FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

OAK RIDGE, TN, 4 March, 2025 –The World Data System (WDS) is excited to announce the release of its 2025-2027 Action Plan. This plan outlines the strategic initiatives and key objectives that will guide WDS’s efforts over the next three years, aiming to enhance global data management and sharing practices. 

The 2025-2027 WDS action plan focuses on several primary goals and objectives, including improving data accessibility, fostering international collaboration, and promoting data-driven decision-making. WDS has updated the action plan with the current state of technological advancements within data, such as artificial intelligence, and keeping in mind that our worldview can be shaped by how we use data. 

Collaboration remains at the forefront of WDS’s mission. Ensuring the long-term sustainability of our data systems is a top priority. The action plan outlines strategies for maintaining reliable and impactful data infrastructures.  

To provide a comprehensive overview of these updates, WDS invites all interested parties to join an upcoming webinar: 2025-2027 World Data System Action Plan. This webinar offers an opportunity to connect with WDS leadership and fellow members. David Castle, WDS Scientific Committee Chair, and Suzie Allard, Principal Investigator to the International Program Office, will share their insights into the action plan process and explore the new opportunities arising from the updated objectives.  

Don’t miss this opportunity to stay informed about the future direction of the World Data System and how it will impact our global community. 

About the World Data System 

Founded in 2008, the World Data System (WDS) is an affiliated body of the International Science Council (ISC). Its mission is to enhance the capabilities, impact, and sustainability of its member repositories and data services by fostering trusted communities of scientific data repositories. The WDS also aims to strengthen the entire lifecycle of data management, ensuring that high-quality data supports first-class research output. Additionally, it advocates for accessible data along with transparent and reproducible science. 

World Data System International Program Office (WDS-IPO) is hosted by the University of Tennessee at the University of Tennessee Oak Ridge Innovation Institute. This work is supported by a cooperative agreement (DE-SC0021915) with the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science. Contact WDS-IPO at wds-ipo@utk.edu. 

Media Contact: Cameron Breland, Communications Specialist  cbrelan1@utk.edu 

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WDS is proud to highlight the achievements of our previous Data Stewardship Award recipients, displaying their contributions to the global data community. For December, we feature Dr. Libby Liggins, Associate Professor at the University of Auckland, whose contribution to initiatives supporting the retention of contextual metadata alongside genomic data, enabling re-use toward biodiversity and conservation objectives, and maintaining the Indigenous provenance of these data to support Indigenous Data Sovereignty.

Since receiving the WDS Data Stewardship Award, Dr. Liggins has emerged as a leader in the field, inspiring her research community to prioritize data stewardship. The award opened doors for her to take on advisory roles, lead the development of data resources and repositories, and collaborate on publications offering discipline-specific best practices.

“I now see data stewardship and the advancement of tools, infrastructures, and community practices in aid of ethical data stewardship, as a part of my professional research practice alongside marine evolutionary ecology.”

Dr. Liggins’s expertise is recognized globally, and she serves on the WDS Scientific Committee, where she helps drive initiatives that strengthen the culture of responsible data management. Incorporating data stewardship into her professional practice, alongside her work in marine evolutionary ecology, Dr. Liggins is advancing tools, infrastructures, and community practices for ethical and sustainable data use.

Her journey demonstrates how the WDS Data Stewardship Award fosters innovation, collaboration, and the essential integration of stewardship into scientific endeavors. Join us in celebrating the work of Dr. Libby Liggins and other outstanding members of the WDS community!

Xiaogang Marshall Ma received the WDS Data Stewardship Award in 2014 when he was a postdoctoral fellow working at the Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York. He joined the University of Idaho in 2016 and is currently a tenured Associate Professor of Computer Science. Marshall has continued his research interests in semantic web, knowledge graphs, general AI technologies, and their applications in Earth and environmental sciences.

“I would say the WDS Data Stewardship Award has had a multi-fold influence on my work. It is for the early-career professionals. Receiving the award in 2014 was a big encouragement for me to see the value of the work on data management and the methods and technologies needed, and a driving force for me to continue the work in this field.”

Marshall’s participation in WDS community activities has facilitated connections with many individual researchers and organizations, such as those in RDA, CODATA, and AGU. Among colleagues, topics of common interests often lead to significant actions and solutions. For example, under CODATA, Marshall and others established a working group to coordinate data standards amongst scientific unions. The results were published in Nature as a correspondence (doi:10.1038/d41586-022-03233-2) during an intensive discussion on metadata and standards. Data management and stewardship can always leverage state-of-the-art Web Science and AI technologies.

More recently, Marshall and his colleagues have been working on the open data service of Mindat, one of the largest databases in the field of mineralogy. They carefully checked the quality of the data, embedded a series of community-level standards, built packages in Python and R for researchers to use in workflow platforms, and coordinated discussions on technical approaches for data standards amongst several open geoscience data portals. In the last couple of months, Marshall and his team embarked on another innovative project to deploy large language models to develop a user-friendly interface for data query and access.

Marshall’s dedication to advancing data science ensures that his contributions will continue to shape the future landscape of Earth and environmental sciences. His collaborative spirit exemplifies how interdisciplinary efforts can drive impactful progress across various domains.

Submit your application for the prestigious WDS Data Stewardship Award here! This award can unlock unparalleled opportunities to advance your research, expand your professional network, and make impactful contributions to the global data science community.

The World Data System (WDS) is excited to announce that nominations are now open for the 2024-2025 WDS Data Stewardship Award! This award recognizes early career data stewards who have made significant contributions to the quality, integrity, and accessibility of research data. We’re looking for individuals within ten years of completing their Master’s degree, PhD, or equivalent professional training, who have demonstrated excellence in data management, curation, and adherence to legal and ethical guidelines.

Candidates can nominate themselves or be nominated by a peer or organization. The review panel, composed of members from the WDS Scientific Committee, WDS International Technology Office, and the Early Career Researchers Network Co-chairs will evaluate nominees based on their contributions to advancing data stewardship practices. Don’t miss this opportunity to celebrate and promote those who are leading the way in data stewardship. Submit your nomination today!

Visit the award page here to learn more about previous award winners and the current nomination process.