First INFRAFRONTIER QM Workshop: Quality makes the difference!

High quality in research data and strict quality standards and procedures have always had a top priority in the EMMA consortium and the INFRAFRONTIER research infrastructure from their very first day.

However, a consortium-wide expert meeting about a complete system of Quality Management (QM) for the whole consortium: This was a premiere in the INFRAFRONTIER QM Workshop on 8 and 9 October 2019 in Munich. 20 members of the INFRAFRONTIER QM Network Group from 12 member institutions took the chance to share their experiences of assuring and improving quality in the national nodes, learn more about international quality standards and certificates and discuss together, how a comprehensive QM concept might be realisable for our distributed research infrastructure.

In an opening round of talks, the Network Group members gave an overview of quality procedures already applied in their home institutions. It became clear: Many of the nodes are following internationally acknowledged QM approaches like ISO 9001, Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) or AAALAC, others have implemented highly elaborated individual quality procedures.

Institutions like MRC Harwell, Phenomin-TAAM and CCP completed the picture by unfolding their personal experiences with these different approaches, including open words about benefits and pitfalls.

On the second day, the workgroup members split up in three groups – discussing options for common INFRAFRONTIER quality principles in key operation areas like EMMA, Model Development and Systemic Phenotyping.

Michael Raess, Head of General Management at INFRAFRONTIER GmbH, highlighted the productive atmosphere of the meeting. The results and actions, he said, provide a sound basis for further developing INFRAFRONTIER´s QM strategy. A follow-up meeting is already envisaged within the next six months.