SBI Hosts Irish Scientists for First ELIXIR Ireland Stakeholder Meeting
Bioinformaticians, biologists and computer scientists from some of Ireland’s leading research centres and third level institutions met with colleagues from Science Foundation Ireland, the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation and ELIXIR on 17 May in Systems Biology Ireland to lay the foundations for an Irish node of ELIXIR, the European infrastructure for life science information.
The creation of an Irish ELIXIR node will see Ireland join 19 other national members working together to address challenges in areas such as tools and data interoperability, technical services including cloud offerings and secure data access, and research data management.
Ireland has had Observer status on ELIXIR since November 2015, and this first stakeholder meeting was the next step in the process of formalising membership as well as building consensus on the shape that an Irish node will take.
Presentations from Walter Kolch (Director, SBI, UCD), Michael Ryan (Manager of EU Affairs at Science Foundation Ireland and ESFRI National Delegate) and Andrew Smith (External Relations Manager, ELIXIR) on the current status of the Irish node application and its position within the broader ELIXIR and ESFRI landscape were followed by roundtable discussions in which participants identified potential aspects of an Irish node as well as the key benefits of interacting with the infrastructure.
It is anticipated that Ireland’s formal entry to become a full member of ELIXIR will be ratified shortly by the new government. If you are interested in joining future events and activities to help to shape ELIXIR Ireland please contact Will Fitzmaurice (william.fitzmaurice@ucd.ie).
