What to expect at the iRODS 2026 User Group Meeting
The global iRODS community will gather in Barcelona, Spain, from June 29 – July 2 for the 18th Annual iRODS User Group Meeting (UGM), for four days of learning, collaboration, and discussion around the latest developments in open-source data management.
The event, sponsored by the Centre for Genomic Regulation, CaixaResearch Institute, RENCI, Globus, and Hays, provides in-person and virtual options for attendance. An audience of over 100 participants representing dozens of academic, government, and commercial institutions is expected to join.
"We're excited to host everyone again and pleased to see new national-scale infrastructures coming online. The quality and depth of iRODS deployments continues to increase. It makes us proud." said Kory Draughn, Chief Technologist of the iRODS Consortium.
This year's meeting comes at a particularly active time for iRODS development. Over the past year, the Consortium released iRODS 5.0.2, adding support for Enterprise Linux 10 and Debian 13 while introducing improvements to quotas, GenQuery2, installation workflows, and other core capabilities. The Consortium also announced the initial release of Policy Composition, a new framework designed to simplify policy enforcement and make advanced policy management more accessible to administrators.
These developments will be reflected in several Consortium-led presentations at UGM 2026. Attendees will hear updates on an initiative aimed at integrating logical quota management more deeply into the platform's core architecture, as well as ongoing work to strengthen interoperability with S3-compatible storage systems and external data platforms.
Attendees can also expect conversations about the growing role of artificial intelligence in software development and open-source communities. In his session, "AI in iRODS? A Canvassing of Community Emotion and Position," Terrell Russell, Executive Director of the iRODS Consortium, will explore how AI-assisted development is influencing software projects and invite discussion around authorship, quality, maintenance, governance, and community expectations.
As always with the annual UGM, in addition to software updates from the Consortium, users will offer presentations about their organizations' deployments of iRODS. This year's meeting will feature more than 20 talks from users around the world. Among the use cases and deployments to be featured are:
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Storage Referential Based on iRODS, to Manage Patient Data in Gustave Roussy Comprehensive Cancer Center. Researchers from Gustave Roussy and Institut Curie will discuss how iRODS supports the management and governance of patient, genomics, and pathology data within one of Europe's leading cancer research environments.
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Orchestrating Granular Access for Sensitive Omics Data: The SAFES Architecture within NCHC's Trusted Cloud Platform. Representatives from Taiwan's National Center for High-performance Computing (NCHC) will explore how iRODS enables secure, fine-grained access controls for sensitive omics data within a trusted cloud infrastructure.
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Deploying a FAIR-Compliant Research Data Management System with iRODS at the Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine. This presentation from the University of Luxembourg will showcase how iRODS serves as the foundation of a FAIR-aligned research data management platform supporting biomedical research workflows.
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iRODS Data Repository Service Implementation. Presenters from NIEHS/NIH will highlight the implementation of GA4GH DRS built on iRODS and the role of policy-based data management in supporting long-term scientific data stewardship.
In addition to user presentations, attendees can expect live demonstrations, open discussions about requested features, and updates from the Consortium development team.
Bookending this year's UGM are two in-person events for those who hope to learn more about iRODS. On June 29, the Consortium is offering beginner and advanced training sessions. After the conference, on July 2, users have the chance to register for a troubleshooting session, devoted to providing one-on-one help with an existing or planned iRODS installation or integration.
Whether attendees are deploying their first iRODS environment, already managing petabytes of research data, or helping shape the future of policy-based data management, the iRODS UGM 2026 offers a unique opportunity to learn from peers, engage directly with developers, and explore the latest innovations across the iRODS ecosystem.
Registration for both physical and virtual attendance will remain open until the beginning of the event. Learn more about this year's UGM at irods.org/ugm2026.
Jayasree Jaganatha