University of York joins ELIXIR-UK

This photo is courtesy of The University of York

The University of York has become the latest institution to join ELIXIR-UK, the UK Node of the European life sciences data infrastructure. York already has strong ties to ELIXIR-UK through three Data Stewardship Training Fellows, ELIXIR-badged training and workshops, and two Software Sustainability Institute Fellows, and membership formalises a relationship that is already well established.

York’s membership is championed by Dr Andrew Mason (Lecturer in Cancer Informatics, Jack Birch Unit for Molecular Carcinogenesis), supported by Prof James Chong, Head of the Department of Biology.

Training in research data skills is central to York’s mission: coding and bioinformatics are compulsory components of undergraduate degrees, all postgraduate students receive courses in R and research data management, and courses are available to staff as part of professional development. York’s three ELIXIR-UK Data Stewardship Training Fellows have already contributed significantly to ELIXIR-UK through RDM Bites, in-person and online training events, and course development, and their work will now benefit from wider dissemination under the ELIXIR-UK umbrella.

Andrew Mason, Steering Committee member for York, says:

“York has been part of the ELIXIR-UK community for some time through our Data Stewardship Fellows, and full membership is a natural next step. Training and open research are increasingly central to how we work across disciplines, and through ELIXIR-UK, we are keen to strengthen our regional networks, contribute new training resources and ideas, and share what we have learned with the broader life sciences community.

York’s bioinformatics research is broad, spanning the Department of Biology, Hull York Medical School, and the York Biomedical Research Institute, which facilitates interdisciplinary links across Biology, Chemistry, Psychology, Maths, and the School of Physics, Engineering and Technology.

In addition, the University’s Biosciences Technology Facility Data Science Hub supports image analysis, systems biology and diverse omics technologies, and the university has researchers well placed to contribute to ELIXIR-UK focus groups and communities, including AI Ecosystem, Learning Paths, Pathogen Data, Cancer Data, Microbiome, Plant Sciences, Proteomics and Research Data Management.

York is also a founding member of the Northern Bioinformatics User Group, a community with members from over fifteen northern universities, including four ELIXIR-UK members, and delivers training through the White Rose Consortium and the N8 CIR.

Beyond the life sciences, York is developing a broader open research strategy, including a new open research advocates network, an open research awards scheme open to all career stages, and an open research skills framework to improve knowledge of FAIR across all disciplines — all of which are well aligned with ELIXIR-UK’s goals.