In this interview, Harald Schwalbe, Director of Instruct-ERIC, reflects on the organisation’s role as the ERIC Forum’s Mandated Organisation in EOSC-A. He explains how Instruct-ERIC, with its strong tradition in data management and FAIR practices, is helping to connect the structural biology community with the broader EOSC ecosystem.
Schwalbe highlights the importance of collaboration across ERICs, the value of engaging researchers in Open Science initiatives, and the opportunities that EOSC offers to accelerate scientific discovery. The interview was conducted by Isabel Caetano of EOSC-A.
What is the role of your organisation in EOSC-A and what motivated you to become a Member?
Instruct-ERIC is a European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC) providing access to cutting-edge structural biology resources across Europe. In our role as a Mandated Organisation for EOSC-A, we act as a bridge between the ERIC community and the EOSC Association. We communicate developments via the ERIC Forum, which brings together 30 ERICs, covering diverse areas of scientific research, including energy, environment, health and food, physical sciences and engineering, and social and cultural innovation. A full list of the ERICs, along with their descriptions, can be found here.
Instruct-ERIC and the structural biology community have a long history of interest in data management and ensuring data FAIRness, with structural biologists depositing data in open access repositories for over 50 years. We are engaged in EOSC-focussed initiatives, from HE-funded projects to our role as a partner in the candidate Life Science Research Node. Membership in EOSC-A gives us insight into relevant activities, provides opportunities to engage with stakeholders, and allows us to help to shape the development of EOSC throughout its crucial stages.
To what extent are your strategies aligned with EOSC, and how are European and international developments translated into initiatives at Instruct-ERIC?
The strategies of Instruct-ERIC and the wider structural biology community are extremely well aligned with the goals of EOSC. Structural biologists have been depositing their data in open access repositories since the early 1970s, with this collection of data proving pivotal to recent Nobel Prize-winning advancements related to AI-predicted structures of biomolecules. These advances are redefining what it means to be a structural biologist, and it is vital for us to continue to support Open Science and enable the next leap forward.
The Instruct-ERIC community is composed of data providers who wish to interact with Open Science initiatives. We have a range of initiatives in place to ensure the adoption of Open Science practises, ranging from mandating a commitment to deposit and share data via appropriate repositories to access Instruct-ERIC facilities, to working with our community on broader initiatives to facilitate this, including a federated data storage model spanning our pan-European community.
Like all ERICs, Instruct-ERIC has well-established governance bodies. Developments relating to EOSC are principally discussed within our Data Management and Computational Committee (DMCC), where representatives from our Centres come together to receive updates and discuss appropriate responses. The DMCC feeds into our main operational body, the Instruct-ERIC Executive Committee.
As a Mandated Organisation representing the ERIC Forum, we seek to distil and communicate key EOSC-related developments and updates, acting as a bridge between EOSC-A and the ERIC Forum. This communication includes summaries and background information relative to papers that are presented at the General Assemblies of the EOSC Association, enabling the community to vote in an informed way.
Which engagement activities have you developed to increase representation and impact?
To increase the representation and impact of the Instruct-ERIC community within the EOSC ecosystem, we make sure that our community stays up to date with the often-fast-moving developments related to EOSC via appropriate boards and committees. As a founding member of the candidate Life Science Research Node (alongside colleagues at ELIXIR, EMBL, and EuroBioImaging-ERIC) within the first wave of candidate EOSC Nodes of the EOSC Federation, we consult our distributed infrastructure of service and data providers to keep them updated about plans for the Node and to provide them with opportunities to engage with the Node as it progresses.
Our Centres are also engaged within the framework of Horizon Europe projects, including INFRAEOSC projects (e.g. EOSC Beyond, EOSCUnited etc) as well as other thematically linked projects, such as eRImote, which sought to provide enhanced guidelines for remote provision of RI services. A deliverable produced through the eRImote project, which explored the links between EOSC and remote access provision, can be read here.
What strategic initiatives has Instruct-ERIC adopted to advance Open Science and contribute to the development of EOSC?
In addition to the well-established requirements for Open Science that exist within the structural biology community represented in Instruct-ERIC, there are numerous additional strategies that we utilise to promote FAIR practises and EOSC itself.
For example, Instruct-ERIC and other ERICs have been involved in EOSC-related Horizon Europe projects. Closed projects in which we were involved include Corbel, Westlife, EOSC Life and EOSC Future. We are currently involved in EOSC Beyond and EOSC-United, which starts in September 2025.
