New multimillion pound collaboration to overcome challenges of data reuse

The project is the first major programme by BioFAIR UK to establish a cohesive, UK-wide digital research infrastructure that bridges current gaps between researchers, digital research technical professionals, and research organisations.

Its aim is to deliver the tools, workflows and practical solutions needed for scientists to reuse the wealth of biological data being generated, allowing scientists to interrogate existing data to answer new questions, improve efficiency, save resources, and ultimately accelerate the pace of discovery.

Tony Burdett, BioFAIR Director, said: "The Methods Commons tackles one of the longest-standing problems in computational bioscience — reproducibility and reuse of methods that produce the results to be included in publications as research outputs. We had a strong field of applicants, and the appointed consortium combines real delivery track record with deep roots in the UK and international workflow communities. Establishing the Methods Commons is a major milestone for BioFAIR as it's the first spoke in our federated BioCommons and the point at which the services needed by our users really start to take shape."

As advances in artificial intelligence transform how we generate knowledge, design experiments, and analyse results, Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable (FAIR) research data management will be imperative to maximise the potential of the vast datasets that are being generated.

The Methods Commons will deliver eight core capabilities for UK life sciences researchers. It will allow researchers to seamlessly run standard workflows (including Galaxy and Nextflow) as well as custom setups on high-performance computers. It will also feature a national, community-approved library of workflows, alongside an 'observatory' to guarantee quality and reliability. Finally, the Commons will provide shared interactive notebooks and standardised connections to easily import data and share results.

Carole Goble, Professor of Computer Science at the University of Manchester and Methods Commons Project Lead said: "We're proud to be establishing the Methods Commons as part of BioFAIR. Computational workflows are how modern bioscience gets done, and giving UK researchers a trusted, national-scale set of services to find, run and share them — without having to reinvent the plumbing each time — is overdue. We're looking forward to working with the BioFAIR Hub, the Fellows and Pathfinder Projects to make sure what we build is shaped by real user needs from day one."

Professor Irene Papatheodorou, Head of Data Science at Earlham Institute and delivery partner for the programme said: "The launch of the BioFAIR Methods Commons marks a major milestone in defragmenting the UK life sciences computational landscape, by embedding FAIR practices throughout the workflow lifecycle. At the Earlham Institute, we are thrilled to see our expertise in data science and workflow systems—like our long-running Galaxy resources—help power a national infrastructure that bridges the gap between no-code biologists and expert developers.”

BioFAIR was launched in 2024 with a £34m investment from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) through BBSRC and the MRC, to transform how UK scientists facilitate research data management.

Fundamental to the BioFAIR concept are its BioCommons, covering data, methods, and people, with each one driving a key component of the project, alongside the Knowledge Hub and BioFAIR Portal in a hub-and-spokes federated infrastructure coordinated from the BioFAIR Hub at the Earlham Institute.