2 April 2026

Join the World Data System (WDS) for our upcoming webinar: “Building an Ecosystem for Sustainable Urban Informatics: Open Science and Reproducibility.”

This presentation will provide a high-level overview of recent outputs from the NUS Urban Analytics Lab: papers introducing novel applications of emerging data (such as street view imagery) and recent open-source software, open datasets, and community-building initiatives in journals and beyond. This session will also include reflections and lessons learned on fostering reproducibility and open science practices such as open data sharing.

Speaker: Filip Biljecki, Assistant Professor at the National University of Singapore (NUS) and Founder of the NUS Urban Analytics Lab

Date: 20 April 2026, 20:00 EDT | 00:00 UTC

The World Data System Early Career Researcher (WDS-ECR) Network is recruiting a new co-chair for a three-year term. Join two fellow co-chairs in leading an international community dedicated to advancing best practices in data stewardship and supporting early-career researchers across all disciplines.

Key responsibilities include:

Applicants should be enthusiastic about community building and fostering collaboration. We especially welcome candidates from diverse disciplinary, gender, and geographical backgrounds.

How to apply:  
Submit your application form, CV, and two (2) reference letters via the link below.

Deadline: 31 May 2026

For more information visit our webpage here!

The World Data System Early Career Researchers (WDS-ECR) Network extends its heartfelt thanks to Claire Rye, who has recently completed her term as co-chair. Claire has been a pleasure to work with, dedicated, responsive, and consistently collaborative.

Her outstanding leadership was especially evident during International Data Week 2025 in Brisbane, Australia, where she represented and promoted the WDS-ECR Network with remarkable energy and professionalism. Claire also excelled in coordinating efforts with members from our partner early career networks at RDA and CODATA, strengthening cross-network collaboration and visibility.

We are extremely proud of Claire’s achievements and grateful for her commitment throughout her term. We look forward to following her career as it continues to soar.

The output describing the Typology of Data Uses developed by the FORCE11 Data Usage Typologies Working Group, with representation from the WDS-ITO, is now available:  

Bobrov, E., Broadhurst, R., Byers, N., Erdmann, C., Genova, F., Hellström, M., Kemp, J., Puebla, I., & FORCE11 Data Usage Typologies Working Group. (2026). Typology of Data Uses: An output of the FORCE11 Data Usage Typologies Working Group. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19184004 

The typology aims to serve as a tool so that repositories, publishers, institutions, funders, infrastructure providers, and meta-researchers can consistently capture, compare, and evaluate the diverse ways in which data are used in research and beyond. This typology encapsulates three dimensions of data usage:  

Initial community feedback on the typology is being collected via this form until 10 May 2026. 

As the next step, the Working Group is pursuing recommendations for embedding the typology within existing metadata schemas, so that richer context about data usage can address a wide range of evaluation needs.  

For more information on the working group and this output, visit their blog post. 

The WDS Scientific Committee's (WDS-SC) Subcommittee on Certifications and Standards found that WDS needs to be more inclusive in our membership structure. See the following presentations for more details. Additionally, an article is under review, and we hope to share it with our membership shortly.

As you will see, the recommendations by the Subcommittee include:

To achieve the first two objectives, the WDS-SC asked IPO to review the constitution and bylaws and present specific changes for SC approval. Once the SC approves, the WDS membership will be asked to vote on this recommendation.  

While the documents are not yet ready for a formal vote, we wanted to keep our members informed about these developments. More details and implementation timelines of updates to the WDS membership criteria will be given in the next newsletter. Questions are always welcome and can be sent to wds-ipo@utk.edu.

WDS hosted four webinars in February and March 2026:

If you missed these webinars and would like to watch them now, you can find the webinar recordings and slides on our recently reformatted Webinar Archive page.

Check out the recent updates to the WDS website:

Let us know what other updates could be helpful for navigating our website by sending suggestions to wds-ipo@utk.edu!

The WDS-IPO Office will be closed Friday, 3 April 2026 for a holiday. The office will return to normal operations Monday, 6 April 2026. If you need to contact us, please email wds-ipo@utk.edu and we will reach out to you as soon as possible.

