Forum 2026 Home Forum Call for Participation Venue & Accommodations Draft Agenda HDR Ecosystem Conference
2026 NSF HDR Ecosystem Conference
The 2026 Harnessing the Data Revolution (HDR) Ecosystem Conference will highlight AI & Science: From Geospatial to Convergence. The overarching goal of this conference series is to enable sharing of experiences, perspectives, and synergistic activities that span its comprised five Institutes.
This year the Conference will take place August 5-7, 2026, at the University of Illinois in Chicago, immediately following the I-GUIDE Forum. This allows participants at both events to take advantage of the momentum, energy, and synergy of several hundred attendees gathering to explore solutions to the most significant scientific challenges!
Call for Position Papers
To foster active participation at the HDR Ecosystem Conference, we invite submissions of position papers of approximately 500 words. Contributors of accepted position papers will be invited to present or discuss their work at the HDR Ecosystem Conference, and travel support will be provided. This will include up to $600 for transportation to Chicago, a 3-night stay at the conference hotel, and waiver of the registration fee. All accepted position papers will also be published on the Conference website to facilitate prior review of the papers.
The topics of interest for the HDR Ecosystem Conference position papers include, but are not limited to, the following themes:
- AI for Science and Science of AI
- AI-ready Data and FAIR Data for AI
- Convergence Science Frontiers
- Cyberinfrastructure for AI and Data Science
- Ethical and Responsible AI
- Open Science Data Platforms
- Education and Workforce Development for AI-enabled Sciences
Position Papers Submission Guidelines
Each position paper may not exceed 2 pages and should conform to the following formatting requirements: 1) Times New Roman font type at a size of 11 points or larger; and 2) margins of at least one inch on all sides. The organizing committee will review all submissions. We will also request a 2-page biosketch of the author who will attend the Conference.
Submissions should be sent via EasyChair (https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=iguideforumhdr2026)
The deadline for submission is April 30, 2026, and you can expect to hear back from the committee by May 15, 2026.
About the HDR Ecosystem
The Harnessing the Data Revolution (HDR) Community is a national ecosystem formed by five NSF-funded institutes to advance data-intensive science, engineering, and education through convergence research. Established under the NSF’s Harnessing the Data Revolution Big Idea initiative, the HDR Community brings together domain scientists, data scientists, and cyberinfrastructure experts to accelerate discovery, innovate scalable and interoperable tools, and prepare a broad data-enabled workforce. The HDR Ecosystem consists of
- Accelerated AI Algorithms for Data-Driven Discovery (A3D3),
- Institute for Data Driven Dynamical Design (ID4),
- Institute for Geospatial Understanding through an Integrative Discovery Environment (I-GUIDE),
- Institute for Harnessing Data and Model Revolution in the Polar Regions (iHARP), and the
- Imageomics Institute
Since its establishment in 2022, the HDR Ecosystem has hosted an annual Conference to enable sharing of experiences, perspectives, and synergistic activities that span the five Institutes connecting the NSF-funded HDR Ecosystem. The HDR Ecosystem Conference has objectives to:
- Strengthen relationships within the HDR ecosystem and the broader data-intensive research community.
- Share cutting-edge research and activities in data science, AI, and convergence science.
- Discuss cross-cutting activities that address shared challenges and identify new opportunities to sustain and grow the HDR ecosystem and advance data-intensive research.
- Identify and discuss synergies between data science, AI, and cyberinfrastructure and advance a vision of positioning the HDR ecosystem as an integral part of AI & Science research initiatives.
- Promote successful approaches to data-intensive education and training across the HDR community and beyond.
The Harnessing the Data Revolution (HDR) Community is supported by the National Science Foundation under Awards: 2118240, 2118201, 2118285, 2118329, and 2117997.