Skip to main content
What types of page to search?

Popular pages: Undergraduate Postgraduate PhD Accommodation Research International students

Alternatively use our A-Z index.

CHIL hosts global leaders in digital commons as part of three day event

Published on

group of attendees listen to prof Iain Buchan introduce the digi comms event

A three-day international event exploring the governance of digital commons took place at the Civic Health Innovation Labs (CHIL) in Liverpool from 21st to 23rd May 2025.

The Digital Commons Policy Council (DCPC) Event, hosted by the University of Liverpool’s Civic Data Cooperative (CDC), brought together 35 participants from around the world to co-develop principles and frameworks for responsible data governance, as well as provide attendees with insight into the latest developments in the sphere of digital commons.

The gathering drew figures from academia, policy, and civil society, including representatives from the University of Canberra, the University of Dundee, France’s National Centre for Scientific Research, and the UK Government Digital Service. Attendees also included non-profit organisations and researchers from India, Brazil, China, Uganda, the Netherlands, and Norway, with sponsored delegates from low and middle-income countries supported by the organisers.

Though structured as a series of open discussions rather than formal presentations, the event featured a series of impactful workshops, with the highlight of these being led by Nicholas Gates, a policy advisor at OpenForum Europe, representing NGI Commons.

The DCPC event was designed with a clear mission to:

  1. Develop stakeholder engagement strategies
  2. Define commons principles for governance of health data
  3. Taxonomically describe digital commons
  4. Define normative principles of digital commons.

Through breakout sessions and collaborative dialogue, participants defined strategies for stakeholder engagement, developed a taxonomy of digital commons, and outlined normative and governance principles.

“This was a rare opportunity to bring together voices from across the world to look at the modern challenges around the open digital commons,” said Gary Leeming, Director of the Civic Data Cooperative and DCPC member. “From the Linux operating system to Wikipedia and other open knowledge projects, these shared infrastructures shape so much of our lives. By coming together to understand global policy needs, we hope the workshop’s outputs will help governments and civil society recognise the importance of this critical digital infrastructure.”

The event was co-organised by senior University of Liverpool academics, including Mr Leeming and Professor Iain Buchan, and supported by funding from the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority. Its outputs will continue to evolve through online collaboration, with working groups set to refine the baseline documents created during the event.