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.

Steven McEachern

Historical Group

Data Foundation and Terminology WG

Member

Chair(s): Gary Berg-Cross, Peter Wittenburg, Raphael Ritz

Webinar – Connecting Data, Institutions and People: FAIR Digital Objects, RDA outputs and the design of the DiSSCo Research Infrastructure – 18 March 2021 The DFT WG task is to describe...

Historical Group

Data Foundations and Terminology IG

Member

Stage: IG Established

Chair(s): Gary Berg-Cross, Raphael Ritz

Agreed upon terminology, the meaning of terms used in discussion, is an important aspect of all group work. The DFT IG task is to continue the discussion evoked by the RDA DFT WG to support continuing...

Historical Group

Long tail of research data IG

Member

Stage: IG Established

Chair(s): Kathleen Shearer

Status: Recognised & Endorsed Universities and research institutions are becoming increasingly interested in collecting and providing access to datasets produced at their institution that do no...

Historical Group

Metadata Standards Directory WG

Member

Chair(s): Jane Greenberg, Keith Jeffery, Rebecca Koskela, Alex Ball

Please note that the Metadata Standards Directory WG has now finished its term under RDA and has delivered its outputs. A follow-on WG has been created: Metadata Standards Catalog WG. The RDA Met...

Historical Group

Preservation e-Infrastructure IG

Member

Stage: IG Established

Chair(s): David Giaretta, Jamie Shiers

Status: Recognised & Endorsed The purpose of the PeIIG is to reach wide agreement on the e-Infrastructure services which are needed to help repositories to preserve their data holdings, to ensure...

Historical Group

Research Data Provenance IG

Member

Stage: IG Established

Chair(s): David Dubin, Nicholas Car

Tracking provenance for research data is vital to science and scholarship, providing answers to common questions researchers pose when sharing and exchanging data: Where did it come from? Who modified...

Historical Group

Standardisation of Data Categories and Codes WG

Member

Chair(s): Linda Barwick, Simon Musgrave

Status: Recognised & Endorsed Working Group on Standardisation of data categories and codes, working specifically with the ISO 639 The outputs of this Working Group will assist with greater data ...