ELIXIR communities future focus group

The ELIXIR Communities Future Focus Group was established to assess and shape the long-term role of ELIXIR Communities. With 19 Communities, continued interest in establishing new ones, and fixed core funding, there is a clear need to revisit how Communities are governed, supported, and aligned with ELIXIR’s scientific priorities. Since its launch in 2025, the Focus Group has engaged widely across the ELIXIR network through workshops, Heads of Nodes discussions, consultations and Focus Group calls to better understand current practices, challenges, and opportunities. Based on these discussions, the Focus Group has developed a first layered scenario for the future Communities model. This concept distinguishes between a Communities layer, supporting engagement, collaboration, and knowledge exchange, a strategic layer, ensuring strategic alignment as well as a time-limited activity layer, focused on and enabling concrete outcomes aligned with ELIXIR, national, and EU priorities. The aim is to balance continuity and innovation while ensuring Communities remain closely connected to users, Platforms, and strategic priorities. This poster presents the progress made by the Focus Group and introduces the emerging scenario for discussion. It also provides an opportunity to continue gathering input from across the ELIXIR community. We invite participants to share their perspectives on questions such as: What works well today? What should evolve? How can Communities best support users, Platforms, and ELIXIR’s mission going forward? Your feedback will help refine the proposed model and inform recommendations for the future of ELIXIR Communities and the next ELIXIR Scientific Programme.