13 October 2026
Europe's human data community in Dublin
The ELIXIR Federated Human Data (FHD) Community held its 2026 meeting at Trinity Business School, Trinity College Dublin (TCD), on 8–9 October, with colleagues from across Europe attending in person and online. The Community works to build a federated ecosystem of interoperable services so that sensitive human data can be shared for research across borders while remaining under national governance.
Over two days, participants shared updates on projects across Europe and internationally, with open discussions on the Federated European Genome-phenome Archive (Federated EGA), compliance in light of the planned Genome European Digital Infrastructure Consortium (Genome EDIC), and funding opportunities.
Talks and international perspectives
Day 1: Europe's human data landscape
- Aedín Culhane, ELIXIR Ireland Head of Node, gave the opening plenary for the host Node.
- Jordi Rambla (ELIXIR Spain) presented Federated EGA updates, and Riku Riski and Dylan Spalding (ELIXIR Finland) updates on the European Health Data Space (EHDS).
- Serena Scollen (ELIXIR Hub) and the Community co-leads led an open discussion on ELIXIR in the light of the Genome EDIC.
Day 2: Global partners and what comes next
- Peter Goodhand (GA4GH) and Irene Hung (Australian BioCommons) shared international perspectives, followed by a discussion on what the Community can learn from them and where collaboration could bring tangible outcomes.
- Tim Beck (HDR UK, ELIXIR UK) presented From federated analysis to multimodal data: Five Safes TES and linking cancer genomics and imaging in OMOP.
- Sessions from the ELIXIR Hub covered the Human Data and Translational Research projects, ELIXIR Programme 2029–2033 and EC funding opportunities, before an interactive session to shape the Community's roadmap.
Hosted at Trinity College Dublin, supported by ELIXIR Ireland
Local host: Máire Ní Leathlobhair, TCD
Máire Ní Leathlobhair, who recently joined the ELIXIR Ireland Management Board as TCD representative, was local host and led the meeting on the ground: securing the venue, managing the bookings and welcoming the Community to Dublin.
Máire worked on the organisation with ELIXIR Ireland colleagues at the University of Limerick (UL), in conjunction with the ELIXIR Hub. Katie Cremin and Tricia English, from the lab of ELIXIR Ireland Head of Node Aedín Culhane, provided coordination support to TCD.
Hosting in Dublin also made it easy for Irish researchers and infrastructure teams to take part in person, strengthening the national voice in a Community that shapes how human genomic and health data are shared across Europe.
Special thanks
To the FHD Community co-leads, the ELIXIR Hub, and everyone at TCD and UL whose work made the meeting a success.
A big week for human data in Dublin
The week also saw the publication of the white paper Federated EGA in the European and Global Human Data Ecosystem, which sets out a vision for the Federated EGA and its role in the fast-developing European and global ecosystem for human genomic and health data.
The FHD meeting was timed alongside the final General Assembly of the European Genomic Data Infrastructure (GDI) project, which also met in Dublin that week. Read more in our separate story: Final GDI General Assembly held in Dublin.
ELIXIR Ireland is proud to have helped bring the Federated Human Data Community to Dublin, and looks forward to building on the week's conversations with partners across Ireland and Europe.
