TDWG

Conference schedule released and other updates - TDWG 2026

2026-08-12T00:00:00+00:00

Preliminary conference schedule is here: https://tdwg.link/schedule

Key dates

Please keep the following dates handy:

Order the conference T-Shirt by 28 August
Book Wednesday half day excursions and Dokka delta excursion by 1 September
Book Kistefos Museum and Taste of Hadeland excursions by 15 September
Evening Sunday, 20 September - Conference Welcome Reception.
Monday, 21 September - Conference starts.
Afternoon Friday, 25 September - Conference finishes.

Conference program

A preliminary schedule of the conference is now live. Every single presenter is being contacted with details of the session they will be presenting in. Please be patient if you have not received an email yet.

Things may still shift as we wait for some presenters to register for the conference. Presenters must register for the conference in order to give their presentation. If you received a confirmation of acceptance and still have not registered please do so ASAP.

See preliminary schedule: https://tdwg.link/schedule

Registration

Special registration rates are available for TDWG members, post-docs, and students. Discounted pricing is also offered for participants from low and lower-middle income countries.

More info: https://tdwg.link/conf-registration

Registration add-ons

Order the TDWG 2026 t-shirt by 28 August. You can also book, by 1 September, and pay for the bird trip excursion.

Both options appear as add-ons for in person registration. You can add those when registering. If you already registered, you can return to the in person registration and buy the t-shirt or book the bird trip excursion.

More info: https://www.tdwg.org/conferences/2026/registration/#in-person

Excursions

Please remember that there will be full day and half day excursions on Wednesday 23 September. Some excursions have limited capacity and need to be booked by a certain date. Be quick to secure a spot.

More info: https://tdwg.link/excursions

Poster printing

In case you miss it, we have published in our website instructions for those wanting to print posters in Oslo.

More info: https://www.tdwg.org/conferences/2026/#local-poster-printing

Questions

Do you have questions or need help?
Please email conf-organizers@tdwg.org or go to the conference homepage.

Darwin Core Public Review closes on 15 Aug

2026-08-10T00:00:00+00:00

Don’t forget that we hope to conclude active discussion of proposals in this round of Darwin Core public review by 15 August.

Discussion may continue after that date, but any issues that don’t achieve consensus by that time will get pushed into the following review cycle, scheduled to begin in early November.

For information about the review and instructions on how to participate, visit Darwin Core Public Review - July 2026 page.

Questions

For any questions please reach out to the Darwin Core Maintenance Group.

Start of Darwin Core July Public Review

2026-07-14T00:00:00+00:00

The Darwin Core Maintenance Group is beginning a public review of proposed changes to the Darwin Core Standard starting on 16 July 2026.

This is the first public review in the new thrice yearly release schedule for Darwin Core. It will include term additions for the Mineralogy Extension and the first schemas implementing the Conceptual Model and Darwin Core Data Package Guide, as well as other issues that have arisen as a result of the ratification of the Guide.

For information about the review and instructions on how to participate, visit Darwin Core Public Review - July 2026 page.

Questions

For any questions please reach out to the Darwin Core Maintenance Group.

TDWG 2026 Update

2026-07-09T00:00:00+00:00

There is still a lot going on in preparation for TDWG 2026 and we don’t want you to miss out.

Key dates

Please keep the following dates handy in your agenda:

Middle of July (New date!). Remaining authors will be notified about the outcome of abstract submissions.
Tuesday, 21 July (New date!) - End of early bird registration discount.
Evening Sunday, 20 September - Conference reception.
Monday, 21 September - Conference starts.
Evening Friday 25 September - Conference finishes.

Abstract reviews

Most submitting authors have been already notified about the outcome of their abstract(s) submissions and if not done so should proceed to register for the conference to take advantage of the early bird discount.

The remaining submitting authors will be notified about the outcome of their submission(s) as soon as possible.

The conference received 277 abstracts this year, way more than our small and volunteer team of peer reviewers was expecting and we are still working through getting all of them reviewed.

Early bird extension

Registration early bird for everyone has been extended until Tuesday, 21 July 9:59am UTC-12.

