DISC Unconference 2025

8 min readApr 10, 2025

Uniting open source community champions from around the world — contributing together in São Paulo, Brazil, and online.

For the third time, the NumFOCUS DISC Committee had the pleasure of organizing the Unconference — an open, sprint-like event designed to foster brainstorming, networking, and collaborative problem-solving around pressing international issues in access to open-source contributions. This year, the Unconference focused on challenges faced by the Global South, with online and on-site activities in São Paulo, Brazil.

This event directly supports the mission of NumFOCUS by fostering collaboration and knowledge-sharing around inclusive practices. It provides a space for projects to contribute to and learn from community-driven initiatives and to implement strategies that help broaden participation and diversity within their own ecosystems.

During the two-and-a-half-day event, which took place March 14–16, 58 participants, organizers, and personal support persons gathered in São Paulo and online to directly or indirectly contribute to the six open source projects.

Each of the projects addressed selected issues:

Navigate International Funding
Creating an Open Mentorship Initiative
Connecting Open Source Projects
Leadership skills to support EDIA initiatives
Reducing Language Barriers
Organizing EDIA-friendly events.

“This is an invaluable event to advance projects that are key to making scientific computing a field where anyone can join.”
[DISC Unconference 2025, Participant]

This event would not have been possible without the generous support of our sponsors. We are especially grateful to IBM Brazil and their dedicated on-site team, who ensured that in-person participants had access to a comfortable, accessible, and technically efficient conference space. A special thank you goes to Alan Braz of IBM Brazil for his outstanding support.

We also extend our sincere thanks to the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation for their significant grant, which made it possible for many participants to travel to Brazil.

Additionally, we appreciate the financial support from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI), which helped make the Unconference a success.

Unconference by the Numbers

Participants: 58 people, including 47 persons from an open call for participation, two personal support persons, 3 NumFOCUS staff members, 1 NumFOCUS Board member, 5 IBM collaborators
Outcome: 6 open source projects DISC Unconference 2025 Projects
Participants satisfaction metric — Net Promoter Score: 9.3 (out of 10), no score below 8 with response rate > 60%

“This event has the power to create an open and confident atmosphere that enables the exchange between participants.”
[Andrés Olivera, Latin America Bioimaging]

Projects

This year’s discussions centered on expanding access to open-source participation for the Global South. Key themes included funding access, reducing language barriers, and increasing the availability of information and opportunities within the open-source ecosystem.

Out of 10 initially proposed projects, six gained momentum and moved forward to final contributions. You can find more details about them below.

Due to the sprint style and time-constrained nature of the event, most project outcomes are in the form of initial outlines, early-stage platform prototypes, or ongoing contributions to existing initiatives. However, many project teams have expressed their intention to continue development beyond the Unconference. As all materials were created under open licenses, they are freely available for NumFOCUS Sponsored and Affiliated projects, as well as external users and organizations to reuse or build upon, in accordance with the terms of each specific license.

“The DISC Unconference was more than just a conference — it was a meeting of minds, a space where ideas turned into action, and a rare platform where voices from the Global South weren’t just included but celebrated. (…)”
[Yigakpoa Ikpae, Project Lead — Leadership skills to support EDIA initiatives in times of geopolitical uncertainty.]

Creating an Open Mentorship Initiative

The final outcome of the project is a draft outline of a handbook for organizers of mentorship programs. The outline, along with more details on the group discussions and decisions and next steps, is available here: Creating an Open Mentorship Initiative.

Contributors:

In Person: Anna e só (project lead), Omotayo Omotola Eunice, Ana Ruvalcaba, Kweyakie Afi Blebo, Yani Bellini
Online: Aditi Juneja, Yashasvi Misra, Deborah (Debs) Udoh, Harmony Elendu, Sage Sharp, Julius Boakye, David Chapuis, Ijeoma Onwuka, and Ariane Djeupang.

The initiative is planned to be continued by Outreachy and Software Freedom Conservancy.

Connecting Open Source Projects

In a vast and ever-growing open-source ecosystem, many valuable projects struggle to gain visibility, making it hard for contributors to discover and connect with them. To address this, the Connecting Open Source Projects team proposed a centralized platform that acts as both a searchable directory and a dynamic news feed for open-source initiatives. This hub will enable project owners to share their goals, progress, and collaboration needs while allowing users to filter and find projects aligned with their interests, skills, and availability. You can find more details here: Connecting Open Source Projects.

