ELIXIR-UK maps its stakeholders on a power/interest grid to decide where to focus communication effort. The point isn’t to label people or lock in rules – it’s to answer a practical question: with limited time, who do we manage closely, and who just needs to be kept informed?
Crucially, the map is not set in stone. ELIXIR-UK has redone it as the Node’s funding, remit and capacity changed. Below are two versions and what moved between them.
The two versions at a glance
The map was redrawn as ELIXIR-UK evolved. Compare the earlier version with the 2025 one:
Earlier version
2025 version
The full lists for each quadrant are in the tables below.
Earlier version
From the ELIXIR-UK handbook, mapping influence (how much an audience shapes ELIXIR-UK’s ability to deliver) against interest:
| Quadrant | Stakeholders |
|---|---|
| Manage closely (high influence, high interest) | Funders (research councils, charities, EU bodies); active ELIXIR-UK members – PIs, developers, coordinators |
| Keep satisfied (high influence, lower interest) | ELIXIR Hub and other Nodes; decision-makers at other country Nodes |
| Keep informed (lower influence, high interest) | Inactive ELIXIR-UK members; users of ELIXIR-UK resources globally; other UK data organisations (SSI, Health Data UK, RDA-UK) |
| Monitor (lower influence, lower interest) | Potential new members; other potential member organisations; media and the public |
The handbook itself calls this “a working tool, not a finished artefact” and recommends reviewing it at least annually.
2025 version
The 2025 map was produced at a workshop to build a Theory of Change for ELIXIR-UK, which brought together key contributors and advisors – including members of the Node’s Scientific and Industry Advisory Board (SIAB). Revisiting the stakeholder map was part of that wider strategic exercise: the map shifted because the strategy did.
Redone at the ELIXIR-UK Strategy Meeting on 28 November 2025, it maps power against interest:
| Quadrant | Stakeholders |
|---|---|
| Manage closely (high power, high interest) | Researchers & end-users; universities & research institutes; infrastructure providers (data, compute); supercomputing centres, HPC & AI factories; ELIXIR Hub & Nodes (incl. EBI); BioFAIR; industry users |
| Keep satisfied (high power, low interest) | Principal Investigators; government & policy makers; funders (UKRI, charities, EU); data/infrastructure leads in RPOs; media |
| Keep informed (low power, high interest) | Postdocs; Research Technical Professionals (data stewards, technicians, RSEs, librarians); existing Communities of Practice; industry suppliers; ELIXIR-UK SIAB; EOSC UK Node; UKRI DRI / DRIC / AGD programmes; interfaces to strategic DRI (ISAMBARD-AI, thematic infrastructures) |
| Monitor (low power, low interest) | Allied networks; other DRIs; PhD students; similar organisations in other domains (physics, arts); publishers; other UK investments (HDR UK); international initiatives (Aus BioCommons, DiSSCo, EOSC LS Node, EuroBioImaging) |
What changed, and why it matters
The 2025 map is broader and more national:
- A new funding grant in 2025 brought capacity to support researchers and technical professionals directly, so they became a primary focus rather than a “keep informed” audience.
- UKRI’s DRI programmes, EOSC UK Node, supercomputing/AI infrastructure and strategic DRIs entered the map – shift toward national-level intervention.
None of this means the earlier map was “wrong.” It was right for its time. The map changed because the organisation changed – which is exactly what it’s supposed to do.
Use it for your Node
See Section 2: Understanding your audience for how to build your own priority matrix and persona, and remember: the goal is to focus effort, then revisit it as your Node evolves.
Download the stakeholder matrix template (PowerPoint)