Projects

ELIXIR-UK National Projects

EU Projects

ELIXIR-CONVERGE

ELIXIR-CONVERGE is a project funded by the European Commission to help standardise life science data management across Europe. To achieve this standardisation, the project will develop a Research Data Management Toolkit for life scientists.

The data management toolkit will help ensure more research data is in the public domain, which will give scientists access to more data. This will allow them to discover new insights into the challenges facing society, such as food security and health in old age, and help stimulate innovation in biomedicine and biotechnology.

ELIXIR-CONVERGE will develop the national operations of the research infrastructure to drive good data management, reproducibility and reuse. With partners from 23 ELIXIR Nodes, over 36 months ELIXIR-CONVERGE takes the next step to create a European data federation where interconnected national operations allow users to extract knowledge from life science’s large, diverse and distributed datasets.

ELIXIR-UK Involvement: WP1, 2, 3: co-lead RDMkit and learning paths, contributes to DM expert group: (Manchester, Cambridge with contributions from Cardiff, Birmingham, Newcastle, Dundee, Oxford, Bradford)

EOSC-Life

EOSC-Life brings together the 13 Biological and Medical ESFRI research infrastructures (BMS RIs) to create an open collaborative space for digital biology. It is our joint response to the challenge of analysing and reusing the prodigious amounts of data produced by life-science. Managing and integrating this data is beyond the capabilities of most individual end-users and institutes. By publishing data and tools in a Europe-wide cloud EOSC-Life aims to bring the capabilities of big science projects to the wider research community. Federated user access (AAI) will allow transnational resource access and authorisation. EOSC-Life establishes a novel access model for the BMS RI: through EOSC scientists would gain direct access to FAIR data and tools in a cloud environment available throughout the European Research Area.

EOSC-Life will make BMS RIs data resources FAIR and publish them in the EOSC following guidelines and standards (e.g. EDMI). Overall this will drive the evolution of the RI repository infrastructure for EOSC and integration of the BMS RI repositories. EOSC-Life will implement workflows that cross disciplines and RI boundaries and address the needs of interdisciplinary science. Through open hackathons and bring-your-own-data events we will co-create EOSC-Life with our user communities , providing a blueprint for how the EOSC supports wide-spread and excellent data-driven life science research. EOSC-Life will address the data policies needed for human research data under GDPR. Interoperable provenance information describe history of sample and data to ensure reproducibility and adherence to regulatory requirements.

The goal of the EOSC-Life project is to make sure that life-scientists can find, access and integrate life-science data for analysis and reuse in academic and industrial research. EOSC-Life will transform European life-science by providing an open, continent-scale, collaborative and interdisciplinary environment for data science.

ELIXIR-UK Involvement: WP1, 2, 6: Workflow and tools collaboratory, WorkflowHub, RO-Crate, FAIRsharing, TeSS, FAIR datasets shared, Cross-linked catalogues, Open calls, PombeMine, European Open Science Cloud (Manchester, Cambridge, Oxford, Dundee, as EuroBiomaging)

EJPRD

 

The European Joint Programme on RD (EJP RD) has two major objectives:

  1. To improve the integration, the efficacy, the production and the social impact of research on RD through the development, demonstration and promotion of Europe/world-wide sharing of research and clinical data, materials, processes, knowledge and know-how;
  2. To implement and further develop an efficient model of financial support for all types of research on RD (fundamental, clinical, epidemiological, social, economic, health service) coupled with accelerated exploitation of research results for benefit of patients.

To this end, the EJP RD actions are organized within four major Pillars assisted by the central coordination and transversal activities:

  • Pillar 1: Funding of research;
  • Pillar 2: Coordinated access to data and resources;
  • Pillar 3: Capacity building;
  • Pillar 4: Accelerated translation of research projects and improvement outcomes of clinical studies.

ELIXIR-UK Involvement: Megaproject to coordinate Rare Disease cohorts, data sharing and analysis. RDMkit, TeSS, Beacons, (Leicester, Manchester)

FAIRplus

The FAIRplus project aims to develop tools and guidelines for making life science data FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable). The project has 22 partners from academia and industry, and runs from January 2019 to June 2022.

The goals of FAIRplus are:

  • To establish a process for selecting and prioritising IMI project databases for FAIRification.
  • To develop guidelines, tools and metrics needed to make data Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable (FAIR).
  • To deliver tailored training for data handlers (academia, SMEs and pharmaceuticals).
  • To change and sustain the data management culture in pharma, academia and SMEs.
  • To organise FAIR ‘Innovation and SME Events’ to foster an innovation ecosystem on FAIR open data to power future reuse, knowledge generation, and societal benefit.