Aside from EOSC-themed projects, we also lead and contribute to other projects with outputs feeding into EOSC. For example, in the Fragment-Screen project coordinated by Instruct-ERIC, we developed software (FandanGO) to enable an automated capture of data and metadata directly at the facility, which is then linked to the research record of the visit in our access management platform ARIA. The continued exploitation and valorisation of relevant outputs of Horizon Europe projects, including FandanGO, is another way in which Instruct-ERIC promotes Open Science and aligns (meta)data output from facilities and users.
Whilst Instruct-ERIC continues to mandate the deposition of data into relevant repositories as a condition for funded access to its facilities, the key strategy at the institutional level is our involvement in the EOSC Federation. As a part of this initiative, we are working with our candidate Life Science Research Node partners, as well as other candidate EOSC Nodes, to federate community resources and enable an interconnected network of diverse services that fully exploits their capabilities. We look forward to engaging with the wider EOSC community, including national Nodes and eInfrastructures, as the build-up phase continues.
What resources are available to develop EOSC in your organisation?
We utilise a combination of financial and in-kind contributions to develop and sustain EOSC. Horizon Europe projects have provided opportunities for collaboration with stakeholders across a variety of initiatives related to EOSC. In our role as a member of the candidate Life Science Research Node, we contribute in-kind to support the build-up phase of the EOSC Federation. The same is true for other ERICs who contribute to the development of EOSC.
What are the key strengths of Instruct-ERIC?
One of Instruct-ERIC’s main strengths is the close ties we enjoy with our distributed infrastructure of scientists, who are experts in Open Science practices and who increasingly exploit the AI-driven tools developed through these practices. These connections allow Instruct-ERIC to promote Open Science among data producers, demonstrate its benefits, and help the community fully engage with EOSC as it evolves. As a thematic data provider in structural biology, Instruct-ERIC plays a fundamental role in generating, managing, and ensuring the openness of scientific data.
As the EOSC Federation moves through the build-up phase, there has been a noticeable shift in its development rate. This is likely to continue as more Nodes get onboarded and pre-existing Nodes will seek to expand their services and integrate them with other Nodes. Whilst we see this as a key area of EOSC development, it is important to stress the value and importance of the day-to-day practices that contribute to EOSC at the level of individual researchers, including the promotion of FAIR practises, and signposting of relevant resources, especially as they are made available through EOSC.
What are the main challenges and areas for improvement?
Instruct-ERIC faces challenges in communicating EOSC developments due to the fast-moving nature of updates and the scale, diversity, and geographic distribution of our Centres, which includes multiple facilities, services, and experts across member countries. Receiving earlier notice of key developments would help ensure that stakeholders, including other ERICs in the ERIC-Forum, are informed and engaged, and would assist us in our role of a Mandated Organisation.
Another key area for improvement is sustainable funding. While in-kind contributions are valuable, financial support is essential to fully integrate and exploit existing resources, enabling effective collaboration with the wider EOSC community.
Can you give some examples that demonstrate the benefits of EOSC?
Within the EOSC Life project, Instruct-ERIC contributed towards a number of valuable examples, a summary of which can be found here. One key example that will be important for the EOSC Federation is the authentication and authorisation service Life Science Login. At Instruct-ERIC, Life Science Login can be used to log into our access management platform ARIA.
Within Instruct-ERIC and the structural biology community, we see EOSC as vital for continuing to improve the availability of structural biology data, which will support the training of AI models for biomolecular structural predictions, building on the successes of AlphaFold and many other tools developed using structural biology data.
What are your views and expectations regarding the development of EOSC?
We understand that the financing and governance of EOSC and of the EOSC Federation are under continued discussion. From our perspective, it will be important to understand the financial resources available to supplement the in-kind contributions we are already making and clarify how we as ERICs will contribute to EOSC through financial contributions.
The EOSC Federation will continue to grow as new Nodes are created. We look forward to additional thematic Nodes and an increased ERIC representation, including the potential for additional ERICs joining already existing Nodes, such as for example the candidate Life Science Research Node. This expansion will create further opportunities for collaboration within the EOSC Federation.
Relative to the EOSC EU Node, greater engagement of researchers across diverse communities could drive the adaptation of centralised resources, depending on the offerings of other Nodes. It is important to ensure that the EOSC Federation provides services enabling researchers to carry out activities they would otherwise be unable to do.
About Harald Schwalbe
Harald Schwalbe has held the position of Instruct-ERIC director since 2022, He leads an experimental research group at the Goethe University Frankfurt that uses nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy to study biomolecular structures.
About Instruct-ERIC
Instruct-ERIC is a pan-European distributed research infrastructure providing funded access to high-end structural biology services and techniques.
