Success of BioCommons-ELIXIR partnership showcased on the international stage

A showcase of outcomes that are being realised through international collaboration between life science data infrastructures were recently discussed by the global research infrastructure community at an international gathering. 

The 2024 International Conference on Research Infrastructures (ICRI 2024) explored global trends, challenges, and opportunities in research infrastructure. The December meeting was held in Brisbane - the first time ICRI has been hosted in the Asia Pacific - and attracted policymakers, research institution leaders, facility operators, users and researchers. Around 420 people from 50 nations travelled to Australia, including delegates from 11 Southeast Asian and Pacific nations, for this year’s event. Another 500 people joined online from 39 nations. 

Significantly, the 2024 event was the first ICRI to focus on Indigenous knowledge and engagement. Organising the meeting was a joint effort between Australia’s national science agency (CSIRO), the European Commission, and the Australian Department of Education. 

With a Euro-Australian bioinformatics infrastructure collaboration agreement now into its fifth year, representatives from BioCommons and ELIXIR hosted an official side event, Euro-Australian research infrastructure collaboration in the molecular life sciences. Partners described fruitful outcomes for the global community, and key examples from BioCommons’ perspective were highlighted, including our enablement of:

  • A  multi-week coworking session for Galaxy Australia and Galaxy Europe staff in Brisbane in 2023

  • Shared product ownership of WorkflowHub between Australian and European colleagues

  • Launch of Australia’s DReSA and incorporation of its codebase into ELIXIR’s TeSS

  • The Australian Outpost of ELIXIR’s BioHackathon Europe in 2022, 23, and 24

  • Codevelopment of genome assembly and annotation pipelines for biodiversity efforts

  • Connection building to target efficient data publishing and re-use in a global context 

Presenters at this event included Kelly Scarlett from Bioplatforms Australia who set the context within the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS), Ondřej Hradil representing the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI), Jeff Christiansen and Nigel Ward representing Australian BioCommons, Tim Hubbard representing ELIXIR, Fotis Psomopoulos representing CERTH and ELIXIR Greece, and Gerry Reilly representing BioFAIR UK.

To capture the international goodwill generated and the progress made during the ICRI conference, organisers published The Brisbane Statement. It encourages all research infrastructure (RI) stakeholders to actively consider the role of RIs in addressing global challenges, and how strengthening international RI collaborations can help solve them.

Australian BioCommons is supported by Bioplatforms Australia, which is enabled by NCRIS.

Christina Hall2024