Registration

Special registration rates are available for TDWG members, post-docs, and students. Heavily discounted pricing is also offered for participants from low and lower-middle income countries.

Not able to attend in person? A virtual conference registration option is available.

Important: This is a reminder please register using the same account/email address you used so submit a session or abstract. Doing so will help match your registration status with your submission(s), avoid delays and help create a program avoiding clashes if you are presenting or moderating more than one session.

More info: https://tdwg.link/conf-registration

Registration add-ons

You can now order the TDWG 2026 t-shirt. You can also book the and pay for the bird trip excursion.

More info: https://www.tdwg.org/conferences/2026/registration/#in-person

Don’t miss any updates from TDWG 2026 or major TDWG activities, subscribe to our announcements mailing list.

Also make sure to add secretariat@tdwg.org and event-noreply@whova.io to your contacts list.

Questions

Do you have questions or need help?
Please email conf-organizers@tdwg.org or go to the conference homepage.

Darwin Core additions ratified

2026-06-23T00:00:00+00:00

After an extensive period of development, last month, a Conceptual Model and Data Package Guide have been ratified as additions to the Darwin Core Standard.

The author team, led by John Wieczorek, began development five years ago by creating a model that would satisfy use cases submitted by stakeholders. Following a series of workshops and webinars supported by the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), the model was simplified and tested, with the Conceptual Model document as the result. The Conceptual Model provides the semantics of the relationships between Darwin Core classes, a critical piece that has been missing from the standard since its inception.

Figure 1. An overview of the Darwin Core Conceptual Model. Boxes represent classes and lines represent relationships between classes.

The Darwin Core Data Package Guide (DwC-DP) specifies how biodiversity data can be formatted in a manner that describes the relationships among the fields in data tables. By basing these relationships on a common Conceptual Model that is not limited by the “star schema” of the existing Darwin Core Archives system, it will be possible to publish complex data sets whose structure is consistent among data providers. Because the Darwin Core Data Package Guide extends the well-known Data Package specification, the Guide can be used as the basis for developing software tools that will make it easier for data providers to publish and validate their datasets.

A six month public review coordinated by the Darwin Core Maintenance Group resulted in improvements to the draft documents and proposed changes to Darwin Core terms. The additions and changes were ratified by the Executive Committee, with publication on 26 May 2026. Next steps will include adoption of schemas based on the newly adopted documents, followed by development of a GBIF implementation of the Data Package Guide. The Darwin Core Maintenance Group is grateful to the author team, GBIF, the Executive Committee, and the TDWG community for their support during the years that were required to create this significant advance in the capabilities of the Darwin Core standard.

Questions

For more information go to the Darwin Core data standard website. You can reach out to the Darwin Core Maintenance Group for any questions.

Apply to be part of the Time & Place Functional Subcommittee

2026-06-12T00:00:00+00:00

The Time & Place Functional Subcommittee is looking for volunteers!

About Time & Place

We help identify potential conference locations, evaluate venues, and work with prospective local hosts to support future TDWG meetings.

Responsibilities

If you’re interested in conference planning, have ideas for future locations, or simply want to help strengthen TDWG’s global community, we’d love to have you join us.

Get in touch

If you’d like to get involved or want more information, please email tardis@tdwg.org.

It’s more fun when we do things together!

Recordings of Working Sessions 2026

2026-05-28T00:00:00+00:00

Watch Recordings

From 11 to 22 May we hosted the Working Sessions 2026.

If you missed that session you wanted to attend or want to go back and check again a discussion you can do so. We have posted the recordings on Youtube. Follow this link to see the recordings.

Should you want to connect with the conveners or core members for an Interest, Working or Maintenance Group please do so by visiting the page for those groups accessible from our Community page

Working Sessions 2026

2026-04-13T00:00:00+00:00

Everybody is welcome, and registration is free but, you must register to receive the Zoom link.

What are the TDWG Working Sessions?

