The Alliance4Life Research Data Focus Group brings together experts from member institutions to advance the management, sharing, and use of research data in life sciences. Members collaborate to exchange best practices, develop innovative strategies, and strengthen their collective expertise in promoting open science and data integrity. Together, they benchmark data management standards, design strategic frameworks, and implement joint initiatives to enhance data accessibility, reproducibility, and compliance with evolving policies.

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The group provides peer training and invites external experts to build skills in areas such as data stewardship, FAIR principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable), and secure data storage. Members also identify funding opportunities to address shared challenges, such as implementing data governance policies or improving infrastructure for data sharing. Acting as an advisory body, the Research Data Focus Group offers guidance to work package and task leaders, ensuring that data management practices align with international standards and effectively support high-quality, impactful research.

General Contact:
A4Ldata@ceitec.muni.cz

Focus group members

Focus group chair

Michal Janota

The International Clinical Research Center of St. Anne´s University Hospital

e‑mail:

Head of Strategic Cooperation at St. Anne's University Hospital in Brno, with expertise in managing strategic research projects. With a background in project management for SME grants and technology investments, he now focuses on initiatives like leveraging NLP to structure EHR data, driving innovation in healthcare research since 2014.

Focus group co-chair

TBU

Members of the Focus Group

Radka Svobodová

Central European Institute of Technology

e‑mail:

TBU

University of Tartu

Miloslav Karhanek

Biomedical Research Center of the Slovak Academy of Sciences

e‑mail:

Miroslav Sabo

Biomedical Research Center of the Slovak Academy of Sciences

e‑mail:

Austė Kanapeckaitė

Vilnius University

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A leading expert in bio/chem-informatics and ML/AI for drug discovery, with a strong track record in therapeutic innovation and successful clinical programs at top-tier pharma. Her work pioneered adaptive learning in clinical pharmacology and transfer learning in R&D. She collaborates with pharma, VC firms, and academic institutions to drive translational solutions.

Ivan Padjen

University of Zagreb School of Medicine

e‑mail:

Ivan Padjen is an Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine at the University of Zagreb, and a consultant in Rheumatology at the UHC Zagreb. He teaches Internal Medicine, Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology. He is also involved in research projects focusing on the clinical epidemiology of systemic lupus erythematosus and establishing a hospital-based database of SLE patients.

Martins Kuzmanis

Latvian Institute of Organic Synthesis

e‑mail:

An IT specialist in Latvian Institute of Organic Synthesis. He has more than 10 years experience of managing IT systems and user data, and has experience in software testing, as well as programming in Microsoft .NET. At the LIOS he works to maintain and improve user IT experience, as well as keep data secure and accessible.

Sergej Pirkmajer

University of Ljubljana

e‑mail:

Head of the Laboratory for Molecular Neurobiology and Associate Professor of Pathophysiology at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Ljubljana. His research focuses on regulation of energy metabolism and ion transport in skeletal muscle cells.

Tina Triglav

University of Ljubljana

e‑mail:

Zsolt Bagyura

Semmelweis University

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Dimitar Dobrinov Charakchiev

Medical University - Sofia

e‑mail:

Elena Poenaru

University of Medicine and Pharmacy "Carol Davila"

e‑mail:

Octavian Andronic

University of Medicine and Pharmacy "Carol Davila"

e‑mail:
social and academic networks:

An Assistant Professor of General Surgery at the University Emergency Hospital of Bucharest and Coordinator of the Big Data, AI, and eHealth Department at the Center for Innovation and eHealth. He is committed to advancing medical education, healthcare innovation, and fostering collaboration in scientific publishing as Chair of the Regional Chapters Committee of the European Association of Science Editors.

Witold Kozakiewicz

University of Medicine and Pharmacy "Carol Davila"

e‑mail:

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