Imaging Plaza to support open, FAIR imaging research across disciplines
Platform Enters Community Rollout, Invites Researchers and Developers to Help Shape a Lasting Resource
Lausanne, Switzerland. August 14, 2025 – The Swiss Data Science Center (SDSC) together with the EPFL Center for Imaging introduce Imaging Plaza, which was built with the support of the EPFL Open Science Grant, the ETH ORD Explore Grant, and the PHRT Grant. This innovative online platform is designed to lower barriers for researchers and developers in accessing and applying imaging algorithms – enhancing the impact of high-quality software and encouraging cross-disciplinary exploration in imaging research. Currently in its community rollout phase, Imaging Plaza invites researchers and developers to contribute to its content and usability, ensuring it becomes a valuable resource for the community over the long term.
“The idea emerged from conversations within the EPFL imaging community, where many researchers expressed the need for more visibility and clarity around the imaging tools available, in particular those developed by their EPFL colleagues,” explained Dr. Laurène Donati, Co-founder and former Executive Director of the EPFL Center for Imaging. “Building on this shared interest, the EPFL Center for Imaging began working with the Swiss Data Science Center whose expertise in FAIR software helped shape the platform’s direction.”
“Imaging Plaza is the result of many voices coming together,” said Carlos Vivar Rios, Senior Open Research Data Engineer at the SDSC. “The goal was to create a practical, open resource reflecting imaging scientists’ needs across domains. Instead of a simple software repository, the platform offers a carefully curated selection of imaging algorithms, runnable examples, and an intuitive search. The motivation is to help both experts and non-experts explore, locate, and assess imaging tools for reuse efficiently.”
Accelerating discovery and knowledge exchange
The platform is accessible from all disciplines and regions, addressing researchers seeking to apply or evaluate imaging software, and developers aiming to share their tools while enhancing their visibility and promoting FAIR principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable).
Imaging Plaza is designed to:
- Support open science by making existing tools easier to find and reuse.
- Accelerate research by reducing duplication and increasing the visibility of robust imaging tools.
- Encourage knowledge exchange across disciplines, helping researchers learn from one another’s solutions.
- Improve software quality by helping developers assess and improve the FAIRness of their tools.
Fields currently represented include biosciences (such as cell biology, biomedicine, chemical imaging), climate and geospatial sciences, and astrophysics – with plans to expand as the community grows.
Simplifying access to curated and FAIR tools
Key features of Imaging Plaza are:
- Curated Catalogue: Over 60 carefully selected imaging tools, chosen for their scientific value, documentation quality, and reusability. The platform prioritizes usefulness over exhaustiveness.
- Runnable Examples: Many tools include executable examples, enabling users to quickly evaluate their relevance and performance in practical research contexts.
- Intuitive Search: A user-friendly search interface, supported by categories and semantic structures facilitates efficient discovery of domain-relevant tools.
- FAIRness Scoring: Each software entry includes a FAIRness score (1–5), offering a quick assessment of its findability, accessibility, interoperability, and reusability.
Contribute to the development
The Imaging Plaza platform is in a soft-launch phase, and we invite researchers and developers to explore and share feedback. Contributions – whether software suggestions or usability input – are vital to shaping a tool that meets community needs.
Visit https://imaging-plaza.epfl.ch to explore and get involved.
About EPFL Center for Imaging
The EPFL Center for Imaging strives to offer the EPFL community the best possible environment for creating and operating innovative imaging technology. From structural biology to astronomy, from radiology to imaging of materials, many of the opportunities and challenges in imaging are shared across research domains. Our goal is to nurture a global imaging network at EPFL and provide common solutions to shared problems. In practice, the EPFL Center for Imaging sets up a series of actions and events to promote and facilitate cross-disciplinary research in imaging at EPFL. It also actively supports the EPFL community with the use of imaging technology, in particular by addressing its ever-growing needs in image analysis and reconstruction. On the teaching side, the Center is active in ensuring top-level imaging education at EPFL and provides the EPFL research staff with new training opportunities in imaging. More information: https://imaging.epfl.ch/
About the Swiss Data Science Center (SDSC)
The Swiss Data Science Center (SDSC) is a national research infrastructure in data science and artificial intelligence (AI). Its mission – to enable data-driven science and innovation for societal impact – drives its initiatives in research projects, knowledge and technology transfer, and education. With a large multidisciplinary team of professionals in Lausanne, Zurich and Villigen, the SDSC provides expertise and services to various domains, such as health and biomedical sciences, energy and sustainability, climate and environment, and large-scale scientific infrastructures. The SDSC also contributes to initial, continuing and executive education programs at EPFL and ETH Zurich. More information: www.datascience.ch.
For more information, please contact:
Uta Ünal, Head of Communications & Events
Swiss Data Science Center
Catherine Hugon, Head of Executive Affairs
Swiss Data Science Center
