About the Digital Research Infrastructure (DRI) Webinar Series

Starting in February 2026, DCC are launching a series of webinars to showcase the digital research infrastructure projects and communities in the UK and beyond in collaboration with UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). Join DCC to learn about state-of-the-art initiatives that aim to advance research tools and techniques, foster collaboration and data sharing, and accelerate discoveries across a range of academic disciplines and sectors. And if you work on a research infrastructure project and are interested in being a guest speaker, please email DCC at info@dcc.ac.uk!

Description

Join us to learn about BioFAIR, the BioCommons digital research infrastructure for the UK life sciences community, from our guest speakers Tony Burdett and Nishadi De Silva.

BioFAIR is a UKRI funded federated digital research infrastructure and provides end-to-end FAIR research data management & analysis capabilities along with the necessary support and training for UK researchers working in the life sciences.

Speakers

• Tony Burdett, Director, BioFAIR
  Tony Burdett is the Director of BioFAIR and an experienced leader in bioinformatics, specialising in FAIR data management and delivery of research-enabling services for the life sciences. He has made significant contributions to international scientific collaborations around the development of innovative data solutions and has been responsible for the delivery of large-scale data platforms, both at EMBL-EBI and as part of international consortia such as the Human Cell Atlas. As a lead of the ELIXIR Interoperability Platform, Tony has also been instrumental in developing sustainable, interoperable data infrastructures across ELIXIR member states and defining innovative approaches to the practical adoption of FAIR principles.
• Dr Nishadi De Silva, Senior Technical Project Manager, BioFAIR
  As the Senior Technical Project Manager for BioFAIR, Dr Nishadi De Silva coordinates cross-disciplinary projects to advance FAIR practices and build a unified digital research infrastructure for the life sciences in the U.K. She works closely with researchers, software engineers, delivery partners and stakeholders to align workflow and data management strategies to meet the demands. Prior to that, Nishadi lead the delivery of bioinformatics resources and coordinated data management at EMBL-EBI and worked in the Pathogen Informatics team at the Wellcome Sanger Institute. Nishadi holds a PhD in Computer Science from the University of Southampton, U.K.