The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) community is one of the world’s leading scientific collaborations dedicated to the detection and study of gravitational waves, providing a new way of observing the Universe. Working closely with international partners including Virgo and KAGRA, researchers analyse vast volumes of highly sensitive observational data to detect signals produced by some of the most energetic events in the cosmos, such as merging black holes and neutron stars. The scale and complexity of this data analysis requires substantial computing, storage and data management capabilities. Through IRIS, the UK gravitational-wave community benefits from access to distributed digital infrastructure, specialist expertise and collaborative services that support the processing, sharing and long-term stewardship of gravitational-wave data. These capabilities help researchers undertake large-scale analyses, respond rapidly to new detections and contribute to the growing field of multi-messenger astronomy, where gravitational-wave observations are combined with data from telescopes and other instruments to deepen our understanding of the Universe.