International Data Week (IDW) 2027 will take place in Cape Town, South Africa, from 20-23 September 2027. Mark your calendars and plan to join us for this fantastic conference that brings together data professionals, researchers, policy makers, and innovators from around the world. Stay tuned for more details on the program and registration.

The Centre de Données astronomiques de Strasbourg (CDS) is an astronomy reference data center hosted by the Observatoire Astronomique de Strasbourg (ObAS) under the authority of the National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) and the University of Strasbourg. The CDS has developed numerous data services utilized by the astronomical community. The CDS also works to collect, maintain, and disseminate astronomical data worldwide.

The CDS works well as a partner to WDS through a shared goal of preserving and distributing data to the global scientific community. Through their many data services, the CDS helps researchers collect and maintain their data, aiding in the long-term preservation and dissemination of said data. The CDS became a regular member in December 2013.

The Level-1 and Atmosphere Archive & Distribution System Distributed Active Archive Center (LAADS DAAC), established in 2007, works to archive and distribute Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) science data products and NASA versions of Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) science data products to the global Earth science research and applications community. LAADS DAAC also provides access to datasets, tools, and data services to users.

LAADS DAAC partners well with WDS as both organizations work to provide open access to data and data services. LAADS DAAC actively works to gather, maintain, and distribute quality data to the greater scientific community, which aligns well with the mission of WDS. LAADS DAAC became a regular member in August 2019.

The Regional Forum on Sustainable Development for the UNECE Region will be held on 21-22 April 2026 at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, with the theme “Transforming Together: Innovative and Equitable Action for the SDGs.” This event will include high-level and plenary segments and peer-learning round tables covering the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) under review.

Registration Deadline: 6 April 2026

The European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) EDEN project is hosting the third seminar in its webinar series to share key results and insights from its work on advancing digital preservation strategies across Europe. This seminar will include a brief presentation on the first iteration of the architecture & specifications deliverable and the work done since then including the registry. This webinar is tailored for repository managers but is open to those interested in system requirements and specifications for long-term access and preservation services and learning more about EOSC EDEN’s latest work.

Date & Time: 8 April 2026, 12:00 UTC

SPARC has two upcoming webcast opportunities dedicated to learning more about Persistent Identifier (PID) adoption and use:

PIDs 101: Effecting Large Scale PID Adoption: This session will explore different approaches that have enabled PID adoption in different regions around the world and best practices that can be applied in PID work.

Date & Time: 9 April 2026, 16:00 UTC

PIDs 101: Global PID Adoption Use Cases: This session will highlight different PID adoption use cases across the global PID community and identify broadly applicable PID practices.

Date & Time: 6 May 2026, 16:00 UTC

The Marie Curie Alumni Association (MCAA) Annual Conference will be held 22-25 April 2026 in Brussels, Belgium and online. The theme of this conference is “Research careers beyond borders: 30 years of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA).” This conference brings together researchers, policymakers, and innovators from around the world to exchange ideas, network, and shape the future of research and innovation.

Registration Deadline: 10 April 2026

DataCite, a WDS associate member since 2014, is hosting an upcoming webinar titled “Configure Your Dataverse Repository to Register DataCite DOIs.” During this webinar, attendees will join staff from the Dataverse Project and DataCite for an information session about Dataverse’s Digital Object Identifier (DOI) registration functionality, including how to configure Dataverse and optimize your DOI metadata for discoverability.

Date & Time: 15 April 2026, 15:00 UTC

The SCOSTEP 16th Quadrennial Solar-Terrestrial Physics Symposium (STP-16), organized by WDS member Scientific Committee on Solar-Terrestrial Physics (SCOSTEP), will be held 1-5 June 2026 in Thessaloniki, Greece. This symposium aims to gather scientists from solar, magnetospheric, ionospheric, and atmospheric physics communities to discuss and deliberate on the cutting-edge sciences pertaining to Solar-Terrestrial Physics (STP).

Early Bird Registration Deadline: 14 April 2026

The Dataverse Community Meeting 2026 will be held 13-15 May 2026 in Barcelona, Spain with a conference theme of “Advancing Data and Dataverse: AI, Interoperability, and Sensitive Data.” This theme highlights key areas of interest for data professionals and researchers: building AI solutions for data to enhance repository workflows, data quality, and AI-ready data; improving interoperability to enable richer linkage and reuse across datasets, domains, and platforms; and expanding support for sensitive and restricted data.