ELIXIR-UK Involvement: WP1, 2, 3 FAIRification methodologies for IMI datasets and EFPIA Pharma. FAIR Cookbook, Squads, Capacity Maturity Model, Cost-Benefit Decision Support (Oxford, Manchester, HWU, Imperial College)

AgroServ: Integrated SERVices supporting a sustainable AGROecological transition

Integrated SERVices supporting a sustainable AGROecological transition (AgroServ) will facilitate a systemic and holistic approach to understand the threats and challenges agriculture is facing, towards the implementation of a resilient and sustainable agri-food system. The project proposes a transdisciplinary offer of services, integrating the actors of the agriculture system in the research process, of which the farmers are the first, thanks to a wide offer of living labs across Europe.

It will develop a wider catalogue of integrated and customised services, providing a strong community building and training programme for access managers and users. Results from the research performed under AgroServ will be synthetised to be use in the scope of evidence-based policy making. Data from AgroServ will be open and compliant with FAIR practices, and made available on the long-term to the communities, and be linked with European initiatives, such as the EOSC.

ELIXIR-UK Involvement: WP3 focusing on consolidating an integrated data management as well as analytical services. (Oxford, Manchester, Rothamsted), WP19 providing services COPO (Earlham) and KnetMiner (Rothamsted)

BeYond-COVID

The BeYond-COVID project (BY-COVID) aims to make COVID-19 data accessible to scientists in laboratories but also to anyone who can use it, such as medical staff in hospitals or government officials.

Pursuing to go beyond SARS-CoV-2 data, the project will serve as the groundwork to make data from other infectious diseases open and accessible to everyone.

The BY-COVID project strives to simplify data access and reuse through four key ‘pillars’:

  1. Mobilise data: ensuring raw sequencing data from across the world can be easily submitted to core data hubs (e.g. SARS-CoV-2 Data Hubs, European Nucleotide Archive (ENA), Federated European Genome Archive (FEGA), CESSDA social science archives, and BBMRI biobank directory).
  2. Connect data: build the technical capacity to allow linking of sequence data and metadata – expanding beyond scientific and medical data to broader metadata from for example public health and economics. Support integration to the COVID-19 Data Portal.
  3. Standardise data: provide recommended data management protocols to encourage Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable (FAIR) data standards and interoperability among resources.
  4. Expose and analyse data: support exposure and analysis of FAIR data on infectious diseases such as the regular VEO reports on mutations and variation in publicly shared SARS-CoV-2 data and the open COVID-19 Galaxy analysis platform).

BY-COVID is an exciting interdisciplinary project that unites life science, medical, policy, social science and public health experts from across Europe. Led by ELIXIR, the project has 53 partners from 20 European countries. The BY-COVID project will run for three years and is part of the European Commission’s HERA Incubator plan Anticipating together the threat of COVID-19 variants.

ELIXIR-UK Involvement: WP3, 4: FAIRsharing-OpenAIRE Data Discovery, RDM Toolkit, FAIR Cookbook, RO-Crate, WorkflowHub: Manchester, Oxford, Nottingham (as BBMRI-ERIC)

BioDT - Biodiversity Digital Twin

The Biodiversity Digital Twin prototype provides advanced models for simulation and prediction capabilities, through practical use cases addressing critical issues related to global biodiversity dynamics.

BioDT exploits the LUMI Supercomputer and employs FAIR data combined with digital infrastructure, predictive modelling and AI solutions, facilitating evidence-based solutions for biodiversity protection and restoration.

Funded by Horizon Europe call HORIZON-INFRA-2021-TECH-01-01, the project responds to key EU and international policy initiatives, including the EU Biodiversity Strategy 2030EU Green DealUN Sustainable Development GoalsDestination Earth.

ELIXIR-UK Involvement: contributing expertise on FAIR Computational WorkflowsRO-CrateWorkflowHub and FAIR Digital Objects. Contributions include: WP5: Improving Quality of Data, Workflows and Models through FAIR Principles and WP6: Simulation, Modelling and Data Analytics (Manchester)

FAIR-IMPACT - FAIR-IMPACT, expanding FAIR solutions across EOSC.

The FAIR-IMPACT project will identify and design practical solutions, guidelines and frameworks to realise an EOSC of FAIR data and services. The project gathers 28 partners from 11 countries.

This project will support the implementation of FAIR-enabling practices, tools and services across scientific communities at a European, national, and institutional level. The FAIR-IMPACT project will work to connect knowledge across scientific communities on persistent identifiersmetadata and ontologiesmetricscertification and interoperability aspects via a community-led approach.

