Global Priorities for Agentic AI Development
Background
Agentic AI refers to artificial intelligence systems that possess autonomy, goal-directed reasoning, and the ability to act independently with minimal human oversight. In contrast, traditional AI typically responds to direct prompts.
Agentic AI is changing how research is done. These intelligent systems can help with many parts of the research process, from reviewing literature and generating ideas to designing experiments, analysing data, and preparing publications. They have the potential to speed up research, lower costs, and make advanced research tools available to more people across all disciplines.
The Research Data Alliance (RDA) launched a global community consultation to identify priority areas where agentic AI can best support all stakeholders in the research ecosystem throughout the research lifecycle. This built upon our previous collaboration with Microsoft Research, specifically the recommendation to invest in automated data preparation tools and improved data standards, as detailed in the RDA Microsoft white paper on ‘Data Readiness and Data-Centric AI’.
About the Consultation
RDA welcomed the global community to provide their insights on AI agents via an open consultation as well as holding community information sessions in November 2025 to learn about:
- How the research community is currently using agentic AI
- What needs and challenges exist
- Where agentic AI could have the greatest impact
The findings from the consultation will be published in an open community report in December 2025. The final output, created by the community in 2026, will be a blueprint identifying and outlining the most important areas for agentic AI development in research.
Information Sessions
Expert Guest Speakers
Your Voice Matters
We invited participants to complete our survey to share their input and priorities on agentic AI systems in research. The responses contributed to the final community report.
Time required: 15-20 minutes (Participants could save their progress and return at any time)
No AI expertise or research role required: Every perspective was valuable regardless of familiarity with agentic AI or role in research. We aimed to understand what the entire research ecosystem needs and/or desires from agentic AI development, including researchers, early career professionals, students, educators, practitioners, librarians, data stewards, research support staff, funders, policymakers, infrastructure providers, publishers, and industry partners.
Global Priorities for Agentic AI in Research: Community Consultation Results
Three proposed tools emerged as clear community priorities:
1. The Literature Librarian, which would search literature using natural languag queries integrated with library subscriptions
2. The Data Director, designed to support research data preparation and sharing in compliance with FAIR principles; and
3. The Funding Finder, which would identify relevant funding opportunities and support application processes.
These top three rankings were reflected across both regional and stakeholder analyses, with the Literature Librarian, Data Director, and Funding Finder consistently appearing amongst the highest priorities.
Citation:
Clare, C., Collinson, M., Hanahoe, H., Payton, R., & Sharma, C. J. M. (2026). Global Community Priorities for Agentic AI in Research. Community Consultation Results. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.15497/RDA00151
Agentic AI in Research: Community Solutions for Data Challenges
As part of Love Data Week 2026, the RDA hosted two webinars, bringing more than 130 international participants together, to explore questions around Artificial Intelligence (AI), particularly Agentic AI, and its potential role in research workflows and data management practices.
In these 45-minute sessions, we shared insights from our recent global community consultation on agentic AI in research and discussed both the opportunities and challenges these emerging technologies present for the research lifecycle.
Contact us
For more information about this initiative, please contact the RDA Secretariat.