On 20 October 2025, the Australian Research Data Commons (ARDC) hosted the Australian Dataspaces Workshop, bringing together leaders from government, research and national infrastructure organisations to explore the next steps in building a trusted, interoperable dataspace ecosystem for Australia.
Dataspaces are collaborative frameworks that enable secure, interoperable, and governed data sharing across organisations and sectors. They provide the technical, legal, and trust foundations for exchanging data while respecting sovereignty, privacy, and agreed policies. In this way, dataspaces unlock new opportunities for innovation, research, and decision-making. With their use quickly expanding internationally, the ARDC is investigating how to apply dataspaces in the Australian context.
Co-located with International Data Week and eResearch Australasia 2025, the workshop convened members of the Australian Dataspaces Implementers Network, project leads from national pilot initiatives, international experts, and representatives from government agencies and the research sector. Across a full day of presentations, discussions and interactive breakout sessions, participants examined the challenges and opportunities for advancing dataspaces in Australia, with a strong focus on data interoperability, governance and cross-sector collaboration.
The event highlighted progress from Australia’s pilot projects, including:
International perspectives were provided by Christina Drummond, Executive Director of the OA Book Usage Data Trust, and Professor Edward Curry from the University of Galway. Both speakers shared lessons from global dataspace implementations, reinforcing the importance of collaboration and interoperability.
Also hear from Christina Drummond about the opportunities for dataspaces to unlock data for sharing while maintaining data sovereignty.
A key focus of the workshop was planning for Phase 2 of the Australian Dataspaces initiative, including the establishment of an Australian Dataspaces Hub. This hub will connect Australia to the global dataspace ecosystem, facilitating knowledge exchange, easing adoption and ensuring Australian dataspaces remain interoperable both nationally and globally.
Kheeran Dharmawardena, Program Manager for ARDC Dataspaces, emphasised the significance of this next step.
“Building a trustworthy data exchange ecosystem is not just a technical challenge but a socio-technical challenge. It’s about creating inclusive governance, ensuring transparency and embedding principles that respect the sovereignty of the data owners across the entire system. Dataspaces provides a way of addressing these and the momentum we’re seeing from the community is a clear signal that Australia is ready to lead in this space.”
During interactive breakout sessions, participants identified critical technical building blocks required for the next phase of development of the Australian Dataspaces Hub. Participants also emphasised the importance of robust governance frameworks that are inclusive, transparent and representative of diverse stakeholders.
Other priorities included:
The workshop underscored strong community momentum and a shared commitment to co-designing a dataspace ecosystem that is secure, scalable, and globally aligned. Participants agreed that success will depend on collaboration across sectors, enduring funding, and a commitment of trust and openness.
As planning for Phase 2 begins, ARDC will continue to work closely with partners to advance the technical, legal and governance foundations needed for national dataspace adoption. The establishment of a national hub will be a cornerstone of this effort, building Australia’s capacity in trusted data sharing.
Register your interest in the Australian Dataspaces program and join the Australian Dataspaces Implementers Network.
The ARDC is enabled by the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS) to support national digital research infrastructure for Australian researchers.
