Working Groups

Imaging facility managers are expected by their universities, research organizations, and funders to demonstrate their value with comprehensive and measurable indicators. It is essential to demonstrate the impact on science but the overall impact on society needs to be assessed and demonstrated as well. This international working group (currently comprising members from Australia, Canada, France, Korea, Portugal, Mexico, Finland the US and EMBL) published the “International Recommendation for Measuring Imaging Core Facility Impact”, a comprehensive framework of highly relevant Key Performance Indicators (KPI) and Socio-Economic Indicators (SEI). The framework includes an indication of how easy or difficult it might be to gather different types of information to measure the related metrics from an imaging core facility perspective. This common set of guidelines for the community will act as a resource and a tool to demonstrate value and importance of imaging facilities for high quality reproducible research to colleagues, departments, faculties, institutions and funding bodies. One of our next objectives is to determine how Global BioImaging can align with and raise awareness about the 17 international Sustainable Development Goals (https://sdgs.un.org/goals). The work is already under way and will benefit from the expertise of different international members that have in depth experience in developing comprehensive frameworks and solutions for the evaluation of SDGs.

To JOIN the regular meetings on SOCIETAL IMPACT OF IMAGING INFRASTRUCTURES, please contact the Chair: Laurence Lejeune ([email protected])

The Image Data Management working group focuses on the topics of data management, analysis, and the wider sharing ecosystem. This includes developing recommendations for data formats, the re-use of analysis technologies, and international collaboration between image data repositories. The working group contributes to the Global BioImaging international recommendation documents and works with other relevant international activities, developer groups, and national and regional repositories and databases to contribute to the development of image data management, analysis, and sharing solutions. Members of this working group are encouraged to submit requirements for standard formats, experiences in sharing data analysis technologies, and ideal forms of international collaboration for image data repositories.

To JOIN the regular meetings on DATA MANAGEMENT, please contact the Co-Chair: Shuichi Onami ([email protected])

The Quality Systems for Core Facilities working group focuses on the topic of Quality Management for open access imaging core facilities. This includes discussions about Quality Assurance, Quality Systems and Reproducibility. One key objective is to share experiences of developing, implementing and maintaining a Quality Management System across different imaging core facilities (e.g. Microscopy and Biomedical Imaging) with a global perspective. Sharing of experiences encourages core facilities to operate with best practice procedures and builds awareness of international standards. Members of this working group are involved in providing suggestions on building awareness of the benefits of quality management and ways we can support core facilities wanting to pursue a system, training of staff to understand the standard, framework and requirements. The working group will continue to update the Global BioIMaging international recommendations document, connecting with other Quality Assurance focused working groups such as Quarep-LiMi and developing tools to support the implementation and auditing training requirements.

To JOIN the regular meetings on QUALITY SYSTEMS, please contact the Chair: Julie Rothacker ([email protected])

Training Core Facility Imaging Scientists working group focuses on the topic of training of imaging scientists who work in imaging core facilities.

One of the key objectives of this working group is to share existing and upcoming training initiatives including training resources and platforms between representatives of national and international infrastructures and networks. Sharing of training resources and platforms can avoid duplication of effort and ensure synergies.

In addition, this working group focuses on supporting the Global BioImaging Virtual Training Platform (see below). Members of this working group have been involved in providing suggestions on the functionality of the platform and developing the submission procedure to add new modules on the platform. In addition, this working group will focus on developing the best practice for organizing and hosting online training events such as courses, workshops, and webinars and publish this recommendation as a Global BioImaging document.

If you are interested to join the Working Group on Training Core Facility Imaging Scientists, please contact the chair of this Working Group, Gleb Grebnev using the following email address: gleb.grebnev at embl.de

Global Bioimaging is expanding partnerships by involving more biomedical in vivo imaging infrastructures. Currently, the biomedical imaging community is under-represented in the network. The few exceptions are the National Imaging Facility NIF in Australia and Euro-BioImaging ERIC in Europe, contributing with centres operating in the in vivo field. This group is dedicated to accessing and offering recommendations on relevant topics (such as data and quality management, standardization of imaging protocols, etc...) to the biomedical imaging field in a multi-dimensional approach from molecule to pre-clinical.

To JOIN the regular meetings on BIOMEDICAL IMAGING, please contact the Co-Chair: Linda Chaabane ([email protected])

Comprised of individuals with a sincere interest and a demonstrated history of impactful initiatives, our Working Group is pleased to announce the publication of a whitepaper challenging the conventional division between academic and support imaging scientist roles. (linked below)

This paper strives to enhance the recognition of Imaging Scientists, providing guidance for performance assessments, fostering career development, and outlining a blueprint for institutions to establish supportive structures. With a global focus, the paper offers practical recommendations for diverse career stages and organizational contexts, accompanied by success stories and initiatives that propel career progression and recognition.As an inaugural step in international recommendations, the whitepaper, supported by resources like job description templates and role delineations, aims to inspire future refinements and expansions.

To contribute to ongoing improvement, everyone is invited to share their TOP5 challenges within their respective institutions, countries, or regions, as GBI endeavors to compile this valuable feedback into a comprehensive landscape map reflecting the crucial issues affecting the BioImaging community.

To JOIN the regular meetings on CAREER PATH for IMAGING CORE FACILITIES STAFF, please contact the Co-Chair: Kerry Thompson ([email protected])