The IRIS partners are all affiliated with the Science & Technology Facilities Council which is one of the seven research councils within UK Research & Innovation.
UKRI works in partnership with universities, research organisations, businesses, charities, and government to create the best possible environment for research and innovation to flourish. We aim to maximise the contribution of each of our component parts, working individually and collectively. We work with our many partners to benefit everyone through knowledge, talent and ideas.
Research Communities
The primary component is the set of scientific communities that IRIS serves, including particle physics, astronomy, photon and neutron science, fusion, environmental science, bioinformatics, AI and other data-intensive research domains. These communities are united less by discipline than by a shared need for advanced digital research infrastruct
Infrastructure Providers
IRIS brings together providers of compute, storage, networking, data and software services. This includes specialist facilities and community infrastructures as well as broader national services. Providers supply the technical capabilities on which research communities depend.
Technical Experts and Support Specialists
A key part of the community is the network of research software engineers, data specialists, infrastructure architects, service managers and other experts who help communities adopt and exploit digital technologies effectively. These individuals provide skills, consultancy, onboarding, training and knowledge exchange.
Funders and Strategic Stakeholders
IRIS acts as an intermediary between communities and organisations such as STFC, UKRI, infrastructure providers and national DRI programmes. A significant function of the community is therefore the two-way flow of information between researchers and strategic decision-makers.
Emerging and Future Communities
An increasingly important component is the set of emerging, interdisciplinary and less digitally mature research communities that IRIS helps to onboard and support. IRIS enables these communities to benefit from expertise and infrastructure that already exists elsewhere within the federation
