21 May 2026

We are delighted to announce the recipients of the 2026 WDS Data Stewardship Awards, honoring individuals who have demonstrated exceptional commitment to open data and the advancement of best practices in data stewardship.

After a rigorous review of an outstanding pool of nominations, the WDS review committee is proud to recognize three exemplary leaders whose contributions are making a global impact:

South African Environmental Observation Network, South Africa

Carnegie Institution for Science, USA

Phoenix Bioinformatics, USA

We extend our heartfelt congratulations to this year’s honorees. Their dedication, innovation, and leadership are advancing the frontiers of data stewardship and fostering a more open, trusted research ecosystem.

WDS also expresses sincere appreciation to all applicants for their ongoing commitment to excellence in data stewardship, as well as to our panel of reviewers for their expertise and thoughtful evaluation throughout the selection process.

To learn more about each awardee’s achievements, explore details about the Data Stewardship Awards, and stay informed about upcoming announcements, please visit the Data Stewardship Award Page on our website.

The World Data System Early Career Researcher Network (WDS-ECR) 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

Are you an Early Career Researcher looking to deepen your understanding of trusted data repositories and get ahead in research data management? Don’t miss this chance to connect with experts and peers!

Join WDS for our upcoming webinar "CoreTrustSeal 2026–2028: Key Changes, Challenges, and Community Support." This webinar will provide an update on recent developments within the CoreTrustSeal certification framework. The session will introduce the 2026–2028 CoreTrustSeal Requirements, which came into effect earlier this year, and present key findings from the latest community consultation survey, highlighting areas of consensus on key changes compared to the previous version. In addition, the webinar will address recurring challenges that repositories face when meeting specific requirements, with particular attention to areas that consistently require additional guidance or interpretation. The discussion will also explore how CoreTrustSeal endorses and engages with community-led initiatives and good practices designed to support repositories in overcoming these challenges.

Date & Time: 10 June 2026, 18:00 UTC | 14:00 EDT

As an outcome of the World Data System Subcommittee on Standards and Certification, an article titled “Certification Frameworks for Scientific Data Repositories: Strengthening Repository Trustworthiness” has been published in the Data Science Journal, offering practical guidance and recommendations for implementing trustworthy practices and certification frameworks in scientific data repositories. It highlights lessons learned, challenges encountered, and best practices to support greater transparency, quality, and trust in research data stewardship.

Article Citation:

Castle, D., Santos Oliveira, D., Peters, D., Medeiros, C.B., Popescu, I., Madalli, D., Koskela, R., Goins, M. and Allard, S. 2026 Certification Frameworks for Scientific Data Repositories: Strengthening Repository Trustworthiness. Data Science Journal, 24: 16, pp. 1–13. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5334/dsj-2026-016

The United Nations Commission on Science and Technology for Development (UN CSTD) Working Group on Data Governance, which includes representation from WDS-ITO Associate Director Reyna Broadhurst as a technical community representative, has now released synthesis notes from each of the four tracks (fundamental principles, interoperability, benefits of data sharing, and data flows). This is an important milestone towards a report with recommendations on equitable and interoperable governance arrangements.

Are you attending Open Repositories 2026 (8-11 June 2026)? If so, look for WDS at the conference!

WDS-IPO Program Manager Daniela Santos Oliveira will be presenting at this conference on Tuesday, 9 June 2026, at 16:00 UTC. Her presentation is titled “Advancing Trustworthy Repositories: The Role of Certification and Self-Assessment within the World Data System Community,” which will explore how certification and self-assessment practices support trustworthy data repositories within the World Data System community. Daniela will share practical approaches for embedding FAIR and TRUST principles, discuss evolving certification criteria, and highlight tools and peer-support initiatives that help repositories enhance quality, resilience, and inclusivity, even when facing resource constraints.

Additionally, you can find a list of WDS member presentations on our website here.

