Pipeline Newsletter - October 2025

Welcome to the DCC Pipeline newsletter!

Our monthly newsletter features news updates from the community, information about DCC work and services as well as important dates for your calendar. We hope you enjoy!

At a glance...

In this edition of Pipeline, we announce that registration for IDCC26 is now open, introduce our new mascot and highlight some exciting upcoming events.

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DCC News

IDCC26 Registration now open! 
We are excited to announce that registration is now open for the 20th International Digital Curation Conference (IDCC26). Join us in Zagreb from 16 February 2026 for hands-on workshops, paper and lightning talks, poster exhibition and engaging social events.   
 
We have a range of discounted tickets available to make conference attendance more accessible, from early bird tickets to student and Lower and Middle-Income Countries (LMIC) tickets.    
 
Learn more about ticket types, deadlines and our social events via our registration webpage.

Angus the Data Puffin IDCC26 Ticket Competition
We’re excited to introduce our new DCC mascot, Angus the Data Puffin! To celebrate, we’re running a fun competition where one lucky winner will receive a free ticket to IDCC26 in Zagreb (16–18 February 2026).   

Check out details of the competition on our website.

UNESCO Ocean Project DMP now available on DMPonline
We are pleased to announce that the UNESCO Ocean Project or Programme Template, is now available in DMPonline. 

Based on the newly revised IOC Manual and Guide No. 99: Guidelines for an Ocean Project or Programme Data Management Plan, the DMP template supports researchers, and project leads in planning the collection, management, and long-term preservation of ocean data. 

By making this template freely available, DMPonline helps sustain UNESCO’s commitment to ensuring that ocean data remain accessible, reusable, and preserved for future research and decision making. More information on the template can be accessed via the Ocean Expert website.

International Journal of Data Curation

Base4NFDI: Fostering A Cross-Disciplinary Service Landscape for the German National Research Data Infrastructure
Anja Perry and Ekaterina Chicherina of the GESIS - Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences, completed a project examining data curation skill needs and various approaches to define these needs. Paired with the DCC Curation Lifecycle Model and survey results from Social Science Research Data Centres in Germany, Perry and Chicherina defined curation skill needs and learning trajectories and implemented these in an information and training platform for data curation in the social sciences, RDM Compas, with its content organised along the DCC Curation Lifecycle Model. A newly developed data curation module in a nationwide RDM certification course compliments the training path toward professional RDM.

The full conference paper, presented at IDCC25, can be read on the IJDC website.

Interested in becoming an IJDC reviewer?

Complete a short webform on our website and one of our team will contact you. 

Funded projects

Project ACCoRD needs your feedback
Project ACCoRD (A Community for Contract Regulation for Data) addresses the contracting challenges that currently hinder data from being accessed, moved and processed efficiently for ground-breaking research. 

ACCoRD is gathering evidence for a future national research contracting framework in the UK and is forming the community to develop this framework. Through stakeholder engagement and community development the team will attempt to understand the challenges and opportunities for data contracting, identify best practice models and produce solutions to unblock data for the UK’s Digital Research Infrastructure. 

Share your experience through the ACCoRD survey.

Resource of the month

European Commission launches new strategy to strengthen Europe's research and technology infrastructures
Earlier this month, the European Commission launched the European strategy on research and technology infrastructures to boost Europe's leadership in scientific excellence and technological innovation.

The full strategy can be downloaded on the European Commission website. 

From the community

Help Shape the Future of Federated Digital Research Infrastructures (DRIs)
Are you a data professional, researcher or practitioner (user) working with data within or across communities and sectors? The University College London (UCL) Knowledge Lab are inviting participants to take part in a short survey for the project "Inclusive Futures: Cultural User Stories and Mapping Pathways for National Federated Compute Services". The survey aims to understand how people engage with federated DRIs or why they don’t.

The survey can be completed on the UCL website. 

Funding call announcement: DisCouRSE Network
The DisCouRSE Network+ project is offering a flexible funding initiative to support and develop leaders in digital Research Technical Professional (dRTP) roles in the UK. This round of funding will support 10-20 projects with up to £10k each, aimed at enhancing leadership and career pathways in digital research. Proposals can cover any relevant area without thematic restrictions, encouraging innovation and community involvement. Projects are scheduled to start between January and April 2026, with a submission deadline on November 14, 2025. 

For further details and application submissions, visit the DisCouRSE Network+ website. 

For your calendar

UK Data Service introductory training series: Autumn 2025 
Multiple online: October – December 2025
The UK Data Service provide access to a wide range of social science data for reuse. To help users get the most from these resources, the team run a free introductory training series every spring and autumn to introduce different aspects of the UK Data Service.

The full training workshop series in autumn 2025 are listed on the UK Data Service website.

Digital Research Infrastructure (DRI) Congress 2025
Leeds, UK, 21-22 October 2025
This two-day event organised by the UK DRI Programme will bring stakeholders from across the UK’s research and innovation ecosystem together. The agenda will feature keynote addresses, plenary discussions and breakout sessions designed to explore the progress, opportunities and challenges in building a national DRI that serves the diverse needs of researchers and innovators.

Book your place now via the UKRI website.

iPRES 2025 
Wellington, New Zealand, 3-7 November 2025 
iPRES 2025 will take place at the Tākina Wellington Convention and Exhibition Centre, and online, from November 3 to 7 2025. The conference is proudly hosted by the National Library of New Zealand and Archives New Zealand. iPRES is an international community of digital preservation researchers and practitioners.

Register your place via the iPRES website.

...and finally

I mentioned in last month’s Pipeline that we were recruiting for a fixed-term research data specialist role; we’ve now completed that process and I hope to share more news of our latest recruit in next month’s Pipeline. Once again we were surprised and pleased at the quantity and quality of the applications we received; we faced a tough decision. I’m reassured that we continue to be seen as a desirable place to work by so many able people from such a wide range of backgrounds. 

One event our newest recruit will be signed up for is IDCC26; we have a great programme of talks and posters, inspiring keynotes and what is shaping up to be an interesting and varied set of workshops. News about registration and a competition involving our new mascot is above. If you’ve met me or other DCC staff at recent events you may have picked up a laptop sticker bearing Angus the Data Puffin’s image. Look out for me and other DCC colleagues at IDW in Brisbane later this month – we're always glad to talk.

Kevin Ashley, DCC Director