Standard Registration Deadline: 15 April 2026

Last Minute Registration Deadline: 30 April 2026

DataCite, a WDS associate member since 2014, is hosting DataCite Connect in Singapore on 5 June 2026. This event will be held in the Kwa Geok Choo Law Library and will provide a forum for DataCite Members and the broader community to discuss best practices, identify new opportunities for collaboration, and provide feedback on DataCite’s services. This is an in-person event that will not be recorded. Registration is “first come, first served.”

The NASIG 41st Annual Conference will be held from 2-4 June 2026 at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Memorial Union, Madison, Wisconsin, United States. The conference will include vision sessions and workshops that discuss cataloging, OpenRefine, librarianship, and more.

Full Conference Registration Deadline: 2 May 2026

Late Registration Period: 3 May-1 June 2026

Onsite Registration: 2-4 June 2026

The Best Practices Exchange 2026 will be held from 18-20 May 2026 at Indiana University Indianapolis, in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. This event aims to bring together practitioners to share ideas and strategies for managing, preserving, and providing access to digital information. Attendee spaces are limited.

Knowledge Equity and Open Scholarship Week 2026 will take place from 19-21 May 2026 and will be fully online. This global gathering aims to advance inclusive, equitable, and collaborative approaches to knowledge creation, dissemination, and access. It will bring together a mix of voices from across the globe, including practitioners, scholars, educators, librarians, students, policymakers, technologists, and community leaders in an effort to create an open space to learn, share, and connect. 

Session Times: 9:00-10:00 UTC & 11:45-13:00 UTC

The ICSTI Annual Conference 2026, being hosted by WDS member Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information (KISTI), will be held in Seoul, South Korea from 6-7 August 2026. Registration for the conference is now open.

The Digital Preservation for the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities (DPASSH) Conference 2026, hosted by the Digital Repository of Ireland (DRI), a WDS Regular Member, will be held from 25-26 June 2026 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The theme for this conference is “Ready, Set, Preserve! Making Space for Play in Digital Preservation.” The conference will include over 30 talks, workshops, and alternative sessions that will explore creative, collaborative approaches to preserving digital culture, lowering barriers through gamified learning, and tackling technical and ethical challenges of preserving interactive media.

The CLARIN Conference 2026, hosted by WDS Network member CLARIN ERIC, 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: 13 April 2026

The 13th International Conference on CMC and Social Media Corpora for the Humanities (CMC-Corpora) has an open call for papers to be presented. The CMC-Corpora 2026 Conference will be held in Oulu, Finland, 27–28 August 2026. This conference merges language-centered research on computer-mediated communication (CMC) and social media across linguistics, philologies, communication and media studies, foreign language teaching and learning, and the social sciences. Two types of submissions will be accepted: short papers (3-5 pages) and abstracts (max. 300 words).

Submission Deadline: 15 April 2026

A call for papers is open for the International CLaDA-BG Conference 2026, which will be held 25-26 June 2026 in Sofia, Bulgaria. This conference aims to bring together Natural Language Processing (NLP) developers, linguists, digital humanitarians, scholars, and all parties interested in knowledge modeling and linking data for research. The following submission types will be accepted:

Submit full papers or extended abstracts in PDF to the following email: ltadh-ra@bultreebank.org

Submission Deadline: 19 April 2026

The Digital Parliamentary Data in Action (DiPaDA) 2026, being held on 16 September 2026 in Ljubljana, Slovenia, is accepting submissions to their open call for papers. The aim of this conference is to foster dialogue across disciplines and to strengthen the foundations for future research on the political, cultural, and linguistic heritage preserved in parliamentary records. Full papers and extended abstracts will be accepted and should follow these guidelines:

Submission Deadline: 24 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 Research Data Alliance (RDA) 27th Plenary Meeting (P27) will take place in London, United Kingdom as an in-person event, 6-8 October 2026. P27 will be hosted by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) with the theme “Shaping a global open research commons.” Three open calls are being held for various submission types: 

Call for Sessions: RDA Groups and Birds of a Feather organizers are invited to submit session proposals to discuss and develop their ongoing work or present a new idea at P27. 

