Pipeline Newsletter - July 2026

July 2026

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, read Carolina's blog on DCC's three-phase mixed-methods approach, explore a newly published IJDC paper and learn news about changes to DCC personnel.

DCC News

Understanding digital repositories through mixed methods
Carolina Mayen Huerta, Research Data Specialist, at DCC has written a blog giving an overview of the DCC's three-phase mixed-methods approach: combining evidence, expertise, and stakeholder engagement to ensure that recommendations are both rigorous and practical for a recent consultancy project with the Pacific Community (SPC) Digital Library.

Read the full blog on our website. 

International Journal of Digital Curation

Standardisation vs. Preservation? Supporting Interoperability by Enhancing Thematic Metadata in Social Science Archives 
Róza Eszter Vajda, Judit Gárdos, and Timea Venczel
The latest IDCC26 conference paper to appear in the journal addresses challenges of data standardisation and interoperability in thematic metadata assignment for social science research data.  

The ONTOLISST project explores how thematic metadata is created and managed across social science data repositories. Through analysis of repository documentation and interviews with data management experts, the project identifies key challenges in metadata assignment. It demonstrates how inconsistencies in thematic metadata can limit the integration and reuse of valuable survey data. To address these issues, ONTOLISST is developing LiSST, a simplified social science thesaurus that supports a semi-automated approach to thematic metadata generation. 

Download the article on the IJDC website.

Funded Project

Shape the Future of Research Data Management!
Are you involved in managing, accessing, or working with research data? As a partner in the FIDELIS project, we need your insights for the Horizon Europe-funded EOSC EDEN project, which aims to enhance data curation and long-term preservation. 
Contribute to:

• Standardising best practices in data management.
• Developing advanced tools for digital preservation.
• Increasing the reusability of research data across disciplines.

Complete the survey by Monday 31 August 2026, via the EOSC EDEN website.  

Resource of the Month

A Practical Guide to Implementing Responsible Research Assessment at Research Funding Organizations
A Practical Guide to Implementing Responsible Research Assessment at Research Funding Organizations (RFO) provides action-oriented guidance, resources, and examples. It is designed for a broad audience, from funders exploring responsible research assessment (RRA), to those starting to implement it, to those refining strategies and existing practices.  

The RFO Practical Guide is intended to be used in conjunction with the RRA Self-Assessment Tool for Funders, a diagnostic tool that enables funders to self-assess their processes and plan for more structured implementation of RRA aligned with global practices, developed by the Global Research Council RRA Working Group in collaboration with DORA. 

Read the full guide via Zenodo. 

From the community

STAR report published on the future of open research data in UK 
Having been involved in the early stages of this work, we are delighted to share this new report from UKRN which examines progress and challenges in open research data (ORD) across UK higher education. The STAR report identifies a range of barriers to wider adoption, including workload pressures, limited recognition and reward, unclear costing of data stewardship, and disciplinary differences in how “data” is understood. 

The full report and it’s findings can be accessed via Zenodo. 

For your calendar

PATH2EOSCUK Competence Centre Workshop 
14:00 – 16:00 UTC+1, 12 August 2026 | Online
This interactive, virtual workshop, delivered as part of the PATH2EOSCUK project, aims to raise awareness about EOSC among a wide range of professional development bodies, training providers and research support professionals, to collaboratively identify possible approaches for coordinating UK training activities relevant to EOSC.

Register your place now.

Rescheduled  
Getting to know FAIRsharing Resources, Communities and Services 
15:00 – 16:00 UTC+1, 16 September 2026
FAIRsharing is a manually curated, community-driven registry of data and metadata standards, interlinked with databases and data policies across all research disciplines. Dr Allyson Lister joins us as a guest speaker to explain more about the FAIRsharing project.

Register your place now.   

CaSDaR’s Hybrid Data Steward Conference 2026
17-18 November 2026 | Hybrid – Online & in Manchester
This hybrid conference organised by CaSDaR brings together the growing data stewardship community to share progress, showcase impact, and shape the next phase of activity. This event is fully hybrid, so all sessions will be available online and in-person at The Midland Hotel, Manchester. Applications for Lightning Talks and Posters are currently open (closing 19 October 2026). 

Explore the CaSDaR website for more information on registration and submissions. 

...and finally

As some readers of Pipeline will already be aware, I am stepping down from the role of DCC Director at the end of August this year. Since Pipeline often takes its summer break during August this is likely to be my last contribution to our monthly newsletter. It will also be the last edition of Pipeline to be edited by our Communications and Marketing Lead Al Wood. Al is leaving to pursue new opportunities in Australia. All of us at the DCC are grateful for many contributions Al has made to our communications and events activities during the 4 years he has been with us and wish him well for the future. 

The DCC’s work will be led in future by Joy Davidson who will be known to many of you through her many years of involvement in every aspect of our work. I am very happy to see things continue in her capable and knowledgeable hands. 

I am very grateful to all the people from around the world that we’ve had the opportunity to work with during the 16 years I have been here, and to my predecessors Peter Burnhill and Chris Rusbridge who built a successful organisation with a strong vision that it has been a pleasure to lead. Most of all, I’m indebted to all the DCC staff past and present who have been a joy to work with. I look forward to seeing the great work that I know they will continue to do in the coming years. 

Get in touch 

If there are topics you would like us to cover in future issues, or if you wish to share some of your ideas with us
please do get in touch.