Our culture

As a part of EMBL, our culture is collaborative and international by design.

We recruit the best scientists, software engineers and professionals from all over the world. We aim to create a collegial, open and inclusive community. 

Our culture is based on shared values and beliefs, and the desire to make science accessible to all. 

Open science is a movement to make the scientific process more transparent, accessible and democratic. EMBL supports open science by making its databases, code, software and research freely available whenever possible. This enables scientists worldwide to push the boundaries of scientific knowledge. This is important because when scientists work openly – they create more impact.

EMBL-EBI is a leading provider of public biomolecular data resources and bioinformatics research. Our comprehensive suite of trustworthy data resources enable millions of scientists to make their own research data Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable (FAIR). This helps scientists meet funding requirements and promotes reproducible research practice. 

Open science  is reflected in EMBL-EBI’s Terms of Use, which impose no additional restrictions on data use beyond those required by the data owner. Our Licensing policy aims to implement a machine-readable CC0 licence for data resources wherever possible. This makes it easier for others to reuse the data resources we manage in order to advance their work.

EMBL is committed to creating and sustaining a culture in which our diversity is celebrated and where all staff are included and treated equally, irrespective of their ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, age or disability.

As a global organisation with employees from all over the world, EMBL encourages and empowers its members of staff to be their authentic selves at work, and takes its commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) seriously. We seek to continuously examine our policies and practices and to develop strategies to bring about positive change for all staff.

At EMBL-EBI, we work with our neighbours on the Wellcome Genome Campus. Our staff and fellows have access to a number of networks, hosted by the campus EDI team at the Wellcome Sanger Institute.

We are living in a time of climate and ecological crisis. EMBL accepts its responsibility to help address the urgent challenges facing humanity and the planet. EMBL’s Sustainability Strategy sets out the ways in which we will respond to achieve our ambition to significantly reduce our environmental impact by 2030.

Sustainability at EMBL focuses on reducing our environmental impact, finding solutions to the major global challenges and promoting sustainable science.

EMBL-EBI also works closely with the Wellcome Genome Campus on local sustainability initiatives. 

EMBL supports fair and responsible research assessment practices, including its recruitment and performance assessment processes.

EMBL is committed to outstanding research, service, and administration performance by hiring and training the best personnel in a culture that values and promotes equality, diversity, and inclusion.