The umbrella messages and the audience-specific framing follow below, then the headline summary of who hears what. The full audience detail – why each matters, what we want from them and what we say – sits on Stakeholder mapping. See Boilerplate for the canonical descriptive paragraphs.
Mission
Supporting UK life science community to build, connect, and sustain world-class digital research infrastructure – promoting standards, shaping policy and amplifying UK voices.
Approved 2025. This is the umbrella message every audience receives in some form. Replaces the 2019 statement following the 2024 SIAB review, aligned with the UK 2021 Life Sciences Vision.
Tagline
Full form:
Empowering people. Supporting services. Advancing AI-readiness. Sustaining digital research infrastructure.
Short form – for tight spaces (social bio, footer strip, business cards, sign-offs):
People. Services. AI-readiness. Sustainable infrastructures.
Both approved 2025.
Dual identity
For funders (ESFRI, EU, UKRI) ELIXIR-UK presents as a Research Infrastructure. For our members and partners we operate as a distributed network of member organisations. Both framings are true; lead with whichever is most useful to the audience.
The mission and tagline above are deliberately written to hold both together while keeping the network dimension visible. For the sector-wide context behind this choice, see Brand.
What membership means
Membership is institutional, not individual. If your organisation has signed our collaboration agreement, you are an ELIXIR-UK member – many people don’t realise they’re in. All our meetings, training and resources are open to everyone, regardless of membership. The only thing membership unlocks is access to ELIXIR-UK funding.
This shapes how the audience rows below read: most of what looks like “recruitment” copy is actually “you can already take part – come and find out.”
Community, beneficiaries and other audiences
Before the list itself, a distinction the rest of the strategy reads against.
- Our community is the researchers, developers, maintainers, data stewards, trainers and technical professionals who build, run, curate and teach the tools, processes and best practices behind UK life-science data infrastructure. ELIXIR-UK exists for them and serves them directly. Most of the “members” rows below sit here.
- Beneficiaries are UK life-science researchers who use the resources our community creates without contributing to creating them, alongside students and the wider public who rely on the outputs. They aren’t our community, but they are the reason our community’s work matters. The “users of ELIXIR-UK resources” row below sits here.
- Other audiences – funders, ELIXIR Hub, other Nodes, partner organisations, potential members, media and the public – are people we engage with for specific reasons related to enabling, supporting or extending the community’s work.
Within ELIXIR, ELIXIR-UK represents the UK community at European level: we bring UK priorities, expertise and needs into European discussions, and bring European context, standards and opportunities back to UK members. The two-way flow shapes how we communicate with most of these audiences.
At a glance
The one-line key message each audience receives. Full detail on each – why they matter, what we want from them, channels – sits on Stakeholder mapping.
| Audience | Key message | Priority |
|---|---|---|
| Funders | “ELIXIR-UK activities are a cost-efficient way of furthering your mission.” | High |
| ELIXIR-UK members (active) | “The effort you put into working with ELIXIR-UK is worth it.” | High |
| ELIXIR-UK members (inactive) | “You’re probably already an ELIXIR-UK member – check the site for your institution. Either way, our meetings and resources are open to everyone.” | High |
| Potential new ELIXIR-UK members | “Everything we do is open to everyone – meetings, training, resources. Membership only unlocks access to our funding.” | High |
| Users of ELIXIR-UK resources | “ELIXIR-UK exists, and it helps you get your work done more effectively and efficiently.” | High |
| ELIXIR Hub and other nodes | “ELIXIR-UK makes a major contribution to the success of ELIXIR.” | Medium |
| Other data organisations | “ELIXIR-UK can work in partnership to further your mission.” | High |
| Other potential member organisations | “Your staff can already join our meetings and use our resources. Membership unlocks funding access for your researchers.” | Low |
| Media & the public | “Publicly-funded UK life-science research depends on shared data infrastructure – ELIXIR-UK helps build it.” | Secondary |
Sub-pages
- Stakeholder mapping – the influence × interest matrix that prioritises comms effort, plus the full per-audience detail.
- Crisis communications – how we respond when something goes wrong. Audience-driven, so it sits here.