ELIXIR Ireland: VIBE 2025 Event Report

ELIXIR Ireland: VIBE 2025 Event Report A Year of Strategic Alignment & National Infrastructure Report Overview Date: 14 December 2025 Location: Trinity College Dublin (TCD) Authors: Gavin Farrell (UL), Maria Doyle (UL), & Aedín Culhane (UL) Acknowledgements: Máire Ní Leathlobhair (TCD) for facilitating the VIBE event & ELIXIR workshop. Executive Summary The Virtual Institute of Bioinformatics & Evolution (VIBE) 2025 annual meeting was held on the 8th of December at Trinity College Dublin (TCD). It marked a significant milestone of 25 years of VIBE events for the Irish bioinformatics community. As a bottom-up community network, VIBE continues to serve as the primary forum for connecting bioinformatics and computational biology researchers across the island of Ireland. This year’s event notably also helped facilitate a launchpad to co-develop a unified national life science data infrastructure strategy in partnership with ELIXIR Ireland. The event was expertly hosted by TCD organisers, with special credit due to the organising committee led by Máire Ní Leathlobhair (Chair), alongside Scientific Programme Chair Elle Loughran, and committee members including Róisín Long (Deputy Chair), Sadbh Carrick, Corey Alwell, Catherine Butt, Lukasz Niezabitowski, Donia Arafa, Thomas Gomes, Laetitia Chauve, and Alex Siekmann. Chair Máire Ní Leathlobhair opening VIBE 2025. Strategic Context: ELIXIR Ireland & VIBE’s Joint Mission A supported theme of VIBE 2025 was the alignment of the established VIBE network with the life science research infrastructure consortium ELIXIR Ireland. This collaboration aims to boost access to European-scale opportunities and strengthen national research infrastructure capacity to meet community needs. 1 National Life Science Data Infrastructure Survey for DFHERIS & Research Ireland: A critical point stressed at the event was the "Landscaping Irish Life Science Data Research Infrastructure Needs" survey. This survey data will be vital for informing the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science (DFHERIS) and Taighde Éireann – Research Ireland about the key needs of the bioinformatics community. Gavin Farrell & Aedín Culhane presented the ELIXIR Ireland strategy survey poster (Right). ● Action: All PIs and researchers are urged to complete the survey to ensure their requirements are represented in the national strategy. ● Deadline: 19th December, 2025 ● Link: Survey link ELIXIR Services in the Spotlight - Bioconductor: Complementing the strategy work, Maria Doyle (UL), the Global Community Manager for Bioconductor, presented a poster detailing the spectrum of services offered by ELIXIR Ireland. Her presentation placed a specific focus on Bioconductor as an ELIXIR software project and highlighted how local leadership connects to global impact. The poster further emphasised the national delivery of critical European infrastructure, such as the Genomic Data Infrastructure (GDI) Ireland. These services are essential for empowering the VIBE community, ensuring that Irish researchers have direct support and access to secure, federated cloud computing and data resources on a national scale. Maria Doyle & Aedín Culhane presenting the ELIXIR Ireland & Bioconductor poster. Key Highlight: Ministerial Address & Infrastructure Investment The VIBE event warmly welcomed Minister James Lawless, who delivered a keynote address emphasising the government's commitment to research infrastructure and excellence. PRTLI & The INSPIRE Call: Minister Lawless highlighted the newly launched INSPIRE programme, a historic €750 million investment package designed to transform research infrastructure across the higher education sector. This supersedes previous PRTLI cycles 2 and offers a massive opportunity for bioinformatics and life sciences to secure cutting-edge equipment and data resources. Minister James Lawless keynote (photo left) From left to right Róisín Long (TCD), Kevin Byrne (UCD), Aedín Culhane (UL), X (), Minister James Lawless (DFHERIS), Máire Ní Leathlobhair (TCD), Jane Farrar (TCD), Maria Nash (Taighde Éireann – Research Ireland) (photo right) ELIXIR Ireland Contributions ELIXIR Ireland members welcomed the opportunity to contribute to the VIBE proceedings, driving the conversation on national life science data research infrastructure needs. 