Fotis Psomopoulos

Dr Fotis E. Psomopoulos is a Principal Investigator C' (Assistant Professor level) at the Institute of Applied Biosciences (INAB) of the Centre for Research and Technology Hellas (CERTH). His research focus lies at the intersection of Bioinformatics, Data Mining and Cloud Computing, with over 90 peer-reviewed publications in international journals and conferences. In addition to his research, he is an active proponent of Open Science, especially within Life Sciences and Bioinformatics in particular. In this context, he was selected to be an EGI Champion on Bioinformatics in 2013, and as an RDA-EU Ambassador on Bioinformatics in 2019. Moreover, he is the Training Coordinator for ELIXIR-GR, a member of the ELIXIR Training Platform Executive Committee, and the co-chair of the ELIXIR Machine Learning Focus group. Finally, since 2020 he is a member of the EOSC Skills and Training working group, as the Greek national representative.

Watch the interview with Fotis E. Psomopoulos

FOCUS

Bioinformatics, in its current form and scope, is integrally linked with both data sharing and re-use, and therefore is heavily dependent on Open Science practices. Open Science practices can break the “virtual isolation” and given the multidisciplinary nature of Bioinformatics, facilitating collaboration through Open Science practices is the key component for producing quality research.

In this context, the Ambassadorship work was focused on presenting the practical gains and perspectives of RDA in the disciplinary national communities working with the national RDA and ELIXIR nodes and particularly on connecting the RDA and ELIXIR, through both the Training programme and platform, as well as through the various ELIXIR tasks and focus groups.

Specifically, the work done falls largely under three main categories; adoption, engagement and training. In terms of adoption, he actively contributed in maintaining an open channel of communication between ELIXIR and RDA, becoming the formal RDA liaison for the ELIXIR Training Platform, as well as co-leading the ELIXIR RDA Activities Focus Group. This work led to a report for ELIXIR, outlining all IG/WG outputs and activities presented at P15 that could be relevant to ELIXIR and Life Sciences in general, as well as a presentation of the ELIXIR efforts in a dedicated virtual session during P15, in order for the RDA community to be more aware of the ELIXIR-related efforts.

In terms of engagement, he actively promoted RDA both at a global and at the national level. Through the RDA Early Career and Engagement IG, a monthly Ask-me-anything webinar is organized, using a different topic as theme each time, ranging from Machine Learning to Reproducible Science. At the national level, the Ambassador coordinated with the ELIXIR Greek node, as well as the RDA greek node, in order to support and facilitate a number of outreach events.

Finally, in terms of training, several training activities and events were directly supported by the RDA Ambassadorship programme. Key examples include the Open Science workshop, co-supported by OpenAIRE and ELIXIR-GR, a CWL and Docker workshop, supported by ELIXIR-GR, and the ELIXIR / CODATA-RDA Research Data Science Advanced Workshop on Bioinformatics.

TRAINING

INSIGHTS

• Key Steps Towards Building Bioinformatics Capacity Worldwide - Blog (October 2019) 
•  Increasing the impact of RDA in the Life Sciences - Updates from the RDA EU Ambassador for Bioinformatics - Presentation at the RDA 15th Plenary - Virtual session of the ELIXIR Bridging Force IG
• Report on the RDA 15th Plenary Meeting  - for the ELIXIR community 

WEBINARS: 

• COVID-19: tools, activities, best practices and contact points in Greece, 10 April 2020 - more details 
• RDA COVID-19 efforts / FAIR data stewardship - ZonMw, 7 May 2020 - more details
• Presentation at the ELIXIR-GREECE all hands meeting, reporting on the RDA COVID-19 WG output - more detials

WORKING WITH THE RDA GROUPS 

supporting engagement, data solutions development and adoption

Early Career and Engagement IG (role co-chair)

• Supporting the organisation of the Ask Me Anything (AMA) series of webinars.

• Co-organising Meeting Early Careers and RDA: https://www.rd-alliance.org/early-careers-and-rda-22-october-2019-rda-14th-plenary-co-located-meeting

Data Discovery Paradigms IG (role co-chair)

• RDA Global Adoption week: 15-19 June 2020 - Presentation of IG outputs - Sessions: Disseminate, Link and Find (18 April 2020)

• Started the draft WG charter for a Data Granularity WG, that will be launched Q4 2020 or Q1 2021, in order to continue the work of the corresponding DDPIG Task force.

FAIR 4 Research Software (FAIR4RS) WG

• Member of the Steering Committee for the WG. Charter submitted and is under review. Close connection to the efforts done under the ELIXIR Tools Platform, and ReSA.

RDA-COVID19-Software

• Moderator of the group. Involved in the various rounds for drafting, as well as in the drafting of the Summary manuscript.