Interest, Task, and Maintenance Groups are the driving force for developing and maintaining TDWG standards, and participation is the essential factor that gives TDWG standards authority in open science. As the biodiversity informatics community grows every year, we hold online working sessions to:

inform the wider biodiversity informatics community about the on-going work to develop and maintain standards;
review progress to date;
engage new contributors; and
set the agenda for work.

Schedule and registration

See the page Working Sessions 2026 for full details and links to register.

TDWG 2026 Call for abstracts

2026-04-13T00:00:00+00:00

The TDWG 2026 Call for Abstracts is now open!

Deadline for abstract submissions is 20 May 2025 23:59 UTC-12.

We invite you to submit an abstract for a presentation or poster at #TDWG2026 in Oslo, Norway, 21-25 September. Submissions should reflect the work that TDWG does and the ways that data standards and biodiversity informatics contribute to our understanding and documentation of biodiversity.

We strongly encourage you to consider the conference theme:

Research and Robot-ready Biodiversity Data Standards.

Getting started

Examine the list of sessions to see which are open to outside abstract submissions and may fit your topic. If none of the sessions seem to fit your topic, you can choose either the contributed session or submit a poster.
Compiling your title, authors, author affiliations, and abstract text offline, before starting your submission online.
Start submitting your abstract or see Instructions for Abstract Submission for details.

Apply to be part of the Program Committee for TDWG 2026 in Oslo

2026-02-17T00:00:00+00:00

We are seeking volunteers to join the Program Committee for our upcoming TDWG 2026 Conference in Oslo, Norway. If this is you, please continue reading.

Volunteer application form

The Program Committee plays a central role in shaping the structure, content, and intellectual direction of the conference. Committee members meet regularly and collaborate closely to ensure a high-quality, engaging program for our community.

Responsibilities

Here below is an outline of responsibilities, you are welcome to help with one or more depending on your interest and availability.

Contribute to the overall conference program
Draft and issue instructions for authors, speakers, and moderators
Review submissions for the conference, select keynote speakers, judge student prizes
Provide training for moderators and/or act as a moderator
Actively participate in the publishing process for the conference Proceedings in the TDWG journal, Biodiversity Information Science and Standards (BISS)
Support the Code of Conduct

Who should apply

We welcome volunteers from all parts of the TDWG community—researchers, practitioners, data professionals, students, and anyone with an interest in conference planning, scholarly communication, or community building.

We are a diverse committee and strongly encourage applications from people representing different regions, cultural backgrounds, gender identities, ages, and career stages. TDWG benefits from a wide range of perspectives, and we value contributions from both new and experienced community members.

Prior experience on a program committee is helpful but not required. What matters most is your willingness to contribute a few hours each week and to participate actively in Program Committee activities.

What you get in return

Serving on the Program Committee offers a range of professional and personal benefits, which may include the opportunity to:

Gain hands‑on experience in planning and delivering an international hybrid conference.
Learn from experienced Program Committee members.
Develop your skills in scholarly review, program design, and community coordination.
Engage with a broad, interdisciplinary community working across biodiversity informatics.
Help shape the direction of the TDWG 2026 conference.
Expand your professional network and build new collaborations.

How to apply

Fill in and submit the form below

Volunteer application form

Do you have any questions?

Please email conf-organizers@tdwg.org

TDWG

Conference schedule released and other updates - TDWG 2026

Key dates

Conference program

Registration

Registration add-ons

Excursions

Poster printing

Questions

Darwin Core Public Review closes on 15 Aug

Questions

Start of Darwin Core July Public Review

Questions

TDWG 2026 Update

Key dates

Abstract reviews

Early bird extension

Registration

Registration add-ons

Subscribe

Questions

Darwin Core additions ratified

Questions

Apply to be part of the Time & Place Functional Subcommittee

The Time & Place Functional Subcommittee is looking for volunteers!

About Time & Place

Responsibilities

Get in touch

Recordings of Working Sessions 2026

Working Sessions 2026

What are the TDWG Working Sessions?

Schedule and registration

TDWG 2026 Call for abstracts

Getting started

Apply to be part of the Program Committee for TDWG 2026 in Oslo

Responsibilities

Who should apply

What you get in return

How to apply

Do you have any questions?