Founded in 2021, the Latin American Bioimaging Network (LABI) provides a platform for imaging scientists across Latin America and the Caribbean to interact, share experiences, and expand access to bioimaging training and technology. From the outset, one of LABI’s distinctive features has been its emphasis on community participation and ownership.
This approach has been critical as the network has grown rapidly. As LABI expanded from 310 members in 15 countries in 2023 to more than 637 members across 33 countries today, the network faced new levels of operational complexity. This rapid growth prompted a need to rethink its governance model and co-develop a structure that could better reflect the diversity, needs, and ambitions of its growing community.
At almost the same time, Invest in Open Infrastructure launched the Open Infrastructure Fund. The Fund was designed to provide funding ranging from US$5,000 to US$25,000 for projects that support the development of open research infrastructure services, strengthen sustainability and resilience, and promote the adoption of open infrastructure that underpins research and knowledge creation worldwide. After a rigorous application and selection process, LABI was eventually selected as one of eight grantees of the Open Infrastructure Fund.
As one of the grantees, LABI received an US$11,000 grant to support the implementation of community governance in LABI, promoting openness, transparency, and accountability.
“As a person who has been involved with LABI since its foundational steps, I have witnessed its successful growth into a vital network for bioimaging in Latin America. This rapid expansion necessitated the formalization of a professionalized governance structure, a strategic step to ensure operational excellence, continuity, and equitable participation. Furthermore, the governance was designed to be forward-looking to provide the institutional stability and credibility necessary to advance scientific activities within the region and beyond. It was developed through an open, participatory process, with a special focus on building a stronger, more cohesive, and sustainable future for Latin American Bioimaging,” remarked Kildare Miranda, Chair of the LABI Steering Committee.
Process
Before commencing the governance project, the LABI team held a series of internal consultative meetings to plan and prepare for the implementation phase. The team settled on three distinct phases that would be key to the project's successful implementation: diagnosis/needs assessment, design, and review.
The needs assessment phase, which commenced in February 2024, aimed at identifying gaps and challenges in the current governance structure and gathering ideas and perspectives from members of the LABI community. To debias the process, the LABI team partnered with MetaDocencia to facilitate the community interviews and surveys. Over a period of two months, the MetaDocencia team conducted five in-depth interviews with a range of LABI stakeholders across South America. The MetaDocencia team also designed and distributed a survey across the LABI mailing list, with a 20% response rate. The interviews focused on gathering community insights on four key areas of LABI’s strategy: funding, sustainability, growth, and commitment.
In the design phase, the insights from the interviews and the survey were synthesized into a preliminary report by the MetaDocencia team. At the 2024 LABI Meeting in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the LABI team shared the process of the community governance review and findings with over 110 LABI community members from 15 countries. This was then followed by discussions on key findings of the report in groups to reflect on the findings and chart the way forward.
“LABI began as a network of imaging scientists who shared not only professional goals but also a common vision—to strengthen bioimaging capacity and collaboration across Latin America. Over time, as LABI grew from an informal community into a recognized regional platform, it became evident that a formal governance structure was essential to ensure continuity, inclusivity, and equitable participation for all members. The creation of LABI's governance was an open, participatory process in which every member of the Executive Committee had the opportunity to contribute their perspectives and ideas. This collaborative effort has resulted in LABI's first governance framework—a living foundation designed to evolve as our community continues to grow. As a founding member, I am deeply proud of this milestone and confident that it sets the stage for a stronger, more cohesive, and sustainable future for bioimaging in Latin America,” Leonel Malacrida, LABI Founder member.
The last phase of the project was the review phase, in which the feedback from the committee discussions at the LABI meeting was distilled to develop a final version of a more robust and inclusive governance structure. Key outcomes included a new vision and mission statement, the first-ever articulation of LABI’s community values, and a governance model with feedback loops to ensure ongoing, iterative interaction with members.
One of the key features of the new governance model is the incorporation of a scientific advisory board, which did not exist in the previous structure. Another important new feature is the introduction of four specialized coordinators who will be responsible for ensuring critical areas such as research infrastructure, training and knowledge, networks, and operations are given the tailored attention they need to ensure the strategy´s success
Key learnings and takeaways
While undertaking the nearly year-long governance review process, the LABI team had some profound learnings that they believe will help make the organization much more resilient going forward. Some of these key takeaways include:
- Community governance is an iterative process. As an organisation’s community continues to grow, it is important to develop mechanisms to ensure that the organization is able to keep in tune with its community's evolving needs. Communities are dynamic rather than static entities, and therefore, they need to have a regular review process to keep them active and engaged.
- Listening is the foundation of strong community governance. The needs assessment/diagnostic phase was purposely built into the governance review process in order to ensure that any new strategy is rooted in actual community needs, not assumptions. This is why, in the governance process, we need MetaDocencia to handle assessments to ensure honest and accurate community feedback. Listening to the community with the intent of building with and not for them is essential to developing stronger community participation.
- Strong community governance is a core pillar in organizational sustainability. It is essential to always center the community´s needs, as they will either make or break an organization. At the end of the day, the community is the engine of an organization. If you have a vibrant community of technical experts, users who are incentivized to share their skills, talents, and time within a community that provides a solid base for future growth. This project allowed the consolidation of fundamental definitions such as vision, mission, values, and pillars, on which the LABI team is building the strategic planning for the next 3-5 years.
Impact and Future Outlook
The following steps in the governance review process are the validation of the proposed new governance and decision-making structure by the LABI Steering Committee. Once approved, this new governance structure will be published on LABI’s communication channels for broader dissemination. In the spirit of openness, the community governance review process will be publicly shared, allowing other communities that intend to undertake the same method to learn from LABI and adapt as needed.