US Agricultural Information Network (USAIN) 2026 Biennial Meeting, 31 May-3 June, Blacksburg, Virginia, United States: WDS-IPO Executive Director Meredith Goins will be presenting 

The WDS-IPO will be closed for a holiday on 25 May 2026. The office will return to normal operations Tuesday, 26 May 2026. We will reply to all emails upon our return.

The Department of Energy (DOE) Basic Energy Sciences (BES) Early Career Network is hosting a Grant Writing webinar to give early career scientists access to grant writing advice and resources. This webinar will include discussion of DOE funding opportunities, strategies for writing grants, and advice for proposing fundable projects and will feature three speakers: Prof. Dafei Jin, Dr. Viviane Schwartz, and Prof. Susan Trolier-McKinstry.

Date & Time: 27 May 2026, 13:00 EDT | 17:00 UTC

Open Researcher and Contributor ID (ORCID), a WDS partner member, is hosting a webinar titled “Researcher Connect: Closing the Loop Between Institutions and Scholars.” This webinar will teach attendees how to utilize ORCID’s newly released Researcher Connect feature, which automates affiliation management by proactively identifying and notifying unaffiliated researchers at your institution.

Date & Time: 27 May 2026, 10:00 EDT | 14:00 UTC

Join the AI Discussion Group’s eighth session in their Solutions Showcase Series. This session will feature Christine Kim from Mozilla Data Collective (MDC), who will introduce MDC; its mission to ensure tech is multilingual, multicultural, and multimodal; and how it allows users to decide what data sets they define as open-source and provides the ability to allow controlled-sharing through community governance, or commercially licensing your data.

Date & Time: 27 May 2026, 11:00 EDT | 15:00 UTC

The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) and the National Library of Poland are hosting the 4th free ON-LINE conference: Digital Library - Culture for All Forever. The theme of the conference is “Challenges of digital libraries with focus on digitization quality assurance and long-term preservation.” The conference is online and will be held in the English language with simultaneous translation into Polish.

Date & Time: 28 May 2026, 11:00 CEST | 9:00 UTC

The ALLEA General Assembly 2026 will take place in Warsaw, Poland, from 26-29 May 2026. This assembly convenes academies of sciences and humanities from 40 countries across the Council of Europe region, providing a platform for dialogue across borders, disciplines, generations, and sectors, and bringing together Early Career Researchers (ECRs) and senior scientists for a wide-ranging discussion on several pressing issues at the nexus of science, policy, and society.

The Data Services Continuing Professional Education (DSCPE) Program focuses on training and developing a community of data services librarians who wish to be retooled with hands-on experience in research data services to support their research community. The program is an eleven-week online intensive learning experience that includes synchronous virtual live sessions, remote self-paced learning, guest speakers, and capstone site project mentorships. The Fall 2026 cohort will run from 1 September to 20 November 2026. Currently, the DSCPE program is only able to accommodate U.S.-based librarians.

Application Deadline: 5 June 2026

The Genomic Research and Data Science Center for Computation and Cloud Computing (GRADS-4C) is hosting their 3rd Annual Research Symposium in Greensboro, North Carolina, United States, from 8-9 June 2026. The theme of this symposium is “AI and Digital Health: Potential, Promise and Peril.” This event includes two days of talks, discussions, and hands-on collaboration at the intersection of genomics, data science, and cloud computing, and gives participants the opportunity to connect with students, early-career researchers, faculty, and industry innovators.

The Digital Preservation Coalition (DPC) is hosting an interactive, online session to introduce two new resources designed to support digital preservation advocacy: the Digital Preservation Advocacy Toolkit and the Novice to Know-How (N2KH) Advocacy Course. This event will offer a first look at both resources, share practical examples of small but effective advocacy wins, and connect participants with others working to build momentum for digital preservation within their own organizations.

