France and Spain officially joining ELIXIR as Provisional Members, the approval of Ireland's application to become ELIXIR Observer, and the decision on the process for the selection and approval of ELIXIR Commissioned services were the main outcomes of the 2015 Autumn meeting of the ELIXIR Board, held in Hinxton, UK, on 22-23 October.
Other key decisions and outcomes of the Board meeting included:
- Approval of the ELIXIR Work Plan and budget for 2016
- Extension of the Observership of the existing Observer states (Belgium, Greece, Italy and Slovenia) for a further two years
- The appointment of ELIXIR Chair and Vice Chairs for 2016
- ELIXIR Node applications and Collaboration Agreements
- Updates on the Long Term funding strategy for ELIXIR Resources and an ELIXIR-wide Ethics Policy
Chair and Vice Chairs
Torsten Schwede (Switzerland) was reappointed as Chair of the ELIXIR Board, and Rein Aasland and Anna Wetterbom as Vice Chairs of the ELIXIR Board for 2016.
ELIXIR Nodes applications and Collaboration Agreements
The Node applications of France and Spain were approved, and will now begin steps towards establishing Collaboration Agreements with the ELIXIR Hub. The Collaboration Agreements for Estonia and Czech Republic were approved; a new ELIXIR Node application was presented by Belgium, and will now be presented to the ELIXIR Scientific Advisory Board for review, before final approval by the ELIXIR Board.
Updates on ongoing activities
The Board received updates on the development of the Long Term funding strategy for ELIXIR Resources and the ELIXIR Ethics Policy. They are both expected to be presented to the ELIXIR Board for final approval during 2016. Ongoing ELIXIR Horizon 2020 grant activities within EXCELERATE and CORBEL were also presented.
