Below you find all tools and resources used in this module, grouped by category.
ELIXIR resources
| Category | Resource | Description |
|---|---|---|
| ELIXIR | Communication tools used by ELIXIR Nodes | The ELIXIR Communications Group’s shared spreadsheet of communication tools - cost, what each is for and which Nodes use it. |
| ELIXIR | CONVERGE workshop - communications tips for different audiences | Practical video on tailoring communications to different audiences. |
| ELIXIR | CONVERGE workshop series - Design made easy for communicators | Practical video on design made easy for communicators - design tips for non-designers in research communications. |
| ELIXIR | ELIXIR Brand Guidelines (2025) | The official rules for using ELIXIR logos, colours and fonts, and for branding Node websites (public PDF). |
| ELIXIR | ELIXIR Communications Group | Open, collaborative space where communicators from all Nodes share practice and shape consortium communications (intranet). |
| ELIXIR | ELIXIR Communications Strategy | Full channel details and submission guidelines for the consortium’s communications (intranet). |
| ELIXIR | ELIXIR communications useful information | Communications and website contacts in every Node, Node and project social media accounts, and ELIXIR hashtags (Google Doc). |
| ELIXIR | ELIXIR logos and other visuals | Download the official ELIXIR, Node and service logos, icons and templates (intranet - consortium login required). |
| ELIXIR | ELIXIR Node Communications Strategy Toolkit (ELIXIR-STEERS) | The Hub’s full toolkit for building a Node communications strategy - objectives, scope, audiences, channels, messages, evaluation and a strategy template (ELIXIR-STEERS M5.3, 2025). |
| ELIXIR | ELIXIR Node internal newsletters - guidelines and recommendations | Recommendations for running a Node-level internal newsletter (intranet). |
| ELIXIR | ELIXIR social media hashtags and accounts | Hashtags for ELIXIR Communities, Platforms and projects, and every Node’s social media accounts - in the ELIXIR communications useful information document. |
| ELIXIR | ELIXIR Style Guide | ELIXIR’s writing conventions - abbreviations, capitalisation, dates, numbers, ELIXIR-specific terms, spelling and writing for the web (PDF). |
| ELIXIR | Social media guidelines for ELIXIR consortium members | Guidance for individual consortium members posting about ELIXIR (intranet). |
| ELIXIR | Social media guidelines for Node account managers | Guidance for those running a Node’s social media accounts (intranet). |
| ELIXIR | TeSS documentation - Subscribing to notifications | Get new TeSS training events matching a search by email - daily, weekly or monthly. Handy for newsletters. |
| ELIXIR | TeSS training events feed | RSS feed of new training events on TeSS; filter by country (?country=) or keyword (?q=). Also available as a calendar feed (events.ics). |
External resources
| Category | Resource | Description |
|---|---|---|
| External | Adobe Color | Free colour wheel and palette tool with accessibility and contrast checks. |
| External | Adobe Express | Recommended design tool for non-designers - free and browser-based, with templates and AI-assisted features (text-to-image, background removal, resizing). Save an ELIXIR-branded template once and reuse it. |
| External | amCharts SVG Maps | Free, editable vector maps of countries and regions worldwide - useful for showing Node locations or event geography. |
| External | Axe accessibility checker | Free accessibility testing tool, available as a browser extension, for finding and fixing WCAG issues. |
| External | Buffer | Free social media scheduling tool - write a batch of posts and schedule them across platforms in one sitting. |
| External | Buttonbuddy | Free tool for accessible colour contrast, especially for links and buttons. |
| External | Communication Toolkit for European Projects | The European Innovation Council’s communication toolkit for EU-funded projects - guidance and templates for communication and visibility, including how to acknowledge EU funding correctly. |
| External | Communication Toolkit for Research Infrastructures | Practical toolkit from the RI-VIS project on communicating research infrastructures to new audiences - stakeholder mapping, messaging, channels and evaluation, with templates and case studies. |
| External | Coolors | Free colour palette generator with built-in contrast and colour-blindness testing - pick two colours and check they’re accessible. |
| External | Fontjoy | Generates font pairings automatically - useful when you need to combine a heading and a body font. |
| External | Google Analytics | Free web analytics - set up a dashboard once to track website traffic instead of pulling numbers by hand. |
| External | Google Apps Script | Free scripting built into Google Forms and Sheets - for example, post each new form sign-up to Slack. Involves code; ask your software engineer if unsure. |
| External | Google Campaign URL Builder | Adds tracking tags to the links you share, so Google Analytics can tell you which channel each visitor came from. |
| External | LinkedIn Page analytics (help) | What LinkedIn’s Page analytics show - content, followers and visitors - and where to find them. |
| External | RI-PATHS impact assessment framework | An EU-developed methodology for assessing the socio-economic impact of research infrastructures - for impact assessment beyond communications. |
| External | Set up Google Analytics for a website | Google’s step-by-step guide - create an account and property, then add the tracking code to your site. |
| External | Slack RSS app | Posts new items from any RSS feed - TeSS training, ELIXIR news or jobs - into a Slack channel with one command. |
| External | WAVE web accessibility evaluation tool | Free in-browser tool that flags accessibility issues (missing ALT text, low contrast, heading structure) on any web page. |
| External | Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) overview | The international standard for digital accessibility, built on four principles - perceivable, operable, understandable, robust. |
| External | Writing in the Sciences (Stanford University) | Free online course on clear scientific writing - a deeper dive for anyone who wants to improve their craft. |
| External | Zapier | No-code automation - connect a trigger (new form response, new row, new feed item) to an action such as a Slack message. Make (make.com) is a similar alternative. |