PIDFest 2026
Dutch researchers and digital support experts working on the identification of scientific instruments using permanent identifiers (PIDs) will be well-represented at PIDFest in October this year and will make useful connections for aligning with similar international efforts aimed at recognising scientific instruments in the FAIR workflow.
TDCC-NES has an interest in this topic since organising the FAIR4Instruments workshop on 12 - 13 February 2026 and hence supporting the development of collaborative activities relating to instrument identification across the Dutch science and engineering domain.
A white paper, summarising the topics explored during the February TDCC-NES event, will be presented to participants at PIDFest 2026 during a workshop session hosted by three of the core writing team. Several other participants of the TDCC-NES FAIR4Instruments workshop will also present their own perspectives on the topic at various presentation sessions during the PIDFest programme.
The one-hour workshop session, "The How’s and Why’s of PIDs for instruments" will take place at 14:15 on Wednesday 28th October, day 2 of the conference. It will offer an opportunity to learn more about the instrument metadata schema, PIDINST, the infrastructures that support its use, and the white paper that will be published by TDCC-NES and summarises the outcomes of the FAIR4Instruments workshop which took place in February 2026.
Participants will then go on to discuss the challenges summarised in the paper, share their own solutions, or learn from colleagues how to implement metadata to describe and identify scientific instruments.
The Hows and Whys of PIDs for Instruments
Modern science uses a wide variety of instrumentation as a core part of the research cycle. Globally, and persistently identifying instruments has significant benefits for research, such as reusability, interoperability and transparency of scientific outputs, and also has many use cases in operational, funding, and administrative aspects of research processes.
This workshop concentrates on discussing technical aspects of how to persistently identify instruments and on the societal and administrative aspects of practically implementing instrument identification in research organisations.
The workshop builds on the outputs of the Persistent Identification of Instruments Working Group in the Research Data Alliance, including the development and ongoing maintenance of the PIDINST metadata schema, and the outputs and plans of the TDCC-NES FAIR4instruments workshop on the practical implementation of instrument identification in the Netherlands.
Background and further details
The FAIR4Instruments white paper is being written to summarise the outcomes of the FAIR4Instruments workshop which took place in February 2026. An announcement about the publication is expected on the TDCC website during September 2026.
PIDFest 2026 is the international conference on persistent identifiers, and will take place from 27 to 29 October in Leiden. Various registration options are offered on the website.
