It is a great pleasure to share with our users and friends that from September 29th to October 1^st took place the first BioData.pt Association All Hands. It was a very important mark, not only because this was the first time all BioData.pt Founder Associates met upon the establishment of the Association but, for the first time, a significant part of the team gathered face-to-face after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Casa de Exercícios de Santo Inácio, in Praia Grande, was the scenario chosen for three days full of reunions, presentations from associates and formal and informal collective discussions. Many topics lead to moments of very fruitful discussions. 

The way we present ourselves and interact to our stakeholders and users was one of these challenging debates. The urge to facilitate access to the tools and services developed and/or provided by BioData.pt is evident. BioData.pt has a broad list of resources capable of responding to a set of challenges faced by some areas of Portuguese science, and it is our priority making them  easily found by the research community in need. Furthermore, the national community needs a more diversified offer of bioinformatics and data management programmes, and BioData.pt can give a precious contribution. 

This moment was also the time for Miguel Rocha to take over the Presidency of the Administration Council of BioData.pt. Miguel succeeds José Pereira Leal, to whom we are very grateful for so many years leading this Research Infrastructure. José has been an inspiration for all of us and we sincerely hope that he continues with us in a journey that we expect to be pleasant and long-lasting. Irina Moreira is now Vice-President together with Cátia Pesquita, and the other two board members are Cymon Cox and José Pereira Leal.

We wish the best of success to Miguel Rocha and the board in this new configuration. Our new President has the support of the entire team with him! 

Quoting José Leal: “Building research infrastructures is about supporting other people and relishing in their success, something not obvious in a scientific world increasingly competitive and individualistic”. 

The BioData.pt team remains committed to continue the excellent work done so far, to make this research infrastructure a reference in Portugal and worldwide!