The growth of Indigenous Data Sovereignty (IDS) within environmental stewardship has accelerated rapidly, particularly since 2020. While the broader movement began in health and genomics, growing attention to climate change, biodiversity loss, and sustainable land and sea management has expanded its relevance across environmental research and policy. The need to understand and practice IDS is set out in the United Nations Declaration on Rights of Indigenous People and embedded in the AIATSIS Code of Ethics for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Research. The Code directs researchers to apply the CARE principles (alongside the FAIR principles) and to develop data management plans with Indigenous partners.
Although accessible, high-level guidance explains why IDS is important and what it involves, practical, context-specific guidance on how and when to apply IDS for science on Sea Country is considerably harder to find. Drawing on lesson from the NESP Marine and Coastal Hub over the past five years, this presentation shares practical insights into embedding IDS at both program and project levels, including the importance of collaborative research models, the tools available to support IDS, and how they can be applied across the research lifecycle. Ongoing challenges and opportunities for improvement are also highlighted.