Node: ELIXIR Norway
Authors: Federico Bianchini, data steward and deputy training coordinator
Topics: Who to involve, Existing work
Without coordination, infrastructures may duplicate work or miss useful services developed elsewhere. Shared frameworks can help connect expertise across communities.
Research infrastructures are oftentimes operating in isolation and do not leverage tools and services that are developed outside of the research community they typically serve. This oftentimes leads to duplication of work and slower overall advancement. In this example, we describe how ELIXIR Norway led a project that brought together several Research Infrastructures to develop a common framework.
The BioMedData project was established in 2020 and ran for a total duration of 5 years. This project was executed within the context of ELIXIR Norway and involved the active collaboration of ten data-generating infrastructures covering diverse fields such as genomics, proteomics, medical imaging, high-throughput screening, nuclear magnetic resonance, biodiversity, and crystallography. We build a network of data management experts between ELIXIR Norway and the collaborating infrastructures capable of offering research projects integrated and well-coordinated support for data management, thus enabling projects to manage and share the data generated within the project.
The group produced templates for Data Management Plans (DMPs) highlighting both general best practices, including standards and controlled terminology, and the available services and instrumentation at the actual partner facilities. Moreover, this activity established the basis for monitoring activities on submission to domain-specific databases, which is now part of the current work of ELIXIR Norway. At the end of the project, the partners signed a joint strategic statement for collaboration on data management.