Workshop: Towards a Coherent Landscape for LSRIs: Standards, Metadata & Shared Solutions 

Date: 13 April 2026
Time: 10:30–17:00
Location: Social Impact Factory, Vredenburg 40, 3511 BD Utrecht
Format: In person only

TDCC-LSH in collaboration with UNLOCK, NL-BioImaging, X-Omics and hDMT Infra is organising on the 13th of April 2026 a focused, discussion-driven workshop to soon bring together Life Sciences & Health Large Scale Research Infrastructures (LSRIs) and key stakeholders to explore how data, metadata, tooling, and policies can be better aligned across domains.

As the Life Sciences & Health landscape continues to expand, a growing number of LSRIs are advancing research within their own specialised areas. While each infrastructure excels in its domain, alignment across data standards, metadata practices, technological approaches, and governance policies remains limited. This workshop marks an important step toward bridging those gaps.

Building Shared Understanding and Practical Alignment 

The workshop is designed as an interactive and collaborative forum. The day will centre on the identification of shared bottlenecks and solutions, through short pitches and focussed discussions. Strategic and technical representatives from LSRIs and relevant stakeholders will exchange concrete examples of what works well, where challenges persist, and where collective action could have the greatest impact.

The goal is not only to reflect on current practice, but to identify realistic and actionable opportunities for harmonisation across infrastructures.
By the end of the workshop, participants aim to establish:

• A foundation for a lightweight, activity-driven LSRIs interoperability community lead by TDCC-LSH
• A shared overview of current bottlenecks and best practices 
• An outline for practical, shared guidelines to support emerging LSRIs 
• Greater visibility of existing LSRI collaborations 

Bringing LSRIs together in this way represents a first step toward a more coherent, connected, and FAIR-aligned national research ecosystem.

Programme

• 10:30 - 11:00: Welcome and coffee
• 11:00 - 11:10: Start, welcome presentation
• 11:10 - 12:00: Short introductions from LSRIs (3 min) 
• 12:00 - 13:00: Lunch 
• 13:00 - 15:30: Discussions in breakouts
  • Working in groups of people focusing on common problems
• 15:30 - 15:45: Presentations of the breakouts’ outcomes 
• 15:45 - 16:00: Wrap-up and next steps
• 16:00 - 17:30: Social drinks