Large-scale cohort research project offers researchers to participate in science challenge

ORCHESTRA opens doors to COVID-19 related data to selected scientists

The ORCHESTRA science challenge is designed to allow external scientists to research their pressing COVID-19 related questions with ORCHESTRA data. The application process is now open and will end on 30/09/2023. The accepted participants will be allowed to perform analysis of cohort data with the help of Federated Learning and our ORCHESTRA team. A publication of the results is part of the challenge under consideration of the ORCHESTRA consortium.

The Federated Learning approach ensures that the analysis is conducted in a privacy-preserving manner, as data remains decentralized and secure within each participating institution or country. This collaborative approach allows scientists to leverage the collective knowledge and expertise while respecting data privacy and security protocols. “The data sharing process will undergo several steps to enable privacy-preserving data analysis by external scientists.”, says Elisa Rossi, data scientist from ORCHESTRA partner CINECA.

“We are excited to use this opportunity of opening the ORCHESTRA project and the collected data towards collaboration with external scientists. ORCHESTRA is an outstanding example of a multinational collaborative research network, and with this step of including the scientific community, it will become even stronger.”, says Prof. Janne Vehreschild, infectious diseases researcher at the University Hospital of Cologne and Work Package 10 Leader in ORCHESTRA. Alongside the idea of contribution, the science challenge fosters new research ideas as external scientists can introduce novel aspects and perspectives.

Please find all the information on the application process and the course of the science challenge here: https://orchestra-cohort.eu/science-challenge-2023/

Press contact: science-challenge@orchestra-cohort.eu