The January 2021 ERIC Forum Meeting is bringing together the ERIC community and its stakeholders to discuss, among other topics, ERIC’s role in the new European Research Area (ERA), ERICs and the new ESFRI Stakeholder Forum, the ERIC guidelines, opportunities for ERICs at the EIC (European Innovation Council) and more. View the programme here.
We are pleased to report that Anton Ussi (Operations & Finance Director), who was elected ERIC Forum Vice-Chair last year, has just been re-elected Vice-Chair.
Anton says: “It’s very exciting to work with so many other infrastructures in our quest to deliver science and innovation for Europe’s citizens, so it’s a real privilege to have a role in advancing the ERIC community.”
Read more about Anton being elected ERIC Forum Vice-Chair in 2020 here.
As Vice-Chair, Anton will moderate an afternoon session and panel discussion on on Innovation (collaborations between ERICs and industry, and ERICs’ socio-economic impact) at the January 2021 Meeting. Martin de Kort (EATRIS Senior Scientific Programme Manager) will also participate as speaker as one of the three ERICs case studies. Martin will present EATRIS collaborations with large pharma, SME and funders.
The ERIC Forum brings together 21 leading European Research Infrastructures Consortia (ERICs) and is one of the leading science policy voices in Europe, representing a sector (research infrastructures) that is crucial to provide high level services to European researchers and make science and innovation possible.
In 2020, the ERIC Forum was instrumental in increasing visibility for the services that each ERIC can provide to researchers involved in the fight against COVID-19.
In parallel, the ERIC Forum remained the main contact point for several European stakeholders during the negotiation of the EU multiannual financial framework (MFF) and its impact on the development and maturity of research infrastructures, in particular concerning the final outlook of Horizon Europe, the world largest research and development funding scheme.
The 2021 elections, held online during the month of January, showed a strong support by the vast majority of ERICs, providing Mr Womersley and Mr Ussi a strong support to fulfil their mandate for 2021 The Chairs are responsible for the strategic planning of the Forum, and coordinate external relations with the European Commission, the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI), and other stakeholders.
We are also pleased to report the re-election of John Womersley (ESS) as ERIC Forum Chair. The Chairs will continue to be supported in their work by three other members of the Executive Board, each representing a specific scientific cluster:
- Franciska de Jong, Executive Director, CLARIN ERIC, for the social sciences cluster
- Wolfgang Fecke, Director General, EU-OPENSCREEN, for the life sciences cluster
- Juan Miguel González Aranda, Chief Technical Officer, LifeWatch ERIC, for the environment cluster
