I wanted to share this announcement from CODATA of a major new two year FAIR data initiative called WorldFAIR funded under the European Commission's Horizon Europe Framework Program. One of the most interesting aspects of this to me is the detailed disciplinary examinations of FAIR issues, which underscore just how challenging and discipline specific achieving the promise of FAIR data is likely to be.

Clifford Lynch
Director, CNI

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CODATA is delighted to announce the launch of a major new project: ‘WorldFAIR: Global cooperation on FAIR data policy and practice’, funded by the European Commission through its Horizon Europe Framework Programme.

Coordinated by CODATA, with the Research Data Alliance association as a major partner, the WorldFAIR project will work with a set of case studies to advance implementation of the FAIR data principles, in particular those for Interoperability, and to develop a set of recommendations and a framework for FAIR assessment in a set of disciplines, or cross-disciplinary research areas.  We will explore features of an emerging Cross-Domain Interoperability Framework with 11 case studies from the physical, social, agricultural and environmental sciences and the cultural heritage sector, and prepare FAIR Implementation Profiles, appropriately adapted to each (cross-)discipline area. This will lead to, and help inform, a fuller mapping of current best practices and emerging solutions and initiatives for FAIR data in these domains. 
 
WorldFAIR will run for 24 months from 1 June 2022. The project is a collaboration between 19 partners around the world including prominent research institutions and scholarly organisations from Africa, Australasia, Europe, and North and South America. This work will form the core of CODATA’s contribution to the International Science Council (ISC) Action Plan Project 2.1, Making Data Work For Cross-Domain Grand Challenges. 

Find out more about WorldFAIR partners and their planned activities at the sessions at SciDataCon/International Data Week in June 2022:
• WorldFAIR – Global cooperation on FAIR data policy and practice https://www.scidatacon.org/IDW-2022/sessions/439/ – General Introduction, 20 June, 2:30 – 4:00 UTC
• Unique identifiers to complement metadata for the identification and grouping of complex nanomaterials https://www.scidatacon.org/IDW-2022/sessions/444/ – Nanomaterials Case Study, 21 June, 7:00 – 8:30 UTC
• Mapping the Global Landscape of Geochemistry Initiatives and Databases https://www.scidatacon.org/IDW-2022/sessions/437/ – Geochemistry Case Study, 22 June, 7:00 – 8:30 UTC
• Challenges for Plant-Pollinator Data Standardization https://www.scidatacon.org/IDW-2022/sessions/418/ – Agricultural Biodiversity Case Study, 22 June, 7:00 – 8:30 UTC
• Envisioning a Cross-Domain Interoperability Framework https://www.scidatacon.org/IDW-2022/sessions/438/ – Current thinking about the CDIF, 23 June, 2:30 – 4:00 UTC
You will also have a chance to follow progress at the FAIR Convergence Symposium in October 2022 (website forthcoming).