BioFAIR is inviting expressions of interest to join our independent review panel for BioFAIR delivery partners. This panel will play a critical role in helping select the teams that will lead and deliver core components of BioFAIR’s foundational national services.
As a panel member, you will contribute your expertise to ensure a fair, transparent, and robust review process, helping BioFAIR appoint the leadership teams capable of delivering high-impact, community-driven capabilities that serve researchers across the UK. We are seeking individuals with relevant technical, domain, infrastructure, or community expertise who are committed to open, FAIR research practices.
The first engagement for the review panel will be to assess applications to establish the BioFAIR Methods Commons. The Methods Commons is a core component of BioFAIR’s UK-wide digital research infrastructure. It will provide the life sciences community with shared access to trusted computational workflows, tools, and services, supporting reproducible, FAIR, data-driven research. By improving how methods are discovered, executed, shared, and reused at scale, the Methods Commons aims to address long-standing challenges around reproducibility, reuse, and sustainability of computational research across disciplines. Applications for the Methods Commons close on 23rd February with reviewer assignments to follow shortly afterwards.BioFAIR is arranged into a “Hub and Spokes” model. Delivery partners will form teams (from single organisations or consortia) that are the BioFAIR spokes, and the spokes are supported by the BioFAIR hub team based at the Earlham Institute in Norwich. The Methods Commons will represent the first BioFAIR spoke, and will be followed by spoke selection processes for the Data Commons, Knowledge Hub and Portal. We welcome reviewers with expertise in any of these areas. For more information on the BioFAIR structure, please see https://biofair.uk/about-us/.
Time commitment
Panel membership is expected to involve a finite, time-limited commitment, focused around specific review periods. For the Methods Commons, this is expected to amount to approximately 2–4 days in total, which will include preparation and participation in panel discussions. Further opportunities are expected in 2026 to select two to three additional spokes and additional reviewer opportunities will arise in 2027 and 2028.
Honorarium and expenses
Panel members will receive an honorarium in recognition of their time and expertise. Reasonable travel and subsistence expenses incurred as part of panel activities will also be reimbursed in line with BioFAIR’s expenses policy.
Application
If you would like to be considered for the independent recruitment panel, please complete this short expression of interest form:
Timeline
- Application deadline: Friday 27th February 2026, 23:59 GMT
- Panel outcomes communicated: on or around Monday 9th March 2026
If you have any questions or know colleagues who may be interested, we encourage you to share this opportunity within your networks.
Person Specification
We are seeking panel members with a broad range of experience who can contribute to a fair and informed assessment of applicants for BioFAIR Spoke selection.
We encourage you to apply if you have expertise in any of the following areas:
- life sciences research
- data stewardship
- development and/or operations of digital research infrastructure or research computing services, especially involving federated approaches
- delivery of tools and services to support research data management
- delivery of complementary projects in other disciplines or internationally
- researcher and research technical professional development
We will be seeking to ensure a diverse panel, including:
- coverage across the UK
- a range of disciplinary perspectives
- members from both within and beyond academia
- members from complementary international initiatives
We particularly encourage applications from research technical professionals, early career researchers, and individuals from groups that are under-represented in the academic community.
Review panel members will play a key role in delivering BioFAIR’s objectives and ensuring that there is sustainable impact on the delivery of UK life science research.
As a panel member, you will:
- review applications for BioFAIR Spoke selection, identifying the best possible delivery partners
- contribute to panel discussions and collective decision-making
- help ensure a fair, transparent, and robust review process
The application form contains the following sections:
- personal information (name, organisation and contact details)
- skills, knowledge and experience
- diversity information
The skills, knowledge and experience section includes free text sections for:
- Personal statement: Why you wish to join the review panel and what you think you can bring to the role (maximum 200 words)
- Detail on your involvement: Detail your involvement in any relevant advisory, strategic, policy, assessment or similar groups, panels, board or committees (maximum 300 words)
- Experience: Describe how your experience and career path meet the essential and desirable criterial (maximum 300 words)
If you have any queries, would like to arrange an informal discussion or require adjustments to support your application, please email: info@biofair.uk.
Appointments will be made based on an assessment of individual knowledge and experience, by the BioFAIR hub, against the criteria listed below. We will also consider the overall balance of expertise required to assess BioFAIR Spokes, including disciplinary, institutional, and geographic diversity.
The types of evidence that you may provide will depend on your background, but may include:
- participation on committees, boards or panels
- experience as a life science researcher or as a research technical professional/data steward
- experience of developing, delivering and operating services and tools for the life science community
- evidence for the delivery of digital research infrastructures or research computing services
- experience of working internationally, particularly in the context of global challenges
- experience of the development of research outputs into real world value, for example in the form of people, policy, infrastructure, data management, standards
- evidence of involvement in monitoring and evaluation
Essential criteria
These include:
- professional expertise relevant to the remit of the panel
- awareness and knowledge of the infrastructures, facilities, resources and services necessary for the life science research community to carry out ground-breaking research and support its translation into economic and societal impact
- understanding of the interface between academia, industry and other relevant BioFAIR stakeholders
- awareness and understanding of societal, ethical or legal considerations related to the life sciences or research more widely
- commitment to the FAIR principles and to the objectives of BioFAIR
- ability to work collaboratively and productively with other panel members
Desirable criteria
These include:
- knowledge and understanding of the life science research landscape in the UK and/or internationally.
- awareness and knowledge of the infrastructures, facilities, resources and services necessary for the life science research community to carry out ground-breaking research and support its translation into economic and societal impact
- expertise in multidisciplinary or interdisciplinary working across fields of the life sciences and more widely, including the formation of collaborations and partnerships and facilitation of knowledge exchange
- knowledge of equality, diversity and inclusion activities being undertaken in research and innovation across the UK and internationally, and a demonstrated commitment to making progress on equality, diversity and inclusion issues, with experience of improving outcomes
- previous experience of working on a similar review panel is desirable but not essential
We expect you to be able to commit the necessary time and attention to your appointment and to have the full support or the necessary permission of your employer.
We will assess expressions of interest against the criteria set out in the role description.
In addition to reviewing applications against the criteria for appointment, we will consider diversity and institutional and geographic balance as part of the decision-making process.
We recognise that diverse ideas, experiences, backgrounds and perspectives are fundamental to successful research and technical development.
We are committed to ensuring that our committees, panels and boards are inclusive, diverse and representative of the UK Life Science Research community.
We are committed to the principle of providing equal opportunities for all.
All information submitted in your expression of interest to become a member of our review panel including non-sensitive personal information (such as your name, e-mail address etc, together with details of your skills, qualifications and experience relevant to the role you are applying for) and sensitive information (such as your age, gender, disability, ethnic origin, religion, belief or lack of religion/belief and sexual orientation) are collected as part of our equality monitoring procedures and for the purpose of considering your application.
Our full privacy statement can be found here https://biofair.uk/privacy-policy