly into international networks. Its collaborative approach extends to partnerships with other UK and European data centers, contributing to major data portals such as the NBN Atlas, EMODnet, EurOBIS, and WDS Regular member GBIF.  

DASSH’s commitment to the FAIR Data Principles aligns closely with the mission and values of the World Data System. As a Regular member of WDS since October 2025, DASSH brings its expertise in high-quality, open, and sustainable data management to a global community dedicated to advancing research data sharing and stewardship. This partnership not only strengthens the visibility and interoperability of marine biodiversity data but also supports transparent, collaborative science across disciplines. By joining WDS, DASSH helps further the shared vision of making critical research data accessible and reusable for future generations, enhancing trust and collaboration within the international scientific community.

Earth Sciences Information Partners (ESIP), a partner member of WDS, has received an award from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to support their Repository Resilience project, where they are diving deep into the resilience of data infrastructure and continuing to work to make data repositories stronger.  

This project will build upon the Repository Crisis Scorecards (RCS), produced by the ESIP Sustainable Data Management Cluster. The project team will produce updated tools and a white paper to provide repositories, funders, and policymakers with concrete steps to equip data infrastructure to weather future crises.  

We congratulate ESIP on receiving Alfred P. Sloan Foundation funding support to strengthen repository resilience and to continue to improve the Repository Crisis Scorecards. Reyna Broadhurst, the Associate Director of the WDS-ITO contributed to this early release of the scorecards, especially with regards to identifying the detrimental impacts to science and society when access is disrupted or removed. 

Gum, J., Duerr, R., Blake, R. E., Garretson, A., Wyborn, L., Choi, J., Nurnberger, A., Jenkyns, R., Koren, G., & ESIP Sustainable Data Management Cluster. (2025). Repository Crisis Scorecards (1.02). Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15208172 

Sessions at recent events including International Data Week 2025 and iPres 2025 featured these scorecards and underlined the pressing need for data repository resiliency frameworks and solutions. WDS is committed to making progress through collaborations with its members like ESIP, as well as the broader community.

If you are a repository manager, researcher, technical expert, policymaker, or citizen archivist, consider getting involved in this project. ESIP is looking for broad participation and encourages anyone whose expertise could benefit the project to sign up to join.  

The Principal Investigator, Joseph Gum, will be at the following events if you would like to get in touch:  

After analyzing feedback received from their community, the CoreTrustSeal Board has revamped their requirements for Trustworthy Data Repositories. These changes will go into effect in January 2026, and the updated CoreTrustSeal 2026-2028 requirements are now available on their website. CoreTrustSeal’s Application Management Tool (AMT) will be closed only for new applications in December 2025. 

Additionally, join us is congratulating Andrea Lammert, who works with WDS member organization World Data Center for Climate, for her recent appointment to the CoreTrustSeal Board.  

EUTOPIA, an alliance of ten European universities and six Global partners who are committed to developing a new model for integrated higher education institutions through transnational cooperation, are hosting a workshop titled “Human-centered AI, Linguistics Research, and Psycholinguistic Methodologies.” This workshop will be in Gothenburg, Sweden, and online, on 8-10 December 2025 and will be held in German.  

This workshop will offer a practical introduction to the concept, possible applications, and the legal and technical framework of Derived Text Formats (ATFs). Researchers from various fields will provide insights into concrete workflows, use cases, and standards such as DIN 19461. 

The event agenda can be found here.  

U.S. National Science Foundation Cyberinfrastructure (NSF CI) Compass has multiple events coming. All events are free, and registration is required.  

Maria Esteva, Senior Researcher Scientist at the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC), will be the speaker for this presentation. It will introduce DesignSafe’s Data Depot Repository (DDR)’s curation pipelines and services, how those are designed, maintained, and improved by a multidisciplinary team, the feedback mechanisms that inform changes, how they assist users and measure impact, and the challenges and lessons learned. Register here.

