Supporting open science The ability to share information is crucial to scientific progress, yet it is not easy to manage and share the vast amounts of data generated at Photon and Neutron Research Infrastructures (PaN RIs). We spoke to Professor Dr Patrick Fuhrmann and Dr Sophie Servan about the work of the ExPaNDS project in creating a framework for effective data management and supporting open science. The PaN RIs found across Europe play an important role in scientific research, helping scientists from a wide variety of different disciplines gain deeper insights into major questions in their fields. Facilities like DESY, HZDR and HZB in Germany, ALBA in Spain, MAX IV in Sweden, PSI in Switzerland, Elettra in Italy, SOLEIL in France, and Diamond Light Source, UKRI / STFC in the UK are home to sophisticated equipment which are used to generate photon and neutron beams. “What we do at DESY is accelerate electrons. We have mechanisms to produce electrons from high-energy, intense rays of very brilliant photon beams which are extremely short,” explains Professor Patrick Fuhrmann, Group Leader of ‘Research and Innovation’ at DESY, an accelerator centre based in Hamburg. The wider societal benefit of these facilities lies in what is done using these bright beams; Professor Fuhrmann says experiments are conducted at the very end of research in what is called a beamline. “The beamlines can be used for experiments on batteries, quantum technology and medical applications for instance. Essentially, they are relevant for any topic where you need to look at processes which are occurring on very small scales,” he outlines. ExPaNDS project These types of experiments often generate enormous amounts of data, mainly in the form of images, which can become progressively more difficult to manage and share with other researchers as the volume increases. This issue lies at the heart of the ExPaNDS project, a European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme grant which brings together 10 European PaN RIs, as well as the European Grid Infrastructure (EGI) federation. “Our goals in the project are two-fold. First of all, we want to create a policy framework for the facilities, so that they have a certain way of processing the data on the policy level. This is about agreements between a facility
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somewhere, but it may be difficult to find it. The meta-data catalogue holds only the most important key words of data. This catalogue holds all the key words of all the data generated by these PaN experiments in Europe, and researchers can search it.” A researcher may be interested in the lung tissue of a rat for example. They are able to search the catalogue for relevant experiments, using clear search terms, and they then receive a list of data, as well as details about where the experiment was conducted. “A researcher can download the image in that Nexus format, so they are better able to understand what it represents,” explains Professor Fuhrmann. There is also the possibility to add data from experiments conducted in the past, although Professor Fuhrmann says the best solution may be to simply do the experiment again, with the new generation of synchrotrons set to give researchers even deeper insights into the nature of matter. “The brilliance of the beams at the current facilities is increasing so fast that in most cases it is cheaper to simply repeat the experiment rather than convert the old data,” he stresses. “In many areas of science an experiment can be conducted again and again, and with improved facilities, it can be done better.”
Accelerating scientific progress The wider aim here is to help accelerate scientific progress by encouraging data sharing through the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC). Making data more widely available helps spur scientific progress, as has been shown by increasing levels of access to the internet. “The more you make research available to everyone, the faster science accelerates,” says Professor Fuhrmann. Nevertheless, it is not always easy to encourage scientists to share their findings and adopt a less proprietary attitude to their research; by putting the FAIR principles at the heart of policy frameworks, the project aims to make data-sharing the default. “The users of the synchrotrons may not even know what’s happening, but they can benefit from this commitment to the FAIR principles,” outlines Dr Servan. “We cannot always change the attitude of the scientists, but we can change a little bit the attitude of our management, and we can make the routine work of incorporating the data into the catalogue automatic. A scientist doesn’t have to think too much about how they can meet the FAIR principles, they can focus their energy on their research.” As soon as an experiment starts and a detector is generating data, the most
important meta-data is extracted and then automatically put into the catalogue. The general policy is that all of the data generated in experiments should be included in the catalogue, which can then help guide research in the future. “Some scientific researchers use published data to set the initial parameters of models, for example in spectrometry. The more access they can get to accurate, well-described data from past experiments, the better they can fine-tune their model,” says Dr Servan. PaN facilities are also an important research tool across a wide range of other areas, from climate change, to energy, to quantum computing. While DESY itself is not directly involved in the development of quantum computers, Professor Fuhrmann says research at the facility can help lay the foundations for further progress. “For example, we’re not involved in the creation of an aircraft, but we help to make sure that the material is flexible, sufficiently strong, and doesn’t age too fast,” he outlines. “We can investigate the properties of materials at DESY.” The situation with quantum computers is more complex, as researchers have to consider quantum effects and how far certain materials are able to reflect them. However, the aim is still to evaluate whether a given
The ExPaNDS project kick-off meeting, 9th November 2019.
and their customers - the scientists who produce the data,” says Professor Fuhrmann. A second major goal in the project relates more to the technical level. “We discuss possible formats for the data with the different facilities, and we encourage them to use the same formats. This relates also
wider goal of ensuring that data is shared according to the FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) principles. “Metadata fields have been defined and agreed, and this enables interoperability,” says Dr Sophie Servan, leader of the Management and Sustainability work package within ExPaNDS.
