Identifying funding and collaboration
opportunities to support the
Global Names e-Infrastructure
Dimitris Koureas & Vince Smith
Natural History Museum London
Jönköping, Sweden
October 27-31, 2014
Funding Opportunities
The ephemeral lifecycle of a project
Development phase
Funding
application No further funding
Project ends
Maintenance
?
Project starts
or gap in funding
for development
Funding Opportunities
“…telephones do not crash; power supplies do not
fluctuate; and clocks do not halt (in general). Similarly,
a computational tool (…) must be reliable across
time, it must be maintained.”1
1
Ribes D., Finholt T.A. 2007 Proceedings of the third International Conference on e-Social Science
Funding Opportunities
Transition from
Project
Discovery
Individualistic
Ephemeral
Optional
Risk taking
Infrastructure
Implementation
Communal / agreed
Persistent
Essential
Robust & reliable
Adapted from Patterson D. 2013, Tempe, Arizona
Funding Opportunities
Shift in the way we approach
e-infrastructures and information resources
Stable/rigid system
Dynamic/open process
Outsource to and involve the
end user community
We need to set up the environment that will enable the community contribution
“An infrastructure must be taken as a process instead of a system.”
Koerten, H. & van den Besselaar P. 2013. Sustainable Taxonomic Infrastructures: System or Process?
The current situation
Why Global names services are yet not an established and widely used service?
1
Over-ambitious and non-stepwise approach
2
Minimum engagement of stakeholders
3
Failed to convince of the value outside the taxonomic domain
Need for a cross-domain approach
http://globalnames.org/background:
“The Global Names Architecture was developed to help nomenclaturalists,
taxonomists and biodiversity informaticians do their jobs better and faster…”
Name services will not only benefit taxonomists,
will primarily benefit non-taxonomic disciplines
We need to frame our efforts in the context of existing urgent societal challenges
& reveal the universal scientific value of effective name services
This approach is critical for securing long-term support from external partners
Create new knowledge links at large scale
Biogeographical data
Ecological traits
Invasive species
Biodiversity
New drugs
Provisioning service data
Regulating service data
Cultural service data
Ecosystem services
Medicinal properties
Technological uses
Vernacular name base
Ethnobiology
Improved productivity
Omics research
Genomics
Proteomics
Metabolomics
Clinical research
Parasites & vectors
Epidemiological data
Animal experimental data
Gomphonema geminatum (Lyngbye) C.Agardh 1824
Gomphonema vulgare Brébisson 1838
G. vulgare Breb.
synonyms
Heterotypic
Heterotypic synonyms
Echinella geminata Lyngbye 1819
Echinella geminata Lyngbye
Homotypic synonyms
Didymosphenia geminata (Lyngbye) Schmidt 1899
Didimosphenia geminata
Rock snot
didymo
AAAAAGCTCGTAGTTGGATTTGTGATGGAATTTGAATACTTTTAAAGTGTTCTA
GAAACTGTCATCCGTGGGTGGAATTTGTTTGGCATTAGGTTGTCAGRCAGAGGA
TGCCTATMCTTTACTGTGAAAAAATCAGTGCGTTCAAAGCAGACTTACGTCGAT
GAATGTATTAGCATGGAA
e423b2b9-35b0-4819-8ce9-88e770d368e7
Scientific
names
Vernaculars
Surrogates
IDs
Gomphonema geminatum (Lyngbye) C.Agardh 1824
Gomphonema vulgare Brébisson 1838
G. vulgare Breb.
synonyms
Heterotypic
Heterotypic synonyms
Echinella geminata Lyngbye 1819
Echinella geminata Lyngbye
Homotypic synonyms
Didymosphenia geminata (Lyngbye) Schmidt 1899
Didimosphenia geminata
Rock snot
didymo
AAAAAGCTCGTAGTTGGATTTGTGATGGAATTTGAATACTTTTAAAGTGTTCTA
GAAACTGTCATCCGTGGGTGGAATTTGTTTGGCATTAGGTTGTCAGRCAGAGGA
TGCCTATMCTTTACTGTGAAAAAATCAGTGCGTTCAAAGCAGACTTACGTCGAT
GAATGTATTAGCATGGAA
e423b2b9-35b0-4819-8ce9-88e770d368e7
Scientific
names
Vernaculars
Surrogates
IDs
Opportunities for efficient collaboration
Research Data Alliance
One of 33 Interest groups of RDA
Biodiversity Data Integration IG
Status: Recognised & Endorsed
Chairs: Yde de Jong, Nicola Nicolson, Vince Smith, Paul Kirk, Dimitris Koureas
Currently 53 members: 80% increase in number of members since last RDA plenary (P4)
Core group created to support the creation of a Working Group on Global Name services
Identified the opportunity to work closely together with TDWG – Joint Working Group?
Case statement to be submitted by Feb 2015
Opportunities for efficient collaboration
European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI)
In particular the environmental and health and food clusters
In fact we need to find communities as stakeholders/beneficiaries across domains
Biodiversity
Omics research
Ecosystem services
Clinical research
Ethnobiology
Funding Opportunities
A standing programme to enable collaboration and secure long-term funding
1
How would tackle urgent societal challenges?
2
How does it fit in the Big Data technical challenges?
3
Who are the direct and subsequent beneficiaries?
4
Who are the stakeholders and their investment in supporting this?
Funding Opportunities
An approach to develop a strong funding profile
1
A Minimum Viable Product (MVP) approach – adopt a
stepwise strategy
2
Develop a stepwise work programme to achieve the longterm vision
3
Demonstrate impact delivered from every step through
lacing together with compelling case studies
Funding Opportunities
Three routes to choose from:
Small or medium sized grants to develop the building blocks of the service
1
US and EU Foundations and Research Council grants
50-100k
Embed as element in different bigger projects
200-300k
2
3
Large grants from regional funding programmes
Horizon 2020
2-8m
Funding Opportunities
Supporting the development of a MVP through European e-infrastructure projects
H2020 pillar
Excellent Science
H2020 topic
Call: H2020-EINFRA-2015-1 | Topic: EINFRA-9-2015 e-Infrastructures
for Virtual Research Environments (VRE)
Due date
2015-01-14 17:00:00 (Brussels local time)
LinkD
Project acronym
Project title
Linking data, services and communities for predictive modelling
of the biosphere
Indicative requested EC contribution
c. € 8 million
Duration of project
36 months
Funding Opportunities
Networking platforms
COST Actions [EU]
e.g. BioUnify (submitted but unsuccessful)
Research Coordination Networks (RCN) [US]
National funding sources
Research councils & foundations
Development phase
Funding
application
Project ends
Maintenance
Hybrid model
Anchoring to core funds
+
Crowdsourcing
beneficiaries
Projectto
starts
Thank you
@dimitriskoureas
d.koureas@nhm.ac.uk