The participation to the 6th RDA plenary meeting was an amazing experience from various aspects. From the technical point of view I followed various presentations talking about science fields and domains totally unknown to me. From the social point of view it was great to be part of a huge research community during the duration of the plenary meeting as well as to take part in group and bilateral discussions about research data.

I have tried to summarize in this blog my experience during the RDA 6th Plenary Meeting in Paris (France) However, words are not enough to describe the whole experience accurately and completely. Hope that pictures help!! One acronym (LEARN) helps me to put these 5 exciting days in a nutshell.

As an early stage career researcher, coming from the field of biomedicine, researching on data sharing, I was curious to find about overall data-sharing practices, all over the world, across all disciplines. In the beginning, I was afraid that I would not be able to understand that IT language. It turns out that the things are not complicated at all, similar principles were woven through all the sessions I was present in: yes, there is a need to share data, yes it could be complicated, yes there is a need to work on interoperability, infrastructure, etc... And everybody agreed that persistent identifiers are a must.

“It is like opening the curtains – the more you open the more is unveiled. Data is light.”  The words from French Minister of State for Digital Technology Axelle Lemaire, who spoke at the opening session of the 6th RDA (Research Data Alliance) Plenary. The meeting took place on 23-25 September in Paris, France.