Building Resilient (Meta)Data Futures Using DDI, FAIR and Collaboration

The DDI Alliance is a global consortium stewarding a suite of open metadata standards designed for describing data across its full lifecycle—from study design and collection to preservation, sharing, and reuse. With deep roots in the social, behavioral, economic, and health sciences, DDI metadata standards are human-readable and machine-actionable, domain-sensitive, and already widely implemented in data archives, libraries, and national statistical systems. This talk will showcase: - How DDI standards directly support FAIR data principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable); - The value of structured metadata for interoperability, transparency, and data integrity, especially where institutional trust or longevity is uncertain; - How researchers and institutions can use DDI to safeguard their data in restrictive or resource-constrained contexts; - The organizational benefits of joining the DDI Alliance, including access to a global metadata community, implementation tools, and governance over future standards development.