Ten years on from the first event, Indigenous Peoples from the around the world once again came together on Ngunnawal Country in early April for the Global Indigenous Data Sovereignty Conference.
The Global Indigenous Data Sovereignty (GIDSov) Conference 2025 brought together Indigenous Peoples from across the globe to reflect on the advances in Indigenous Data Sovereignty and Indigenous Data Governance and map future pathways and aspirations for the next decade.
What is Indigenous Data Sovereignty?
In Australia, ‘Indigenous Data’ refers to information or knowledge, in any format or medium, which is about and may affect Indigenous peoples both collectively and individually.
‘Indigenous Data Sovereignty’ refers to the right of Indigenous people to exercise ownership over Indigenous Data. Ownership of data can be expressed through the creation, collection, access, analysis, interpretation, management, dissemination and reuse of Indigenous Data.
‘Indigenous Data Governance’ then refers to the right of Indigenous peoples to autonomously decide what, how and why Indigenous Data are collected, accessed and used. It ensures that data on or about Indigenous peoples reflects their priorities, values, cultures, worldviews and diversity.
The above definition was collected from the Maiam nayri Wingara Indigenous Data Sovereignty Collective website.
Partnerships and Data Sovereignty
Respect and mutual benefit are critical to achieving a successful partnership. Relationships are built over time, with on-going communication. It is essential to understand Indigenous aspirations and goals through taking the time to co-design, co-implement and co-evaluate research.
Knowledge held by Indigenous peoples should be valued and protected throughout the partnership. Partnerships must ensure all legal obligations are understood before collecting information (including Free Prior and Informed Consent) and be guided by the objectives of the Global Indigenous Data Alliance.
Things to consider when implementing Indigenous Data Sovereignty Principles:
- Are we doing the right thing by Indigenous organisations and communities when collecting the data. e.g. videos, pictures, stories. How long are we holding the information for?
- What rights do community or Indigenous organisations have to the data after we have used it? Have we been clear enough on who owns the data and the communities rights to it?
- Data is knowledge. It is the communities’ stories, information, language and identities. Data is power. In giving the data back to the community who owns it, you are contributing to self-determination and community making their own decisions on how to use the data to inform their strategies moving forward.
- Data collected within a non-Indigenous system can look a lot different to data collected with a relational Indigenous governance approach. First nations people are more likely to be more open to someone they have a rapport with and who shows genuine interest as opposed to standard methods.
Visit the Maiam nayri Wingara Indigenous Data Sovereignty Collective website to learn more.
