Accurately modelling the Microbiome is of increasing importance as clinical and environmental research continues to show the pivotal roles microbes play in the health of humanity and the environment. However this requires the application of appropriate biostatistical methods and the development of new bioinformatic tools for analyzing large microbiome datasets.  Many conferences focus on sharing results at the expense of discussing appropriate scientific methods. Microbiome research is among the few fields where erroneous biostatistics and bioinformatics analysis can lead to severe detrimental effects and or inappropriate conclusions. The Microbiome Data Congress of 2023 aims to address these gaps and give a space for researchers from industry and academia to discuss accurate and novel methods for analyzing microbiome datasets.