We often explain and communicate the impact of work funded by, and through, ELIXIR using categories of impact.
Discover ELIXIR's impact categories
Literally any activity done under the umbrella of ELIXIR can be attached to one or more of these impact categories:
Research efficiency
We make infrastructure, bioinformatics resources and processes faster, easier to use, and more integrated.
Scientific legacy
We create and disseminate new knowledge on research infrastructure, bioinformatics resources and related guidelines.
Benefits derived from working together
We facilitate knowledge-sharing and cooperation
Public awareness
We raise awareness of socio-economic and societal benefits of bioinformatics and Open Science.
Policy influence
We shape policy in the area of Open Science.
Equal opportunity
We raise awareness of diversity and inclusiveness.
Skills development
We upskill resource users and service providers.
Research infrastructure sustainability
We work to increase ELIXIR’s visibility with, and appreciation by, its funders.
Bioinformatics resource uptake
We work to increase resource usage and appreciation by users.
Slides and icons are freely available for further use, and can be cited as Figure 1 in Martin et al. (2021). Martin et al. (2021) also provided (as Supporting Information) an initial list of indicators for monitoring the performance and impact of ELIXIR: an updated version is available.
If you are part of ELIXIR, you can access numerous resources related to performance and impact evaluation through the Documents area of the Impact Focus Group.
Search the examples of impact
The ELIXIR Bioinformatics Industry Forum facilitates discussions around visionary ideas, bottlenecks and solutions to some of the major challenges in the data driven life science sector.
Impact areas:Bioinformatics resource uptake ~ Research efficiency
Beacon provides a technical solution for researchers to query sensitive human data from across country boundaries, without compromising privacy. This new, enriched version allows its users to more rapidly identify the existence of specific sequences across multiple datasets and avoid unnecessary complicated access requests. This work is also a great example of ELIXIR's continued and fruitful collaboration with the Global Alliance for Genomics and Health
Impact areas:Benefits of working together ~ Research efficiency
A great example of how ELIXIR partners mobilise themselves to influence policy - the resulting report mentions numerous ELIXIR resources and projects
Impact areas:Benefits of working together ~ Policy influence
These ELIXIR-funded projects aim to make ELIXIR's bioinformatics services more relevant to their users, as well as further increasing the integration of services across the pan-European research infrastructure
Impact areas:Benefits of working together ~ Bioinformatics resource uptake ~ Research efficiency ~ Research infrastructure sustainability
This event provided impact evaluation skills to those undertaking case studies as part of the ELIXIR-funded Strategic Implementation Study on Impact.
Impact areas:Skills development
This event provided impact evaluation skills to those undertaking case studies as part of the ELIXIR-funded Strategic Implementation Study on Impact.
Impact areas:Skills development
This event provided impact evaluation skills to those undertaking case studies as part of the ELIXIR-funded Strategic Implementation Study on Impact.
Impact areas:Skills development
This ELIXIR UK resource has received a hidden REF award, as part of a national ‘competition’, supported by publishers and learned societies. This competition is designed to celebrate and recognise the range of important research achievements that may not fit neatly into traditional research impact metrics.
Impact areas:Policy influence ~ Research efficiency ~ Research infrastructure sustainability
ELIXIR coordinates this international multidisciplinary project which aims to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of pandemic response to COVID-19 and other infectious diseases.
Impact areas:Bioinformatics resource uptake ~ Policy influence ~ Research dissemination ~ Research efficiency
An excellent example of the value of knowledge-exchange, in this case enabled by a Collaboration Strategy between two sibling research infrastructures (ELIXIR and the Australian BioCommons). The impact of being able to draw on the experience of international peers is demonstrated by the launch of a new training events and materials portal for Australasia based on ELIXIR’s TeSS.
Impact areas:Benefits of working together ~ Research infrastructure sustainability ~ Skills development
This event provided impact evaluation skills to those undertaking case studies as part of the ELIXIR-funded Strategic Implementation Study on Impact.
Impact areas:Skills development
ELIXIR in numbers, including selected bioinformatics resources.
Impact areas:Bioinformatics resource uptake ~ Policy influence ~ Research dissemination ~ Skills development
This page provides selected examples of what ELIXIR is doing to help manage the huge increase in life science data, deal with the increasing complexity of data, make it easier to find the right tools and training, build a more robust bioinformatics infrastructure, and drive innovation and industry usage.
