The Digital Preservation Coalition (DPC) is pleased to advertise a Career Development Fund grant to support a DPC Member attending the 2026 National Digital Stewardship Alliance (NDSA) Digital Preservation Conference (DigiPres 2026), taking place virtually November 4-5, 2026 (Eastern Time).
This Career Development Fund grant will cover 100% of the registration fees for NDSA DigiPres 2026. Grant applications are welcomed from DPC Members until the deadline of 23:59 (anywhere in the world) on 31 August 2026. More details about the grant, eligibility, and criteria are provided below.
About the NDSA DigiPres 2026 Conference
The National Digital Stewardship Alliance (NDSA) Digital Preservation (DigiPres) Conference is the annual conference for cultural heritage institutions and organizations who are engaged in digital stewardship and digital preservation activities. In the past five years, the conference has attracted around 200 administrators, managers, and practitioners involved in digital preservation to its in-person events, and up to 1,500 attendees to its virtual conferences. Currently comprising 277 member organizations from around the world.
The DigiPres conference is an opportunity to interact with an audience of digital preservation professionals, leaders in the library and archives community, and organization administrators and decision-makers. This year, DigiPres 2026 will take place virtually on November 4-5, 2026, with the conference theme of Striking a Balance: Optimizing Labor for Sustainability and Resilience.
To find out more, please visit the NDSA Digital Preservation 2026 Conference website.
About the DPC Career Development Fund Grant
This DPC Career Development Fund grant will cover 100% of the full virtual conference registration fees for NDSA DigiPres 2026 (either $100 or $125 USD depending on NDSA membership).
Please note that Registration for DigiPres 2026 opens on August 17 (see conference website for more info).
Eligibility
DPC Members are eligible to apply for this Career Development Fund grant. This grant is not available to non-members. Prospective members are eligible if their membership application is approved by the application deadline of 23:59 on 31st August 2026. For information about joining the DPC, see https://www.dpconline.org/about/join-us.
Please note that a DPC Member may submit a maximum of one application for this advertised grant for NDSA DigiPres 2026 (e.g., one application for a person representing the DPC Member organization). The main DPC Member contact will have final approval for who may apply on behalf of their organization. We recommend that any member organization which supports an application discusses appropriate outcomes and benefits for the organization prior to submission.
Individuals associated with consortia or funded through agencies that are members of the DPC are eligible. However, they must confirm their application with the main DPC contact within the agency before applying. The DPC may pass the details of applications to the main DPC contact within these organizations as part of their assessment.
For further details about eligibility and criteria for the grants, please read the full Career Development Fund Guidelines. Applicants are also encouraged to contact the DPC Training & Grants Manager, Amy Currie (amy.currie@dpconline.org), should any questions arise.
How to Apply
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The application form for this grant and the full Career Development Fund Guidelines are available on the DPC website’s Career Development Fund page.
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All sections of the application form should be completed and returned to Amy Currie (amy.currie@dpconline.org), accompanied by explicit approval for attendance from a manager/supervisor via email or attached letter, by 23:59 (anywhere in the world) on 31st August 2026.
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DPC members may submit a maximum of one application for one applicant for this advertised grant. There cannot be multiple applicants representing the same DPC membership, so please coordinate with colleagues to ensure only one application is submitted.
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Applicants are encouraged to email any questions about the grant or process to amy.currie@dpconline.org.
Important Dates
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All sections of the application form should be completed and returned, accompanied by explicit approval for attendance from a supervisor, by 23:59 (anywhere in the world) on 31st August 2026.
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Successful applicants will be notified on or before 1st October 2026.
Further Information
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For information about the NDSA Digital Preservation Conference, visit the website at https://www.ndsa.org/conference/.
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For questions relating to the DPC Career Development Fund programme, email amy.currie@dpconline.org.
Acknowledgements
The Career Development Fund is sponsored by the DPC’s Supporters who recognize the benefit and seek to support a connected and trained digital preservation workforce. We gratefully acknowledge their financial support to this programme and ask applicants to acknowledge that support in any communications that result. At the time of writing, the Career Development Fund is supported by Arkivum, Artefactual Systems Inc., boxxe, Cerabyte, DAM Smart, Docbyte, Evolved Binary, Ex Libris, HoloMem, Iron Mountain, Libnova, Max Communications, Pictoscope, Preferred Media, Preservica, and Simon P Wilson. A full list of supporters is online here.