The 11th annual ELIXIR meeting took place in Thessaloniki from June 2–5, 2025 with the participation of over 400 scientists and researchers from across Europe, Canada, and Australia. ELIXIR is the European Research Infrastructure for the Management and Analysis of Biological Data, representing 22 countries, with INAB/CERTH playing a key role as a member of the Greek ELIXIR Node and supporting the event’s organization.
The main event, the ELIXIR All Hands Meeting, was hosted at the Porto Palace Hotel and organized by the ELIXIR Hub (coordinator of the European ELIXIR Infrastructure) with support from INAB/CERTH. Opening remarks were delivered by the Deputy Minister of Development, Stavros Kalafatis and the Deputy Regional Governor for Digital Governance of Central Macedonia, Nikolaos Tzollas.
The primary goal of the annual meeting was to coordinate research and technological activities across the broader infrastructure, covering a wide range of topics from cancer research, biodiversity, and food security, to horizontal technological infrastructure such as FAIR data management, workflows, and research software.
The working sessions went beyond traditional conference presentations, focusing instead on collaborative discussions on topics of shared interest, with participants frequently working in smaller groups to explore and solve specific research questions.
Special attention was given to two keynote speeches:
• “Scaling Together – Canada’s Genomics Strategy for Collaboration Through Shared Data” by Naveed Aziz (VP R&I, Genome Canada)
• “Decoding Phenotypes at the Cell Type Level” by Irene Papatheodorou (Earlham Institute/ELIXIR UK)
Active and Multifaceted Contribution by INAB/CERTH and Dr. Fotis Psomopoulos
Dr. Fotis Psomopoulos, Principal Researcher at INAB/CERTH and Deputy Head of the Greek ELIXIR Node, played an active role in both general event support and coordination/participation in eight specialized sessions, covering topics such as:
- Quality and sustainability of research software
- “Digital twins” infrastructure
- The DOME standard and its application to machine learning solutions in cancer
- FAIR principles in data, software, and training
- Strategic planning for ELIXIR training through 2028
- Building an ecosystem for FAIR Artificial Intelligence
- Use of ontologies in cellular and molecular research
- Software Management Plans
Three Satellite Events at CERTH Facilities
As part of the broader meeting, three parallel satellite events took place at CERTH facilities:
1. ELIXIR Train-the-Trainer Workshop (May 29–30): Trainers from Greece, Germany, and the UK taught participants best practices for teaching in the life sciences.
2. ELIXIR Odyssey F2F Workshop (May 30 – June 1): A collaboration between Greece and Norway focused on developing a molecular biodiversity data search platform, with 12 participants from CERTH, Democritus University of Thrace, HCMR, and the Norwegian University of Life Sciences.
3. ELIXIR STEERS F2F Meeting (June 6): Gathering of 15 representatives from Greece, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Belgium, France, and Italy. This activity is closely linked to the EVERSE project of EOSC, coordinated by INAB/CERTH.
Participants also had the opportunity to explore Thessaloniki and the surrounding region, including guided tours, visits to archaeological sites and museums, and a trip to the Macedonian Tombs at Aiges.
The next ELIXIR annual meeting will be held in Lyon, France, in June 2026.
For additional information, please contact Ms. Fotini Kopani, INAB/CERTH Administration, +30 2310 498272, kopani@certh.gr