Contributors:

In person: Anavelyz Perez, Ehizojie Aligbeh
Online: David Chapuis, Francisco Palm, Yurely Camacho,

DISCOVER Cookbook

The contribution to the DISCOVER Cookbook was part of an ongoing initiative that began at the very first DISC Unconference, hosted in 2017 in New York City. This year, contributors focused on updating the original version to better reflect today’s challenges in organizing inclusive, welcoming, and equally accessible community events. One key outcome was the plan of creation of a new edition of the DISCOVER Cookbook. You can explore the full history of contributions here: DISCOVER Cookbook.

Contributors (DISC Unconference 2025):

In person: Daniel S. Katz, Melissa Mendoça, Riva Quiroga, Emma Saroyan
Online: Adeyinka Oresanya, Andy Terrel, Seun Olufemi, Ariane Djeupang

Navigate International Funding

This project builds on the ongoing efforts from previous DISC Unconferences, with a particular connection to last year’s “Hidden Curriculum” initiative. The team aims to curate resources, recommendations, and best practices and share them openly to support organizations and groups working with researchers in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) and other marginalized communities. You can learn more about this project here: Navigate International Funding.

Contributors:

In person: Malvika Sharan, Irene Ramos, Herve Aniglo, Kate Hertweck, Abigail Mesrenyame Dogbe, Andrés Olivera “Oliver”, Laura Acion, Eunice Mercado-Lara, Yanina Bellini Saibene, Nicolas Palopoli
Online: David Chapuis

LaVoixLocale

This project aims to empower linguistic minorities through AI, open data, and open-source principles. You can learn more about the project here: LaVoixLocale.

Contributors:

In person: Brayan Kari
Online: Steve Yonkeu

Leadership skills to support EDIA initiatives in times of geopolitical uncertainty

The project provides a broad overview of current EDIA structural challenges primarily seen from the Global South perspective, as well as provides constructive calls to action to overcome these challenges. You can find details here: Leadership skills to support EDIA.

Contributors:

In person: Yigakpoa Ikpae (Samuel), Patricia Loto, Irene Vazano, Andrea Gomez Vargas, Nicolás Palopoli, Oriol Abril Pla, Victoria Ottah
Online: Otema Yirenkyi

Participants

The Unconference brought together participants from 17 countries, including Argentina, Armenia, Brazil, Cameroon, Canada, Chile, Ghana, India, Kenya, Mexico, Nigeria, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Uruguay, the United States, and Venezuela.

Participants were selected by the DISC Committee with a specific focus on their experience in EDIA leadership, community building, and their broader contributions to shaping open-source ecosystems.

“(…) Language barriers were non-existent at this event; everyone made an effort to learn, listen attentively, explain, and help others understand. (…) ¡Gracias por crear estos espacios! (…)”
[DISC Unconference 2025, Participant]

Unconference Format

The Unconference was organized in three key phases.

The preparation phase began about a month before the event with online collaboration through virtual meetings and a shared Discord space. During this time, participants proposed project ideas and learned about each other’s backgrounds, helping to build connections and set the stage for meaningful collaboration at the event.

The event took place over 2.5 days in São Paulo, Brazil, and online. A hybrid team structure was intentionally chosen and emphasized, allowing in-person and remote participants to contribute equally.

In the next steps phase, following the event, each project team will now be working closely with the NumFOCUS project coordinator to define clear follow-up actions and continue developing their projects beyond the event.

As an additional accent, we asked all in-person participants to bring sweets from their home country.

DISC Committee

The DISC Unconference was organized by the NumFOCUS DISC Committee, with tremendous efforts led by Committee Chair Melissa Mendonça. Special thanks also go to committee members Kweyakie Afi Blebo and Emma Saroyan for their invaluable contributions to the event’s organization.

You can find more information on the DISC Committee here: Diversity & Inclusion In Scientific Computing.

DISC Unconference 2027?

In 2027, we plan to organize the 4th edition of the DISC Unconference. We will consider some modifications, such as:

Enrich online patch participation with social events, a higher number of moderators, and more structure.
Increasing the number of sponsors and partnering organizations
Start working with participants on their visas half a year in advance prior to the event.

We want to continue:

Increasing outreach to more geographical locations with a specific emphasis on existing local communities
Organizing in-person path in the Global South location
Increasing the number of participants, particularly first-time DISC Unconference contributors.