Date & Time: 16 June 2026, 12:00-13:30 UTC

The Digital Curation Centre (DCC) and the Research Data Alliance of Europe (RDA Europe) are hosting an online workshop titled “Self-assessing research data management and FAIR-enabling capabilities.” This workshop will introduce participants to the concept of self-assessment of their organizations' capabilities to support research data management (RDM) and the production and reuse of FAIR data, introduce two methodologies that can be used to carry out self-assessments: the DCC’s Research Infrastructure Self Evaluation Framework (RISE) and the Assessing capability maturity and engagement with FAIR-enabling practice (ACME-FAIR) rubrics developed through the FAIRsFAIR project, and provide participants with practical advice on implementing a self-assessment effectively, interpreting the results, and planning for improvement. 

Date & Time: 18 June 2026, 8:30-11:30 UTC

The BitCurator Consortium is hosting their BitCurator Consortium Forum 2026 online on 17 June 2026. The theme of this event is “Hitting Reset.” The forum will balance discussion of theory and practice of digital forensics, curation, and related digital analysis workflows and will include a keynote speaker, lighting talk sessions, and a Great Question Session.

Time: 10:00-17:30 EDT | 14:00-21:30 UTC

The University of Southampton is offering a hands-on workshop titled “Cybersecurity Essentials for Information Professionals.” This workshop is online and will introduces participants to key cybersecurity concepts and practical strategies for protecting digital assets. It is designed for professionals responsible for maintaining or safeguarding organisational data, regardless of technical background (data and records managers, data stewards, digital archivists, digital preservationists, information managers, and more).

Date & Time: June 22, 2026, 12:00-16:30 BST | 11:00-15:30 UTC

Cost: £178 GBP

The Archives & Records Association Conference 2026 will be held in Glasgow, Scotland, from 5-7 August 2026 and will explore a theme of “authenticity.” This conference aims to explore and interrogate the tensions between preservation and destruction, between authenticity and interpretation, and between professional values and practical realities, while also considering how authenticity can be meaningfully embedded in theory, practice, and education.

Registration Deadline: 13 July 2026

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 26th International Genomic Standards Consortium meeting will be held 12-14 August 2026 in Rotorua, Aotearoa, New Zealand. The Genomic Standards Consortium (GSC) is an open-membership working body that has taken responsibility for generating and socializing the MIxS Standards (Minimum Information about any [X] Sequence) that define the minimum metadata to be held alongside genomic data in global repositories.

This event will explore Genomic Standards in Indigenous contexts, along with Oceania genomics; Ethical, Legal, and Social metadata; Genomics and AI; Standards for Bioconvergence; single cell genomics, eDNA, and ancient DNA; and standards across genomic data repositories.

Registration Deadlines:

iPRES 2026 will take place in Copenhagen, Denmark, and online from 21-25 September 2026. The conference themes are Community, Preservation, and Horizon, which encourage reflections on the evolving practices, innovations, and collaborations shaping the future of digital preservation.

The Singapore Open Research Conference 2026, being organized by WDS regular member DR-NTU (Data) and hosted by Nanyang Technological University, will take place in Singapore from 4-5 November 2026 with the theme “AI and Open Research: Building Trust, Ensuring Security, Driving Impact.” This conference aims to bring together researchers, research managers, librarians, research service providers, policy makers, funders, publishers, and leaders to explore how artificial intelligence is shaping open research and will examine important questions around trust, security, and impact, offering a platform to share insights, experiences, and best practices.

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.” Two calls are still open for various submission types:

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

Submission Deadline: 9 June 2026

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

Submission Deadline: 26 June 2026

The International Digital Curation Conference 2027 (IDCC) will be held in Lisbon, Portugal, from 9-12 February 2027. The theme of this conference will be “FAIR DO's: Centring People in the Stewardship and Curation of Digital Objects.” The conference is accepting five submission types: Papers, Lightning Talks, Posters, Demos, and Workshops.

Submission Deadlines:

The Generative Decision Science Conference, being held from 26-27 November 2026 in Johannesburg, South Africa, aims to explore the transformative role of data-driven decision-making in addressing complex societal challenges and emphasizes open science, data stewardship, and evidence-based decision-making as critical enablers of inclusive development, particularly in emerging economies. The conference has an open call for papers and invites submissions from scholars, industry practitioners, and post-graduate students with research interests in the fields of Decision Science, Data Science, Information Science, Information Management, Knowledge Management, Information Systems, and other information studies.

