The first meeting of the FIDELIS Trustworthy Digital Repository (TDR) Network took place on July 1, 2025, bringing together representatives from over 30 research institutions, repositories, and service providers across Europe. Participants hailed from organisations such as CSC, DTU, DANS, GESIS, Austrian NeuroCloud, UK Data Service, and many national data services under CESSDA.
The meeting, led by Jan Meijer (Sikt) and Ingrid Dillo (DANS), provided an open forum for members to introduce themselves, share their goals and expectations for the FIDELIS Network, and begin sharing common concerns and opportunities surrounding issues such as repository trustworthiness, long-term preservation, and alignment with European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) frameworks.
A key highlight of the meeting was the guest presentation by Karel Luyben, President of the EOSC Association, who outlined the state of the EOSC and its relevance to TDRs. His talk emphasised how FIDELIS, as a project strengthening the EOSC Federation, plays a crucial role in integrating and supporting repositories and services into the wider European Open Science Cloud.
Attendees had the opportunity to jump into a Q&A with Luyben, raising important questions about repository roles in EOSC nodes, legal frameworks for sensitive data, and practical guidance for alignment and certification.
Looking ahead, the FIDELIS Network plans to hold onmeetings every two months, fostering sustained knowledge exchange and collaboration. Key working areas will include repository certification, FAIR data implementation, sustainability, and shared metadata standards. Members expressed strong interest in shaping a collective identity for repositories within EOSC, developing shared tools like format assessment frameworks, and building strategies for long-term digital preservation across disciplines. This inaugural meeting laid a strong foundation for an active, impactful network.
The members will have exclusive access to the meeting recording and shared slides. If your repository is interested in joining the FIDELIS TDR Network, membership is on-going through a simple registration process.