The annual Dataverse Community Meeting 2026, one of the leading international conferences in the field of research data management, took place in Barcelona, Spain from May 13 to 15, 2026. The event brought together repository managers, technical specialists and researchers from more than twenty countries. The main themes of the three-day programme included the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into research data infrastructures, repository interoperability and the development of a sustainable data ecosystem.
The Higher Education and Science Information Technology Shared Service Centre (VPC) was represented at the conference by Kristaps Oškalns, who participated with a poster on the Latvian national research data repository DataverseLV. The presentation focused on the repository’s first year since launch, its development process, achievements and lessons. One of the most significant milestones was the successful acquisition of the CoreTrustSeal certification, which serves as an internationally recognised indicator of a trustworthy digital repository. Receiving the certification during the repository’s first year was positively received by the international community and further strengthened DataverseLV’s position as a credible research data repository.
In the conference plenary sessions, leading experts emphasised that the future of research data repositories is closely linked to artificial intelligence. It is becoming increasingly clear that repositories must evolve into infrastructure that will be used not only by people but also by AI systems, which imposes new requirements on metadata quality, data traceability and discoverability. As one of the solutions in this direction, the Croissant metadata format is being developed, which allows repository data to be automatically made discoverable by AI platforms.
Another important topic of the conference was repository interoperability and the management of sensitive data, particularly how to ensure secure access to restricted data while complying with both FAIR principles and data protection requirements. These considerations are highly relevant to the continued development of DataverseLV and its alignment with international standards and research infrastructure practices.
The conference provided an opportunity to strengthen cooperation with the Harvard University Dataverse development team and representatives of the Nordic-Baltic Dataverse Hub (NaisH), as well as other experienced repository administrators, including DataverseNL. Participation in the poster session enabled direct networking with repository managers from other countries and facilitated the exchange of practical experience. The insights and professional connections established during the conference will contribute to the further development of DataverseLV, particularly in improving metadata quality and strengthening integration with Latvia’s research infrastructure and digital science ecosystem.
