BeYond-COVID: BY-COVID project underway

15 October 2021

DANS will work together with 53 partners from 20 European countries on findability and accessibility of data across scientific, medical, public health and policy domains, related to SARS-CoV-2 and other infectious diseases, thus leading to effective pandemic response.

Starting in October 2021, BY-COVID builds and expands upon the COVID-19 Data Platform and connected national data hubs, going beyond biological data and towards incorporating data from a broader range of disciplines, including public health and social sciences.

Following a rapid, strong response in the European and international context, now it is the time for BY-COVID to digest this past experience and lessons learnt, while also monitoring current developments linked to the COVID-19 pandemic. It aims to address data challenges and technical gaps in a systematized way, thus contributing to pandemic preparedness and a fastest response to future threats.

The project runs through 4 key pillars: 1. Mobilizing raw sequencing data, ensuring they can be submitted to core data hubs, 2. Connecting data and supporting integration to the COVID-19 Data Portal, 3. Standardizing data and encouraging FAIR standards and interoperability, and 4. Exposing and analyzing data. Training and capacity building will run across the project supporting all actions.

The project started on October 1st 2021 and its online kick-off meeting took place on October 13th, 2021. It will run for 3 years and it is part of the European Commission’s HERA Incubator plan ‘Anticipating together the threat of COVID-19 variants’. BY-COVID will also contribute to the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) and the European Health Data Space (EHDS).