31 March 2026
AGU press contact:
Josh Weinberg, (202) 820-6064, [email protected]
BERLIN, Germany — As actions and threats mount to defund, remove, and modify scientific datasets, AGU hosted the Earth, Space and Environmental Sciences Global Data Resilience Convening to strategize long-term measures needed to build a more resilient and robust data enterprise and secure continued access to it for public and private sectors ensuring a viable foundation for solutions and safeguards.
Gathering a diverse cross section of experts and leaders from international research institutions, think tanks, universities, governmental and non-governmental organizations, the first-of-its-kind convening was made possible with the generous support of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.
The Earth, Space and Environmental Sciences Global Data Resilience Convening follows AGU’s creation last summer of the Data Resilience Project, a broad, global initiative that addresses the governance and technical architecture needed for a more resilient global data network.
“We stand at an inflection point. We have engaged in triage efforts to ensure data continues to be usable and accessible. But we clearly now have arrived at a moment where we must fundamentally reimagine data organization and maintenance for long-term viability and growth,” said AGU President-Elect Ben Zaitchik.
The convening recognized that the recent damage caused by defunding, removing, or altering datasets historically supported by the US federal government goes far beyond borders impacting the entire global ecosystem of critical research data and observational platforms. AGU and its collaborators are focused on the opportunity to enhance the continuity and integrity of the knowledge systems that not only scientists use, but engineers, public safety officials, health experts, policymakers, and wide arrays of industries and communities globally rely on every day.
The Berlin convening leveraged the insights of nearly 100 cross-disciplinary experts to create an actionable roadmap toward a sustainable and resilient future. This includes defining best practices to ensure rescued data sets can properly communicate with one another and be successfully integrated into reimagined new systems.
Participants agreed to continue working on shared governance, a flexible technical framework, and better ways to make data interoperable, accessible, and transferable, all leading towards a more resilient global data system.
AGU (www.agu.org) is a global community supporting more than half a million professionals and advocates in Earth and space sciences. Through broad and inclusive partnerships, we advance discovery and solution science that accelerate knowledge and create solutions that are ethical, unbiased and respectful of communities and their values. Our programs include serving as a scholarly publisher, convening virtual and in-person events and providing career support. We live our values in everything we do, such as our net zero energy renovated building in Washington, D.C., and our Ethics and Equity Center, which fosters a diverse and inclusive geoscience community to ensure responsible conduct.