Abstract Submission

Welcome to the US Indigenous Data Sovereignty Summit 2026 Abstract Submission! Please note that Day 1 of the Summit (April 15) is open to all and Day 2 (April 16) is open to Indigenous participants only.
Abstract submission will close on October 30, 2025 at 11:59pm
Please read all of this introductory text to understand the Summit themes, and how to tailor your abstract. Click here to view or download a PDF of this page.
Formats for Presentations
There are two presentation formats:

1. Oral Presentations (10-20 minute individual talks)
2. Roundtables (45-60 minute session with multiple presenters, flexible format).

Summit Days & Themes
Summit Day 1 (April 15) is open to everyone.
Day 1 Session Themes will follow the CARE Principles for Indigenous Data Governance: Collective Benefit, Authority to Control, Responsibility, Ethics. Released in 2019, the CARE Principles bring a people and purpose orientation to data principles. Since their publication, the CARE Principles have been acknowledged, implemented, and engaged across a variety of regional, national, and global institutions and entities. Crucially, CARE directs us to prioritize Indigenous Peoples’ community standards when engaging with Indigenous data. For Indigenous Peoples, communities, and Tribes, CARE provides a framework that can guide internal data governance as well as external partnerships (e.g., research, data sharing agreements, relationship agreements).

For the opening day of the US IDSov & IDGov Summit (April 15), we invite abstracts that provide case studies demonstrating how the CARE Principles are being interpreted, implemented, and/or adapted in practice, with a focus on one or more of the following Summit Session Themes:

Theme 1: Collective Benefit

Presentations that describe how data ecosystems are designed and function in ways that enable Indigenous Peoples to derive benefit from their data.

Possible directions might include:

• Innovative benefit-sharing models (e.g., Variant Bio)
• Community definitions or measures of “benefit” that diverge from institutional norms
• Practices that redistribute value, authority, or infrastructure to Indigenous communities 

Theme 2: Authority to Control

Presentations that demonstrate examples of recognizing Indigenous Peoples’ rights and interests in Indigenous data, and upholding Indigenous authority to control such data.

Possible directions might include:

• Local Contexts Labels & Notices
• Tri-Agency Research Data Management Strategy (Canada)

Theme 3: Responsibility

Presentations that provide examples of how those working with Indigenous data have responsibly ensured that those data are used to support Indigenous Peoples’ self-determination and collective benefit.

Possible directions might include:

• Mana Orité relationship-sharing agreement
• Sweetgrass Cultural Protocol

Theme 4: Ethics

Presentations that provide examples of centering Indigenous Peoples’ rights and wellbeing as primary concerns at all stages of the data life cycle and across the data ecosystem—while also rethinking, expanding, or subverting what “ethics” means in Indigenous contexts. We invite work that resists narrow, compliance-driven definitions and instead grounds ethical practice in Indigenous laws, protocols, and relational responsibilities.

Possible directions might include:

• Nga Tikanga Paihere

Submitters may also wish to consult other resources for CARE, such as the GIDA CARE Brief or the CARE Data Maturity Model.