Webinar Date: 8 December 2025 12:00 ET 

This presentation features Margaret Levenstein, director of WDS Regular member Interuniversity Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) and WDS Scientific Committee member, who will discuss the specific tools that the Research Data Ecosystem (RDE) offers, including TurboCurator, the Researcher Passport, and Explore Data. Register here.

Webinar Date: 18 December 2025 14:00 ET 

This workshop will span three days, with a three-hour session each day, and will feature speakers, presentations, and discussions surrounding artificial intelligence (AI) and cyberinfrastructure (CI) within the data lifecycle in facilities, cloud computing, and about societal and human intersections with AI. Register here.

Workshop Dates: 12-14 January 2026 12:00-15:00 ET  

The International Council for Scientific and Technical Information (ICSTI), an Associate member of the WDS, is hosting their ICSTI Impact Forum “Unlocking Value: AI for Enhanced Metadata in STI,” a virtual webinar, for their members and guests. 

The speakers will address opportunities for AI-driven metadata, analyze emerging trends, and present practical use-cases. This forum will give attendees the opportunity to gain insights into the future of STI metadata and engage in discussions with experts and fellow ICSTI members. 

Webinar Date: 22 January 2026 at 15:00 GMT 

For more information, email addie.cox@icsti.org  

The 30th International Consortium on Applied Bioeconomy Research (ICABR) conference, titled “The Bioeconomy Transformation in Transition: Past Successes, Current Challenges, and Future Prospects,” will take place in Ravello, Italy, 7-10 July 2026, celebrating three decades of pioneering research and global dialogue. Recognized for its influential role in advancing the field—47 of the top 50 articles in a landmark 2014 collection were first presented at ICABR—the event will convene leading experts to discuss innovation, policy, and progress in biotechnology and agricultural development. This year’s program features keynote addresses from distinguished figures such as Nobel Laureate Dr. Riccardo Valentini and experts from IFPRI, Wageningen University, and Carnegie Sciences, along with panels on scientific integrity, R&D funding, and international treaty frameworks.  

Early Bird Registration Deadline: 30 April 2026 

Crossref will host their second Metadata Sprint in São Paulo, Brazil, on 4-6 March 2026 and will be carried out in English, Spanish, and Portuguese. Individuals who were involved in the Barcelona Declaration projects are invited to join this event; however, the event is open to all who are interested. Attendees will have the opportunity to pose questions, share ideas, collaborate on research, and propose innovative solutions that enhance the use of metadata in scholarly communication and beyond. 

Those interested are asked to apply through Crossref’s interest form. Attendees will be decided through the application assessment process. More information on this process can be found on Crossref’s website.  

The Digital Research Infrastructure for the Arts and Humanities (DARIAH) is accepting papers for their DARIAH Annual Event 2026, being held in Rome, Italy, on 26-29 May 2026, which will delve into the topic “Digital Arts and Humanities with and for Society: Building Infrastructures of Engagement.” The goal of this theme is to explore digitally-enabled research through a public and participatory lens. It will focus on how digital infrastructures, networks, and collaborative methods can enable and sustain forms of scholarship that are open, flexible, and socially responsive. For a list of possible topics and information on the conference, visit the DARIAH website.  

Submission Deadline: 22 December 2025 

The Association for Computational Linguistics (ACL) Special Interest Group on Language Technologies for the Socio-Economic Sciences and Humanities (SIGHUM) is hosting their 10th Joint SIGHUM Workshop on Computational Linguistics for Cultural Heritage, Social Sciences, Humanities and Literature in March 2026, in Rabat, Morocco. They are accepting papers for this workshop, and a full list of suggested topics can be found on their website.  

Submission Deadline: 5 January 2026 

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. 

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. All submissions should follow the Special Collection’s template guidelines. JOHD maintains an open access policy under the Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 license, supporting the broad dissemination of knowledge while allowing authors to retain copyright and share their work widely. 

