ELIXIR-NL has joined forces with four other ELIXIR nodes in a new Implementation Study that will FAIRify several ELIXIR Core Data Resources. The study will start on 1 June 2018 and run for a one-year-period.
Rob Hooft (ELIXIR-NL Technical Coordinator) explains: “The Implementation Study aims to create a comprehensive implementation guide to maximise the FAIRness of selected Core Data Resources, to develop and perform a user- and expert-driven assessment of the resources, and to organise workshops to guide stakeholders in improving the FAIRness of their resources. It is a joint effort of ELIXIR-NL (Michel Dumontier, Rob Hooft, Chris Evelo), ELIXIR-UK (Susanna Sansone, Carole Goble), ELIXIR-EBI (Guy Cochrane), ELIXIR-IT (Luana Licata), and ELIXIR-SE (Kalle von Felitzen).”
Scope of the study
The FAIR principles aim to maximise the discovery and reusability of digital resources. While various communities -including many ELIXIR Core Data Resources- have rapidly adopted the principles, the implementation details remain unclear. Recently, a prototype software infrastructure and a set of metrics to assess the FAIRness of digital resources were developed (http://fairmetrics.org/).
The ELIXIR Implementation Study will put these into practice for the ELIXIR community by starting to FAIRify the ELIXIR Core Data Resources ArrayExpress, ENA, PDBe, PRIDE, CatH, CHEMBL, ChEBI, UNIPROT, HPA, INTERPRO, MINT, and STRING-db. The study will first establish effective guidelines for implementation, then involve hands-on FAIRification workshops, in which FAIRness will be assessed before and after the work done. The project will raise awareness around what it takes to be FAIR, and promote interoperability between core ELIXIR resources and resources outside of ELIXIR.
Strong proposal
The Evaluation Committee that selected the proposal for the Implementation Study concluded: “This is a strong and clear proposal, as was reflected in the reviewer reports. The Evaluation Committee recognised the quality of the proposal. Regarded in the context of a Maturity Model, the consensus opinion of the Evaluation Committee was that this proposal should be supported.”
More information
About ELIXIR Implementation Studies
Implementation Studies are short technical projects to inform future service development, drive standards adoption, and connect ELIXIR’s 21 Nodes. The projects are funded through the budget of the ELIXIR Hub and form part of ELIXIR’s ongoing activities in a particular Platform or Use Case. They are proposed by Platforms, agreed with the ELIXIR Heads of Nodes committee, and approved by the ELIXIR Board. This particular Implementation Study is part of the 2018 Data Platform Implementation Study call. Read more.
About ELIXIR Core Data Resources
ELIXIR Core Data Resources are data resources of fundamental importance to the life science community and the long-term preservation of biological data. The ELIXIR Core Data Resources serve as a mark of the highest quality in infrastructure service provision and will drive ELIXIR’s discussions with funders and policy-makers on the sustainability of life science data resources. Hooft: “ELIXIR-NL intends to invite all DTL partners to bring Dutch data sources of international allure to ELIXIR-NL’s attention this year. Together, we will evaluate if some of these resources could be suggested as new ELIXIR Core Data Resources. Read more.