Submission Deadline: 31 August 2026

The Canadian Research Data Centre Network (CRDCN) has been awarded funding through the Digital Research Alliance of Canada’s National Data Spaces pilot to develop a national data space for researchers who work with sensitive data in the social sciences and are recruiting multiple roles for this project:

The University of Exeter is awarding full funding for a PhD Studentship at the Egenis Centre for the Study of the Life Sciences. The PhD Studentship is part of the Error-Reasoning Agents (ERAs) project, which aims to develop the tools required for assessing the error-reasoning ability of AI systems and to foster the careful and effective introduction of AI agents into the research process. The candidate will pursue the following research tasks: the analysis of case studies from the biological sciences, engagement with current literature in philosophy of science and AI, and field work in bioscience laboratories at the University of Exeter. The student will also have funding to travel to conferences to present and discuss their findings.

Application Deadline: 26 May 2026

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC-Chapel Hill) is looking for a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the School of Data Science and Society. This position will play a central role in advancing new statistical and machine learning methodology with the following areas of focus: clustering and unsupervised learning, dimension reduction and manifold learning, high-dimensional inference and feature selection, generative modeling and digital twins, and reliability and interpretability of ML methods. The postdoctoral researcher will be responsible for teaching at most one class per semester, or one class per academic year, depending on teaching needs.

Application Deadline: 15 June 2026

The UK-Ireland Digital Humanities Association has launched a pilot Small Grants Scheme to support Early Career Digital Humanities research and practice, which offers seed funding for collaborative projects led by: Early Career Researchers (independent or in Higher Education institutions) who want to develop collaborations with GLAM (galleries, libraries, archives and museums) institutions for future partnerships, or Early Career Practitioners in the GLAM sector wishing to develop new collaborations with researchers (independent or in Higher Education institutions).

Grant Amount: Up to £ 3,000 / € 3,449.26 (with a total of £ 6,000 / € 6,898.71 available in this pilot funding round)

Submission Deadline: 19 June 2026

Applications for the Adam Kilgarriff Prize, a prize intended for young researchers in the fields of corpus linguistics, language technologies, and lexicography, are open for the sixth iteration of the award. The winner of the prize will receive EUR 2500, perpetual Sketch Engine access, the option of a lecture or demo session at the eLex conference, and a recommendation to the conference’s program committee as an invited speaker, if willing. Additionally, the winner may be given one of the keynote slots to give the Adam Kilgarriff Lecture (subject to the committee’s agreement).

Deadline to Apply: 30 September 2026

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) Office of Data Science Strategy (ODSS) is offering multiple grant opportunities that can be applied for on the NIH Grants & Funding website. The grants available span across scientific disciplines and career levels and have varying submission deadlines.

RDM (Research Data Management) Weekly is a weekly roundup of research data management resources that is curated by Crystal Lewis. This weekly newsletter includes links to webinar recordings, older resources, job opportunities, and more.

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) has released a common set of parameters, the IEEE Recommended Practice for Provenance of Indigenous Peoples' Data, for the provenance of Indigenous Peoples' data, which supports the appropriate disclosure of Indigenous Peoples' relationships and/or links to all data. Access will be free for the first year through an institutional account or through creating an account with the IEEE.

The article “Guest Post — Develop to Delegate: How Investing in Early-Career Professionals Strengthens Organizations,” written by Kelly Harvey at the Scholarly Kitchen, delves into the importance of mentoring Early-Career Professionals (ECPs) and the benefits they bring to the workplace. The article explores the necessity of investing in ECPs, in growing their skills and confidence in the workplace, and in preparing them to succeed in their future careers.

The article “Planting Seeds for Thriving Data Management,” written by Abigail Benson, Stace E. Beaulieu, Bradley Wade Bishop, Stephen C. Diggs and Stephen Formel, explores ideas from the Earth Science Information Partners (ESIP) community aimed to help Early-Career Researchers (ECRs) build research data management skills.

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