Submission deadline: 30 January 2026  

The Language Documentation and Archiving Conference 2026, to be held 9-11 September 2026 in Berlin, Germany, invites those interested in joining scholars, activists, and technologists exploring new methods and technologies for documenting, preserving, and sharing the world’s linguistic and cultural diversity to attend and submit papers.  

The conference welcomes innovative and critical perspectives from both academic and community contexts. Although not required for your paper, the conference is interested in papers discussing the following themes: Relationships & Collaboration; Tools & Technology; Impact & Outcomes; Planning, Policy & Future; and Artificial Intelligence: Challenges & Opportunities.  

Submission Deadline for Abstracts: 1 March 2026 

The American Geophysical Union (AGU), the Association of the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography (ASLO), and The Oceanography Society (TOS) are collaborating on a living special collection that curates and showcases the broad range of solutions-focused research and capacity-sharing efforts that meet the Ocean Decade’s Vision: “the science we need for the ocean we want.”  

The collection will highlight ongoing scientific research and innovative efforts that contribute to achieving the UN’s 2030 Agenda. AGU, ASLO, and TOS are soliciting papers that highlight and expand on the Ocean Decade's 10 challenges. The papers in this collection will then serve as a community-wide resource for shared understanding and informing policy decisions. 

The International Science Council is offering three new opportunities to engage in the 5th International Polar Year (IPY-5): the global effort to advance polar research and cooperation. The engagement opportunities are:  

The ISC has appointed a Steering Group to lead its Social Science Matters Program, which aims to strengthen the role and visibility of social sciences and humanities in sustainability policy. Community members interested in contributing can join the Expert Network by completing the online form on the ISC website. Participation offers opportunities for collaboration, knowledge sharing, and advancing social science engagement in policy discussions. 

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

Submission Deadline: 18 February 2026 

The Research Data Alliance (RDA) is accepting nominations for the Sarah Jones Award – 2026 Edition. Nominees should be individuals who have demonstrated an exceptional contribution to fostering collaboration in Open Science. The impact can be organizational, community-based, or at the individual level. All nominees are welcome, not just members of the RDA community. However, a demonstration of a contribution to the RDA community is of importance.   

Submission Deadline: 14 June 2026  

The National Information Standards Organization (NISO)’s draft Collaborative Collections Lifecycle Infrastructure Project (CCLIP) Recommended Practice (NISO RP-46-202X) is now available for public comment. The community is encouraged to read and comment on the draft of recommendations.  

The CCLIP Recommended Practice represents a vision for how libraries can work together more intentionally and equitably across various aspects of the collections life cycle, embracing open, inclusive, and sustainable approaches to build stronger, more responsive library ecosystems. The draft describes various levels of collaboration, then uses a loose collaboration model to explore best practices, gaps, and opportunities to better support prospective collaborative collections decisions.  

Feedback Deadline: 15 December 2025 

Project ACCoRD (A Community for Contract Regulation for Data) is addressing the challenges that hinder efficient access, movement, and processing of data critical for groundbreaking research. By gathering evidence and forming a community, ACCoRD aims to develop a national research contracting framework in the United Kingdom. Through stakeholder engagement, the project seeks to identify best practices, tackle major challenges, and produce solutions to streamline data contracting within the UK’s Digital Research Infrastructure (DRI). 

If you are involved in research data contracting—as a data provider, legal expert, researcher, or institutional representative, your participation in the ACCoRD survey can help shape this framework and ensure your expertise is heard. The survey takes approximately 25 minutes to complete and offers an opportunity to join the community group driving this initiative forward. 

OpenCitations is inviting supporters, partner institutions, users, and anyone who has  come across OpenCitations  to take their community survey. This survey is an opportunity to share your experience with OpenCitations, what works, what could be improved, and what you would like to see in the future.  

Your feedback will help OpenCitations:  

If you would like to subscribe to the first issue of the OpenCitation Newsletter, visit their website.  

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