Target stakeholders

  • (Meta)data services providers including Repository & PID Services (DSP)
  • National Level Initiatives (NLI)
  • Research Communities & Infrastructures (RI)
  • Research Performing Organisations (RPO)
  • Individuals in Science (IiS)
  • Research Funding Organisations (RFO)
  • Policymaking Organisations (PO)
  • Publishers (PUB)
  • Data Infrastructures beyond research (DI)
  • EOSC Ecosystem (EE)
  • FAIR Ecosystem (FE)
  • Citizen Science Organisations (CSO)
  • Scientific Societies & Academies (SS&A)

Planned outputs

  • A range of governance, coordination and collaboration mechanisms necessary for a functioning FAIR research ecosystem.
  • FAIR implementation action plans and workshops to coordinate and support the adoption of FAIR-enabling components and mechanisms at multiple levels among a diverse group of stakeholders.
  • persistent identifier support programme and guidance for the provision of PID services in EOSC, including mechanisms and components to facilitate adoption and implementation of the EOSC PID Policy and alignment with PID practices.
  • semantic framework for the governance, creation, mapping, sharing, reuse, FAIRness assessment and interoperability of semantic artefacts for EOSC. This includes interoperable and harmonized semantic artefact catalogues, crosswalks and mappings to improve data findability and accessibility within and across disciplines.
  • Guidelines and prototype(s) which support both enabling FAIR and assessing the FAIRness and trustworthiness of different types of digital objects in multiple domains.
  • Components and services for increased legal, organizational, semantic and technical interoperability in EOSC within and across disciplines.
  • FAIR implementation stories providing evidence, guidance, exploitation paths and incentives for research communities and stakeholders.

Coordination and Collaboration mechanisms

  • Technical Bridging Team
  • FAIR Implementation Team
  • Synchronisation Force
  • EOSC FAIR Champions
  • National Roadshows

ELIXIR-UK Involvement: WP3: Persistent Identifiers and WP4: Metadata and ontologies

How can I get involved in an EU project?

Do you work at one of our member organisations but are unsure whether you can get involved in a European project? ELIXIR-UK encourages anyone interested to get involved. Read our advice on how to do this so that you can join exciting international projects.

Commissioned Services

ELIXIR’s Commissioned Services are technical projects that guide future service development, drive standards adoption and connect ELIXIR Nodes.

They are funded through the budget of the ELIXIR Hub and form part of our ongoing activities in a particular Platform or Community. They are proposed by Platforms, agreed with the ELIXIR Heads of Nodes committee and approved by the ELIXIR Board.

If you are involved in a Commissioned Service, see the Commission Services Guidelines.

Name of studyPlatform/Community
Biodiversity Networks for ELIXIRBiodiversity
A framework to standardize Machine Learning in Life Sciences (2023-24)Tools
Single-Cell Omics Network for ELIXIR (SCONE) (2023-24)Single-Cell Omics
Systems Biology for ELIXIR (SYBEL) (2023-24)Systems Biology
Scalable extraction of human genetic and phenotypic data from peer-reviewed literature (2022-23)Data
Curation of Lipid Pathways by Domain Experts to Generate Open Access Biology Resources (2022-23)Data
Data Integration (2022-23)Data
Alignment of the Interoperability Platform FAIR Service Architecture Framework with the Data Platform, Communities, and ELIXIR Projects (2022-23)Interoperability
An ELIXIR Interoperability Platform Knowledge Hub (2022-23)Interoperability
Food and Nutrition: Microbiome – Diet – Health (2022-23)Food and Nutrition
ELIXIR Hybrid Cloud (2022-23)Compute
ELIXIR Beacon Infrastructure Service plan (2022-23)Communities
Bioschemas Coordinator (2022-23)Interoperability
ELIXIR Beacon Implementation Study: disseminating the Beacon and ELIXIR Beacon Network (EBN) (2022-23)Communities
APICURON integration with curation databases (2022-23)Data
Packaging, containerisation & deployment (2022-23)Tools
Consolidating quality and impact of the TeSS training resources (2022-23)Training
Training Capacity Building (2022-23)Training
Gap analysis, training materials development and training delivery (2022-23)Training
Training Toolkit (2022-23)Training
The Federated EGA framework: supporting sensitive data management across the ELIXIR Nodes (2022-23)Human Data
TeSS – The ELIXIR Training Portal (2022-23)Training
ELIXIR Rare Disease Community services and international collaborations (2022-23)Rare Diseases
Tools Platform EcosystemTools