On 23 and 24 September 2026, members of the FNH-RI consortium from 13 countries met at the AgroBioTech Research Centre of the Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra, in person and online. The meeting was led by prof. Ing. Adriana Kolesárová, PhD., lead coordinator of FNH-RI. The first day was dedicated to presentations of the national nodes and their databases, platforms and tools. The second day focused on Horizon Europe 2027 opportunities and the next steps of the consortium.
Key outcomes
- A clear route from ERIC to ESFRI 2030. The first step is to establish FNH-RI as a European Research Infrastructure Consortium. The second step is a proposal to the ESFRI Roadmap 2030.
- Mapping of services. A short questionnaire will map the services and capacities available in each partner institution and country.
- Completing the consortium. Major European contributors that are not yet represented will be approached so that the full range of services across Europe is covered.
- A first pilot. Comparable datasets from at least three national nodes will be connected as a first demonstration of FNH-RI services.
- Link with FutureFoodS. FNH-RI will connect with the research infrastructure mapping carried out in Work Package 5 of the FutureFoodS partnership.
- Horizon Europe 2027. Three Cluster 6 topics were identified for possible collaboration among interested members.
The meeting also strengthened the connections among consortium members and gave the consortium a clearer shared goal.
Who took part
- Belgium: EuroFIR and NuHCaS
- Canada: McGill University
- Czech Republic: Mendel University in Brno
- Denmark: University of Copenhagen
- France: INRAE, CALIS
- Germany: Friedrich Schiller University Jena
- Greece: Biomedical Research Foundation of the Academy of Athens
- Hungary: University of Debrecen
- Iceland: University of Iceland and Matís
- Italy: Institute of Food Sciences of the National Research Council of Italy (CNR-ISA) and Council for Agricultural Research and Economics (CREA)
- Norway: Nofima
- Slovakia: Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra, Slovak Centre of Scientific and Technical Information, Bioeconomy Cluster and National Agricultural and Food Centre
- Slovenia: Jožef Stefan Institute
We thank all consortium members for their participation, presentations and constructive discussions.
