Towards Global Biodata Partnerships

The European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI) commissioned Research Consulting to explore how researchers in low-resource settings engage with global biodata infrastructure. Despite generating over 5.3 billion requests from 18.5 million unique IPs, we found that these regions contributed only 11% of data deposits to the European Nucleotide Archive, highlighting a stark usage to contribution gap.

To identify this gap, and other key insights from our research, we conducted a desk review of EMBL-EBI’s resource usage and uptake, interviews with 18 researchers across Africa, Asia, and Latin America, and an online survey.

The study uncovered systemic barriers beyond just access to biodata. These included limited high-performance computing infrastructure, unreliable internet, and insufficient data storage, and concerns around equitable data sharing.

The study recommends that EMBL-EBI deepen engagement with local networks, co-develop context-sensitive tools, and advocate for equitable funding and policy frameworks.