1. ELIXIR Ireland - National Strategy Workshop: A dedicated workshop session focused on the forthcoming national life science data infrastructure strategy driven by ELIXIR Ireland in conjunction with the VIBE network. Breakout groups discussed key topics across training, data, interoperability, sustainability and beyond in breakout discussion. Group Topic Areas The attendees were divided into three main thematic breakout groups: ● Cancer ● IT (Information Technology) ● Biodiversity / Food and Nutrition / Other Five primary takeaways synthesised from the discussion notes across the three groups: ● Critical Need for Sustainable Career Paths: There is a strong consensus on the lack of stable career structures for technical staff. Groups highlighted the need for specific roles like "Research Software Engineers" (RSEs) and "Staff Scientists" rather than relying on short-term post-doctoral contracts. Without defined career tracks, Ireland risks losing the talent it trains to support national infrastructure. ● Shift from Project-Based to Sustained Funding: Participants expressed frustration with the "boom and bust" funding cycle where infrastructure is built but not maintained ("fund up and build then switch off"). A major wish is for long-term funding 3 streams specifically dedicated to the maintenance of data infrastructure and the retention of human capital. ● National Leadership and Governance: There is a desire for stronger government involvement and a cohesive national strategy and infrastructure investment, similar to "Genomics England" or the "UK Biobank." The groups noted a lack of regulatory mechanisms and top down national leadership to support a "gold standard" ecosystem, suggesting that scientists need more presence on relevant government advisory boards to bridge the gap between engineering needs and legal constraints. ● Secure Data Environments and Federation: A key technical discussion revolved around the model for secure data, specifically the choice between Trusted Research Environments (TREs) and Secure Processing Environments (SPEs). While the UK model might be user-friendly, there is an awareness that Ireland may need to align with European standards for federation purposes. ● Leveraging Existing Strengths for Future Growth: The groups acknowledged current strengths such as a cohesive scientific community, strong food science sectors, and a talent pipeline of students (MSc, SFI CRT). However, to fully utilise these, there is a key need for Ireland’s upcoming GDI National Genomic Repository, better industry engagement, and integration with existing high-performance computing infrastructure providers (e.g. ICHEC) to support AI and large-scale data sharing. ELIXIR Ireland VIBE workshop participants. 2. National Strategy Efforts Presentation: Aedín Culhane (Head of Node, ELIXIR Ireland) delivered a talk on the joint efforts between ELIXIR and VIBE. She emphasised that a cohesive national strategy is the key way forward to effectively lobby for sustained funding and to integrate Irish researchers into large-scale EU projects like the Genomic Data Infrastructure (GDI). A call to action on filling the national survey was made to lobby engagement and ensure all voices are heard in the results. Aedín Culhane VIBE presentation. 3. VIBE Presentations from ELIXIR Ireland Members: ELIXIR Ireland members across the five institutions (UL, UCD, UCC, RCSI, Galway) were well represented with several talks during the event. 4 New VIBE Web Resource & Supports ELIXIR Ireland announced the launch of the new ELIXIR Ireland website hosted VIBE webpage, designed to be a central hub for the community. ● News & Events: ELIXIR Ireland hosts a dedicated website space for sharing upcoming workshops, conferences, and funding calls. ● VIBE PI Directory: A new searchable directory of Principal Investigators in bioinformatics across Ireland. ● Action: Contact [email protected] to be added to the PI directory or submit news/events. ELIXIR Ireland - Alignment & Membership Drive ELIXIR Ireland is actively expanding its institutional membership and is currently in advanced talks with Trinity College Dublin (TCD), Munster Technological University (MTU), and Technological University Dublin (TUD) regarding formal membership progression. Expressions of interest from other institutes wishing to join ELIXIR Ireland are very welcome and encouraged to expand the consortium. No fee is required, only formal institutional approval and legal paperwork pending ELIXIR Ireland management board approval of application. ● How to Join ELIXIR Ireland: Info pack & Expression of Interest Application Form Conclusion VIBE 2025 was a resounding success, characterised by excellent turnout and a continued sense of all-Ireland research collaboration. The participation and engagement across the event demonstrated that the Irish bioinformatics community is collaborating towards a unified, well-funded national infrastructure. ELIXIR Ireland looks forward to building on these strengths and aligning with VIBE across all future opportunities. Contact: [email protected] ELIXIR Ireland VIBE Webpage: https://elixir-ireland.ie/vibe.html VIBE 2025 Event Website: https://www.gen.tcd.ie/vibe/ 5