Impact areas:Benefits of working together ~ Bioinformatics resource uptake ~ Research efficiency ~ Research infrastructure sustainability ~ Skills development
This publication demonstrates how ELIXIR Finland, operated by CSC – IT Center for Science, supports life science research, biotechnological innovation and its translation into the knowledge economy. The publication features 19 user case stories, presenting the full breadth of infrastructure services offered by ELIXIR Finland.
Impact areas:Bioinformatics resource uptake ~ Research efficiency ~ Skills development
This Technopolis Group study used surveys and interviews to compile quantitative and qualitative data for calculating a variety of economic values related to Europe PMC, a scientific literature resource maintained and curated by EMBL-EBI.
Impact areas:Research efficiency
This online database streamlines data collection, storage, and visualisation related to ELIXIR-badged training courses taking place across its Nodes. The portal allows to access information on the quality of events, the attendees, along with longer-term impact of the courses.
Impact areas:Bioinformatics resource uptake ~ Skills development
ELIXIR is working to increase awareness of diversity and inclusiveness across its Member countries.
Impact areas:Equal opportunities
These are visualisations of research works (peer-reviewed, preprints) that can be linked back to activities under the ELIXIR umbrella, i.e. activities that have received a level of support (financial, in-kind, but also strategic) from ELIXIR (core budget or external grants). Also in scope are publications presenting an achievement of the infrastructure.
Impact areas:Research dissemination
This peer-reviewed article presents our practice-led journey towards demonstrating public value. It is articulated around five main challenges and, for each, we present our pragmatic approach for tackling it.
Impact areas:Benefits of working together ~ Policy influence ~ Research dissemination ~ Research infrastructure sustainability
This preprint presents practical ways to measure the public value of a major ELIXIR-funded event, through three complementary approaches: survey-based, publication-based and GitHub-based measures.
Impact areas:Benefits of working together ~ Bioinformatics resource uptake ~ Research dissemination ~ Research efficiency ~ Skills development
This page provides a one-stop shop to learn about the impact of one of ELIXIR's largest and well-established Nodes, including a seminal report (2015) by Charles Beagrie on a large-scale, economic analysis of the institute’s impact on research practice and the global economy.
Impact areas:Bioinformatics resource uptake ~ Research efficiency
ELIXIR contributed seed funding and coordination, which helped Bioschemas on its successful journey towards recognition by prestigious members of the international Schema.org community.
Impact areas:Benefits of working together ~ Bioinformatics resource uptake ~ Research efficiency
These ELIXIR-funded projects aim to make ELIXIR's bioinformatics services more relevant to their users, as well as further increasing the integration of services across the pan-European research infrastructure.
Impact areas:Benefits of working together ~ Bioinformatics resource uptake ~ Research efficiency ~ Research infrastructure sustainability
The annual ELIXIR All Hands Meeting helps raise awareness of latest developments in the pan-European infrastructure. Participation of selected external guests helps bring new perspectives and enrich discussions.
Impact areas:Benefits of working together ~ Research dissemination
The main intended outcome from this ELIXIR-funded project is an increased capacity at Node level to demonstrate and communicate public value to funders and other key stakeholders, thereby contributing to long-term sustainability of Node-led activities.
Impact areas:Benefits of working together ~ Policy influence ~ Research dissemination ~ Research infrastructure sustainability ~ Skills development
The ELIXIR Bioinformatics Industry Forum facilitates discussions around visionary ideas, bottlenecks and solutions to some of the major challenges in the data driven life science sector.
Impact areas:Bioinformatics resource uptake ~ Research efficiency
This workshop built capacity of ELIXIR Nodes in developing more impactful communications.
Impact areas:Skills development
The ELIXIR Bioinformatics Industry Forum facilitates discussions around visionary ideas, bottlenecks and solutions to some of the major challenges in the data driven life science sector.
Impact areas:Bioinformatics resource uptake ~ Research efficiency
This research data management kit guides its users so that their data practices are better aligned with the open science principles, in support of increased research efficiency.
Impact areas:Benefits of working together ~ Bioinformatics resource uptake ~ Policy influence ~ Research efficiency ~ Research infrastructure sustainability ~ Skills development
The ELIXIR SME and Innovation events aim to increase awareness and appreciation of public bioinformatics resources by private sector users (industry), along with promoting a better two-way cross-sectoral understanding.
Impact areas:Bioinformatics resource uptake ~ Research efficiency