Blog Post by Gitanjali Yadav, India

The hum of conversation this week at the sprawling and impressive Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre carried a familiar cadence; the sound of the global data community converging once again under the banner of International Data Week!  There’s something quietly transformative about being in a room where the world’s leading minds in data gather, not just to talk about datasets and infrastructures, but about what responsibility means in the age of digital abundance. That’s what it felt like at the IDW 2025: a coming together of scientists, policymakers, technologists, and communities, each holding a different piece of the world’s data puzzle. This year’s event drew 807 participants, with more than a hundred joining online from across continents;  a testament to how inclusive the global data community has become.

Across plenaries and working sessions, one thread remained unbroken: how we, as stewards of data, can embed responsibility, equity, and interoperability at the heart of global science :)

As a member of the CODATA International Data Policy Committee (IDPC), I have been in many such rooms before. But this week was somehow more grounded and more self-aware. Maybe it was the unmistakable presence of the First Nations voices that opened our discussions, or maybe it was the realization that data policy is no longer a backroom dialogue but center stage in how we imagine a fair and sustainable scientific future..

Beginning with CARE, and the Human Face of Data

The opening plenary, “CAREful Indigenous Data Governance,” set a powerful tone. Alfred Lin’s exploration of Taiwan’s Indigenous Peoples’ data practices, Niklas Labba’s Sami’ stories and Marcia Langton’s reflections on Australian Indigenous governance frameworks underscored how data justice is becoming a core tenet of global policy. 

For those of us in global data policy, this wasn’t just an inspiring beginning; it was a call to listen more carefully, to communities, to context, to the histories embedded in our datasets. The conversations that followed about the CARE and FAIR principles weren’t merely academic, but about dignity, reciprocity, and trust, primarily about placing humanity back into the architecture of data governance. 

From the CODATA and IDPC perspectives, these discussions reinforce our ongoing work on developing policy frameworks that operationalize CARE Principles alongside FAIR, ensuring inclusivity without compromising scientific rigor. The need to balance cultural sovereignty with open science ideals is no longer a conceptual debate; it’s a governance imperative.

From FAIR Maturity to Data Stewardship

The technical sessions that followed, covering metadata frameworks, persistent identifiers, and FAIR maturity models, jointly revealed how far the data world has come since these terms first entered our vocabulary. But beyond the acronyms and schemas, what struck us most was a subtle shift in language: from compliance to stewardship.The National PID Strategy case studies and the FAIR Data Maturity Model WG session both illustrated the policy dimension behind technical progress. They asked the hard questions, ranging from how national frameworks align with global infrastructures, to who holds accountability for cross-border interoperability?

As policy actors, we must ensure that these models translate into equitable access and sustained trust, not just technological alignment. Stewardship, after all, is not a technical act; it’s an ethical one that materialises when researchers, repositories, and policymakers see themselves as part of a living ecosystem of data care.

When AI Walks into the Room! 

Artificial intelligence hovered like a quiet undercurrent throughout the week, not as hype, but as a reckoning. The second plenary on Rigorous, Responsible, and Reproducible Science in the Era of FAIR Data and AI captured this policy challenge; governing machine learning and generative AI systems through the lens of openness and ethics. Presentations on FAIR for Machine Learning, AI-Ready Data Workflows, and Documenting LLM Interactions in Research showed a welcome move toward transparency. The session by the Artificial Intelligence and Data Visitation (AIDV) Working Group went further, connecting AI governance to international policy harmonization. 

This is a theme directly tied to CODATA’s strategic focus on AI policy interoperability!  We didn’t just celebrate what AI can do; we questioned what it should do, and how we might govern it.  CODATA’s role, and that of the IDPC, is to ensure that this understanding is shared, equitable, and globally informed.

Policy as Practice, Not Paper

By the time we reached Day 03, it was clear that “policy” is no longer a distant set of guidelines, but the pulse that runs through collaboration. The third day’s sessions from “Policy and Practice of Data in Research” to “From Guidance to Practice: Implementing Open Science Policies in Crisis Situations”, revealed the increasing role of research data policy as a bridge between disciplines, sectors, and nations. Hearing examples from health data infrastructures, crisis response networks, and university governance frameworks reminded me that policy, at its best, is lived and negotiated in real time, across borders and disciplines.

It also reminded us of how delicate this work is: good policy isn’t just written, but trusted: and that trust, once built, must be constantly renewed.

As the IDPC, we have long argued that policy coherence is essential to avoid fragmentation between AI regulation, Indigenous data principles, and open science standards. Seeing these conversations converge across RDA and CODATA sessions was both validating and urgent. The question is no longer whether data policy matters, but how fast we can make it responsive to evolving technologies and societal needs.

Towards a Global Commons for Data Policy: From Brisbane to the World

Across the plenaries and working group sessions, I kept returning to one idea: the vision of a policy commons for data.This recurring vision across sessions was unmistakable as a tangible thread that connects FAIR infrastructures, CARE governance, AI ethics, and SDG-aligned data frameworks into a coherent ecosystem. Initiatives like the Global Open Research Commons (GORC) and cross-continental collaborations on metadata standards reflect what such a commons could look like in practice: A shared space where ethical frameworks, AI governance, Indigenous sovereignty, and open science standards can coexist without hierarchy. 

It’s an ambitious dream,  but one that feels closer than ever.

A Subtle Shift

In the corridors between plenaries and coffee breaks, I sensed a subtle shift;  from technical to human, from compliance to care. Maybe that’s what this week was about, realizing that our modern data systems, no matter how complex, are still part of that same continuum of knowledge care! Policy, at its best, is about tending to that continuum and ensuring that as we build the future of data, we don’t forget its human roots. 

The conversations were about more than open data; they were about open hearts and about the humility it takes to govern wisely in an interconnected world. Leaving the southern hemisphere, I carry with me a renewed sense of purpose, that data policy, when done right, is not about control, but about connection. 

I am also reminded that policy work in data is as much about listening as legislating, about bringing voices from the periphery to the center, ensuring that our data futures are inclusive, ethical, and sustainable. That, perhaps, is the real legacy of International Data Week 2025!

Looking Ahead: Our shared Data Futures!

As the week closed, there was a sense of momentum; that the conversations begun in Brisbane would ripple outward. The Research Data Alliance (RDA) announced that its next plenary will be hosted at the Oval Cricket Ground in London, with the call for sessions opening in March 2026 and registrations from April 2026.

In the closing plenary, Mercè Crosas, President of CODATA, shared an evocative AI-generated “Data Word Cloud”;  a collective snapshot of the ideas that shaped International Data Week 2025. Created from the titles of every talk presented during the week, the cloud distills the essence of our shared conversations where Indigenous data governance, open science, FAIR principles, community empowerment, metadata standards, and responsible research practices emerged as themes, painting a portrait of what global data stewardship truly means today. This visual tapestry is a representation of collective language of the week, where words like Earth, CAREful, AI, Indigenous, FAIR, responsible and Community pulse among others. To me, it captures something more than any summary or report: the living vocabulary of a global data movement in motion! 

AI-generated Data Word Cloud presented by Mercè Crosas, President of CODATA, at the IDW 2025 Closing Plenary. Based on the titles of all conference talks.

Going forwards, the community is already looking to Cape Town, South Africa, where the next International Data Week will take place in September 2027. The symbolism of moving from Brisbane to the African continent is powerful; a reminder that the future of data must be as global, diverse, and connected as the challenges it seeks to address. 

I think back to the week’s first words; the acknowledgment of the traditional custodians of this land, their knowledge systems, and their deep relationship to data in its most ancient form: “Telling a Story!”