Join RDA

About Us
About Us
About the RDA

Meet the global community enabling seamless data exchange across disciplines.

How the RDA Works

RDA Foundation

Code of Conduct
Funders

SCOSS Funding

Funders Forum
Governance

An overview of the RDA Governing Boards

Council

Organisational Advisory Board

Regional Advisory Board

Technical Advisory Board

Secretariat

Secretary General
Stakeholders

Discover how the RDA benefits different stakeholder groups including researchers, funders, libraries, industry, and early career professionals.

Early Career Individuals

Build your career through networking, mentorship, and global expert engagement.

Funders and Policy Makers

Enhance research value through international collaboration and adoption of RDA recommendations.

Industry and Private Sector

Collaborate with global data experts to enhance your strategy and organisational goals.

Infrastructures

Develop global data policies and ensure your service compatibility with international research.

Libraries

Expand your research data management role and contribute to global best practices.

Research Performing Organisations

Shape data solutions, access international networks, and enhance your institutional research capabilities.
Strategy

An overview of current and past RDA Strategic plans

Strategic Plan 2024-2028

Strategic Plan 2020-2023

Financial Sustainability
Disciplines

An overview of what the RDA is doing for disciplines

Agricultural Sciences

Engineering & Technology

Humanities

Natural Sciences

Social Sciences

Interdisciplinary Research

RDA Domain Ambassadors
Become a Member
Become a Member
Our Memberships

Read about the 3 different RDA memberships

Individual Membership

Read about and join the RDA as an individual member.

Organisational & Affiliate Membership

Read about and join the RDA as an organisational or affiliate member.

Regional Membership

Read about and join the RDA as a regional member.
Individual Members

Organisational and Affiliate Members
Groups
Groups
Find a Group

Go to the RDA Groups Directory

Find a Working Group

A working group is a time-limited team of experts collaborating to develop tools, standards, and practices for data sharing

Find an Interest Group

Bringing together community experts dedicated to advancing data sharing, exchange, and interoperability, either directly or indirectly

Find Community of Practice

Composed of disciplinary experts who investigate, discuss, and provide knowledge and skills within a specific discipline

Find Historical Group

Completed or withdrawn groups

Find Regional Group

Working areas dedicated to RDA-related activities, updates and events in a particular region
RDA Groups

An overview of the different types of RDA groups

Start a Group

Complete the form to start a new RDA group

Group Completion

Why and how RDA groups are sometimes closed.

Group Chair Responsibilities

All you need to know about being a co-chair of an RDA group. Read before starting a new group.
Working Groups

A summary of Working Groups

Create a Working Group

All details for how to create, join or close an RDA Working Group.

Statement of Work Development

Working Group Statements of Work explained, and expectations of running an RDA WG.
Interest Groups

A summary of Interest Groups

Create an Interest Group

All details for how to create, join or close an RDA Interest Group.
Communities of Practice

A summary of Communities of Practice

Statement of Work Development

All the components for developing a Community of Practice Statement of Work.

Review Process

The steps involved in the review process for an RDA Community of Practice.
About Birds of a Feather (BoF)

Historical Groups
Events
Events
Upcoming Plenaries

RDA's biannual working meetings where the global data community collaborates on data challenges.

27th Plenary Meeting (P27)

In-Person Plenary, 6-8 October 2026. London, UK

28th Plenary Meeting (VP28)

Fully Virtual Plenary, 15-19 March 2027

29th Plenary Meeting [part of International Data Week 2027]
Past Plenaries

Meetings and Events
Outputs and Resources
Outputs and Resources
Recommendations and Outputs

Catalogue

Submission Guidelines

Adoption Stories

Standards
RDA Knowledge Base
The Value of the RDA

Technological, agnostic and policy areas where the RDA adds value

RDA and Artificial Intelligence (AI)

RDA and National Open Science Policies

RDA and Science Policy

RDA and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

RDA and the TRUST Principles
RDA Tiger
News and Media
News and Media

News and Stories

Newsletters
Multimedia

RDA podcasts and videos

Podcast

Browse our podcast series on research data challenges and open data solutions

Video

Watch our videos created by the community to feel the real RDA experience!
Communication Kit

Media Kit

RDA’s branding materials, logos, templates, and other materials to create communication assets on behalf of the RDA

RDA in a Nutshell

Presentation slides summarising RDA's activities and membership statistics, free to download.
Jobs
The Sarah Jones Award

Biannual award recognising exceptional contributions to fostering collaboration in Open Science.

Terms of Reference

Nomination criteria, selection process, timeline, and guidelines for the award.

Remembering Sarah Jones

Community memories and tributes honouring Sarah Jones's contributions to Open Science.

Arnaud Gingold

Working Group

Alignment of multilingual vocabularies in the Social Sciences and Humanities WG

Co-Chair

Stage: WG Producing Deliverables

Chair(s): Arnaud Gingold, Terhi Nurmikko-Fuller, Gema Bueno-de-la-Fuente

Secretariat Liaison: Bridget Walker

TAB Liaison: Daniel Bangert

This Working Group intends to address challenges concerning the interoperability multilingual nature of SSH controlled vocabularies. Controlled vocabularies are a major discovery tool in the digital e...

Interest Group

FAIR Digital Object Fabric IG

Member

Stage: IG Established

Chair(s): Xin Chen, Rainer Stotzka, Zachary Trautt, Maggie Hellström, Andreas Pfeil

TAB Liaison: Rossella Aversa

The Data Fabric IG (DFIG) identified that working with data in the many scientific labs and most probably also in other areas such as industry and governance is highly inefficient and too costly. Exce...

Interest Group

Professionalising Data Stewardship IG

Member

Stage: IG Established

Chair(s): Mijke Jetten, Romain DAVID, Biru Zhou, Yan Wang, Liise Lehtsalu, Mikala Narlock

Secretariat Liaison: Bridget Walker

TAB Liaison: James Savage

This is the webpage of the RDA Interest Group on professionalising data stewardship. The idea to create an interest group was raised in a BoF session during the 14th Plenary (Helsinki), and a first i...

Regional Group

RDA in France

Member

Coordinators: Francoise Genova, Laurence EL KHOURI

Le CNRS héberge le chapitre national de la RDA, RDA France, initialement mis en place dans le cadre du projet RDA Europe 4.0 (2018-2020). Le Ministère de l’Enseignement Supérieur et de la Rec...

Coordination Group

Working and Interest Group Chairs

Member

This is a group dedicated to all the Working and Interest Group Chairs ‘RDA Technical Advisory Board (TAB) Meets Chairs’ Meetings The TAB meets chairs meetings provide RDA group chairs wit...

Historical Group

Data Granularity WG

Member

Stage: Completed

Chair(s): Katherine McNeill, Reyna Broadhurst, Brigitte Mathiak

Welcome to the RDA Data Granularity Working Group Please note the WG has completed its work, and the final recommendations are being maintained by the Data Discovery Paradigms IG Purpose The efficient...