UK contributes to the 2024 ELIXIR RDM Community meeting

In December 2024, ELIXIR-UK members participated in a key meeting of the wider ELIXIR Europe RDM community, held in Luxembourg, thanks to colleagues from the Luxembourg National Data Service. The intensive week brought together experts from across Europe to advance the work of the ELIXIR Research Data Management (RDM) Community, a vital initiative in ELIXIR supporting FAIR data practices.

Munazah Andrabi (University of Manchester), co-lead of the RDM Community, attended the meeting alongside European colleagues, ensuring that efforts to enable FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable) data are practical, aligned, and widely adoptable across ELIXIR’s network.

Nick Juty (University of Manchester) contributed his expertise in interoperability, helping to assess challenges and identify pathways for leveraging community knowledge. A key focus was building robust use cases that demonstrate the value of FAIR-enabling resources and promote their adoption within diverse scientific contexts.

Xenia Perez Sitja (Earlham Institute) led and participated in activities during the first part of the event. Her contributions centred on building the foundations of a Data Steward Handbook, a new resource designed to provide day-to-day guidance for data stewards. The handbook will connect users to practical tools, workflows, and FAIR-enabling resources – connecting with her colleagues’ work at the Univerisity of Manchester.

The meeting highlighted the collaborative nature of the RDM Community, bringing together expertise in research data management, interoperability, and data stewardship to tackle shared challenges. ELIXIR-UK members helped drive forward initiatives that will support the adoption of FAIR data principles, strengthen research data practices across ELIXIR Europe, and reap the benefits back home for the UK community.