Submission Deadline: 15 May 2026 

Call for Posters: RDA members are invited to submit a poster for the RDA 27th Plenary Meeting (P27) as an opportunity to share your work, ideas, and research data challenges with the global RDA community. 

Submission Deadline: 26 June 2026 

Call for Ideas Pitch Sessions: These sessions are fast-paced, collaborative sessions where you pitch your idea to the RDA community in just 7 minutes, giving you the chance to share your vision, connect with others, and discover potential collaborators, supporters, and resources. 

Submissions Open: 7 April 2026 

The Falling Walls Call for Science Breakthroughs is an international competition that aims to identify the most groundbreaking scientific achievements in the world. They are seeking the most recent and innovative science breakthroughs of the year. This call is open to anyone who wants to showcase their work in science, and the winners will be honored at the Falling Walls Science Summit being held from 6-9 November 2026 in Berlin, Germany and online.

Deadline: 15 April 2026

The Australian Academy of Science has opened nominations for honorific awards, which recognize outstanding contributions to the advancement of science by researchers in all career stages. Awards open for nominations include:

Nomination Deadline: 1 May 2026

The International Science Council (ISC), the University of Bergen, and the European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR) are accepting nominations for the 2026 Stein Rokkan Prize for Comparative Social Science Research. This prize is open to works in comparative studies from all social science disciplines and is given to a submission deemed to be a substantial and original contribution in comparative social science research. The prize amount to be awarded is 5,000 EUR.

Nomination Deadline: 1 May 2026

The Digital Preservation Coalition (DPC) has opened nominations for the Digital Preservation Awards. These awards aim to celebrate the achievement of individuals and organizations who have made significant contributions towards a sustainable future for digital assets. Winners will receive:

Nomination Deadline: 5 May 2026

The Seeds of Science, Asia program, which is run by the International Science Council’s Regional Focal Point for Asia and the Pacific (ISC-RFP-AP) in collaboration with the International Network for Governmental Science Advice (INGSA-Asia), is an opportunity for scientists, researchers, academics, and practitioners in Asia to share their knowledge and insights with members of the scientific community and policy makers in their respective countries. Grants of up to $15,000 each will be awarded to applicants with well-outlined proposals to organize workshops, trainings, focused advocacies, and wider activities promoting science advice at an institutional or national level in their respective countries.

Application Deadline: 27 April 2026

The Open Science Monitoring Initiative Working Group 2 (OSMI WG2) has extended the deadline for the public review of the OSMI Working Group 2 dataset on the open science monitoring landscape.

Deadline: 7 April 2026

The Digital Preservation Coalition (DPC) is requesting community comments on and the testing of a draft version of its new Carbon Footprint Toolkit. This Toolkit provides a practical methodology to help organizations calculate the carbon footprint of their digital preservation activities and is designed to support a wide range of organizations, regardless of size, sector, geography, or prior experience.

Additionally, DPC is looking to form a Carbon Calculation Support Group, comprised of representatives from organizations interested in measuring the carbon footprint of their own digital preservation activities, as part of the community comment and testing process. Expressions of interest forms are due 10 April 2026.

InterPore, in collaboration with the International Science Council (ISC) and several ISC Members, has launched the SCI2SDG (Mapping Contributions of ISC Members to the UN Sustainable Development Goals) project. This project aims to map and analyze how science generated, coordinated, and supported by ISC Member organizations contributes to the UN SDGs, identify strengths and gaps across disciplines and regions, and inform future science-policy dialogue during and beyond the International Decade of Sciences for Sustainable Development (2024-2033). The project survey, which will capture organizational priorities, scientific contributions, and future directions, is now open.

Survey Deadline: 30 April 2026

The National Digital Stewardship Alliance (NDSA) has released the Levels of Digital Preservation version 2.1, focusing on environmental sustainability, which included minor edits to the supporting resources.

The Earth Science Information Partners (ESIP) Partner Assembly has officially endorsed the newly updated “Publishing Open Research Using Physical Samples: Guidance for Authors.” This guide provides a clear, standardized workflow to help authors make their sample-based research Open, FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable), and reproducible.

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