This is version 1 (2026-02-17) of the the presentation “Data Availability Statements - What, How and Why?” and the accompanying speakers notes, resources and references, all created and presented by Maria-Rose Eves Down, ORCID https://orcid.org/0009-0000-9611-3824 on 2026-02-12 as part of the Flemish Research Data Network's programme of activities under the 2026 edition of ‘Love Data Week’. This presentation discusses the definition of a data availability statement (DAS), why they are important and best practice surrounding how to write one. The speakers notes and references are also present in the powerpoint/google slides version of the presentation (which was created in google slides). The pdf version of the same lacks speakers notes. The presentation and these notes are shared under a CCBY 4.0 use licence, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.18670070 A list of questions and answers given during the presentation on 2026-02-12, as well as some extra slides surrounding the concept of dataset 'snapshotting' or 'slicing', will be added in an update in the near future. Contact point: mariarose.evesdown@inbo.be