Brno hosts the International Conference on Research Infrastructures 2022

The International Conference on Research Infrastructures (ICRI 2022) will take place in Brno from today to Friday, 21 October. It is the largest and most important conference of the research agenda of the Czech EU Presidency programme. Key topics include the benefits of research infrastructures in the light of the coronavirus pandemic or the energy crisis, international cooperation on research infrastructures and their socio-economic impacts. The conference is attended by nearly 450 participants, including representatives of the European Space Agency, the European Molecular Biology Laboratory and other global research institutions, while others can join remotely.

ICRI is a global forum for strategic discussions on research infrastructure policy and its benefits and implications for other sectoral domains. It is organised every two years by the European Commission and the host country, which this year is the Czech Republic.

“I am very pleased that we are organising such an important international conference as ICRI in the year of our Presidency of the Council of the EU. It is an opportunity to discuss at the highest European and global level the policy of research infrastructures and their contribution to solving the so-called great societal challenges such as the pandemic of infectious diseases, climate change and mitigation of its impact on the environment, or the digitalisation of our society and economy,” said Minister of Education, Youth and Sports Vladimír Balaš at the opening of the conference.

Minister for Education, Youth and Sports Vladimír Balaš opens the ICRI international conference.

The conference will feature nearly 100 speakers and will host, among other prominent participants, Edith Heard, Director General of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Xavier Barcons, Director of the European Southern Observatory, Pierre Delsaux, Director of the European Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority.

“I welcome the opportunity offered by the ICRI 2022 conference, bringing together international interlocutors, to strengthening the key role to science cooperation. Europe is investing on research infrastructures supported by the Horizon Europe Programme in coordination with Member States. They foster research breakthroughs and are also vehicles to science-driven innovation, inclusive excellence and regional development. The Extreme Light Infrastructure recently inaugurated in two EU Member States is just one excellent example of combination of forward looking European investment supporting global scientific collaborations,” said Mariya Gabriel, European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth.

The wider conference programme includes nearly 40 side events, including the opening of the new CELSPAC Biobank and a tour of the ELI Beamlines research infrastructure in Dolní Břežany. An absolute novelty in the history of the ICRI is the “Citizen Programme” prepared jointly with the Brno Observatory and Planetarium, VIDA! science centre Brno and the Science Party Brno association, which is also intended for the wider public and aims to make scientific topics accessible in a popular form to those interested. One of the guides will be the presenter and active conference participant Daniel Stach, the youngest laureate to be awarded the Vojtěch Náprstek Honorary Medal for Merit in Science Popularisation by the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic.

The ICRI conference is moderated by Daniel Stach.

This year’s ICRI was organised by Masaryk University as the local host in cooperation with the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports, the Central European Institute of Technology and the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Research and Innovation. The conference was financially supported by the EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation Horizon Europe. Prior to the conference, a meeting of the European Strategic Forum for Research Infrastructures (ESFRI) was also held in Brno.

Those interested in participating remotely in the conference can join by registering via the following link: https://icri2022.gcon.me/registration/2-online-participant-registration-icri-2022

Almost 450 participants are present at the conference.

For more information about the ICRI, please visit the conference website www.icri2022.cz and follow @icri2022 on Twitter using the hashtag #ICRI2022.