Do scientists really have to come to the facility to conduct their research? Up to now the answer was yes, but the real answer is actually no, only the samples have to come to the facility. Everything else can be done in an automated way. to the meta-data of the data, such as the frequency, the energy level and the time,” continues Professor Fuhrmann. “We want to encourage the facilities and the beamlines to record this data in a similar fashion, so that it can be more easily understood later on.” The data and meta-data captured from samples at these Photon and Neutron (PaN) facilities are mainly recorded in a standardised format called Nexus. This is part of the
On the technical level, the standardised file format ensures that different applications can open files, while Professor Fuhrmann says it’s also important that there is a common vocabulary used in association with the data. “We are trying to convince everyone to use the same key words, which is important to help Artificial Intelligence (AI) applications scan the data effectively,” he stresses. “The data relevant to a researcher is stored
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ExPaNDS EOSC Photon and Neutron Data Services
Project Objectives
The ExPaNDS project brings together partners from across Europe with the aim of helping share scientific data in a more efficient way. Experiments at photon and neutron facilities generate huge volumes of data, and the goal is to find an effective way to share and manage that data. A policy framework will be created for photon and neutron facilities, so that they have a certain way of processing data. This will then make it easier to subsequently find and share research, helping prevent repetition of experiments and spurring scientific progress.
Project Funding
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 857641. Coordinated by DEUTSCHES ELEKTRONEN-SYNCHROTRON (DESY) Notkestraße 85, 22607 Hamburg, Germany
ExPaNDS Partners
1. ALBA Synchrotron 2. Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron 3. Diamond Light Source 4. E lettra-Sincrotrone Triested S.C.p.A. di interesse nazionale 5. E uropean Grid Infrastructure Foundation 6. H elmholtz-Zentrum Berlin 7. Helmholtz-Zentrum DresdenRossendorf 8. MAX IV Laboratory 9. P aul Scherrer Institute 10. Science and Technology Facilities Council part of UKRI 11. Synchrotron SOLEIL https://expands.eu/partners/
Contact Details
Professor Dr Patrick Fuhrmann ExPaNDS Grant Coordinator E: info@expands.eu W: https://expands.eu
material can be used for that purpose. “We can then give those materials to the people who are developing quantum computers,” explains Professor Fuhrmann. The PaN RIs within the ExPaNDS project have also been an invaluable tool for researchers investigating COVID-19, with pharmaceutical companies making use of the facilities in the development of therapies, from drugs to vaccines. The nature of the pandemic has also led to a re-think about the way these facilities are operated and managed. “Do scientists
The beamlines can be used for experiments on batteries, quantum technology and medical applications for instance. Essentially, they are relevant for any topic where you need to look at processes which are occurring on very small scales. really have to come to the facility to conduct their research? Up to now the answer was yes, but the real answer is actually no, only the samples have to come to the facility. Everything else can be done in an automated way,” stresses Professor Fuhrmann. “We are putting a lot of effort into making facilities autonomous and remotely accessible, with remote access to a probe from home.” This transformation has been stimulated to a degree by the pandemic, but also an awareness of the increasingly important role of robots in changing the samples as
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beamlines grow ever more sophisticated. Remotely accessible beamlines is one issue being addressed in the League of European Accelerator-based Photon Sources (LEAPS) consortium, a project related to ExPaNDS. “The LEAPS consortium is also dealing with other issues, like distributed data management and portable analysis frameworks,” says Professor Fuhrmann. ExPaNDS itself is set to conclude within the next year or so, yet the work of enabling effective data sharing and fostering open
science will continue, with Professor Fuhrmann looking to build on the progress made in the project. “We have applied to become part of another EU project on FAIR data and analysis, called EOSC Future. This is a huge project on all kinds of science, not just Photons and Neutrons,” he outlines. “We are also in contact with PaN science organisations and are pushing for new projects. We are working with European infrastructures, for example the European Grid Infrastructure (EGI), to promote photon and neutron research.”
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