VIBE – The All Ireland Bioinformatics Network

VIBE Logo

The Virtual Institute of Bioinformatics and Evolution

Uniting the bioinformatics community across the island of Ireland.

VIBE is a bottom-up community network representing bioinformatics researchers, data scientists, and computational biologists across Ireland. Since its inception, VIBE has served as the primary forum for networking, collaboration, and the exchange of ideas in the Irish life sciences data domain.

Governance

We operate under a shared set of principles to ensure transparency and community-led decision-making. The VIBE Constitution outlines our purpose, membership structure, and operating procedures.

View the VIBE Constitution on Zenodo

Strategic Context: VIBE & ELIXIR

The All-Island Connection

VIBE operates as an All-Island network, bridging the gap between researchers in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. This unique position allows us to foster deep collaboration between:

  • ELIXIR Ireland: Covering member institutes in the Republic of Ireland.
  • ELIXIR UK: Covering member institutes across the United Kingdom, including Northern Ireland.

Why this matters

VIBE provides the established and cohesive All Ireland community that can work in tandem via national ELIXIR Nodes to leverage European scale opportunities, both within and beyond the ELIXIR Europe framework.

VIBE All-Island Network Map

Annual Events

Upcoming Event

VIBE 2025

Date: December 8, 2025

Location: Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland

The 2025 edition brings together the brightest minds in Irish bioinformatics for a day of presentations, poster sessions, and networking.

View Event & Register
VIBE 2025

VIBE 2024 (Joint VIBE-ICBG Meeting)

Date: December 5–6, 2024

Location: University of Galway

Host: Dr. Pilib Ó Broin (University of Galway)

Keynotes: Karen Miga (UCSC), Davide Cirillo (Barcelona Supercomputing Centre), Elizabeth Bik.

VIBE 2023

Date: May 26, 2023

Location: Riddel Hall, Queen's University Belfast

Host: Dr. Ian Overton (Queen's University Belfast)

Keynotes: Prof. Aedín Culhane (University of Limerick) & Dr. Evangelia Petsalaki (EMBL-EBI).

VIBE 2022

Date: June 24, 2022

Location: University of Limerick

Hosts: Dr. Aedin Culhane & Dr. Virag Sharma

Keynote: Prof. Des Higgins (UCD) - "37 years of Multiple Sequence Alignments"

VIBE 2019

Date: March 22, 2019

Location: UCD Conway Institute, Dublin

Host: Prof. Des Higgins

Keynotes: Prof. Lars Jermiin (UCD) & Dr. Chris Creevey (QUB).

VIBE 2014

Date: May 9, 2014

Location: Dargan Centre, Institute of Technology Carlow

Host: Dr. Andrew Lloyd

Keynote: Dr. Dan Milborne (Teagasc) - "A whistle stop tour of the potato genome sequence".

VIBE 2013

Date: November 15, 2013

Location: NUI Galway (Arts Millennium Building)

Hosts: Dr. Tim Downing & Prof. Cathal Seoighe

Keynote: Prof. John Greally (Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Yeshiva University).

VIBE 2008

Date: September 5, 2008

Keynote: Prof. Martin Embley (University of Newcastle, UK) - "Origin and evolution of eukaryotic genomes and organelles".

VIBE 2005 (Biannual Research Day)

Date: February 17, 2005

Location: Dublin City University (DCU)

Host: Mary O'Connell (School of Biotechnology)

Keynote: Prof. John Conery (University of Oregon).

VIBE 2002 (Inaugural Meeting)

Date: April 25–26, 2002

Location: University College Cork (UCC)

Notable Sessions: Genome Evolution (Ken Wolfe), Phylogenies (James McInerney), Multiple Alignments (Des Higgins).

Subscribe to VIBE Mailing List

Stay up to date with job postings, funding calls, and event announcements by joining the community mailing list hosted by HEAnet. This is the primary communication channel for bioinformaticians in Ireland.

To subscribe via email:

Send an email to LISTSERV@LISTSERV.HEANET.IE with the following body:

SUBSCRIBE BIOINFORMATICS Your Full Name
Visit HEAnet Listserv Page

Principal Investigators & Research Groups