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.
Read more on the CODATA blog https://codata.org/blog/2025/10/29/reimagining-data-futures-reflections-on-brisbane-idw-the-codata-international-data-policy-committee/