Antje Keppler elected to be new ERIC Forum chair

We are pleased to announce that Euro-BioImaging Bio-Hub Director, Antje Keppler, has been elected by her peers, the Directors of 24 European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERICs), to be the next ERIC Forum Chair at today’s meeting of the ERIC Forum Executive Board in Brussels. In her new functions, Antje Keppler will be supported by Allen Weeks, Director General of ELI-ERIC, elected as Vice Chair of the ERIC Forum Executive Board. We congratulate both on their new roles, and provide a few insights into what Antje Keppler plans to accomplish. 

“It is a great honor and an important responsibility to represent the ERIC community as Chair, speaking on behalf of the entire consortium to national funders, the European Commission and the European scientific communities at large,” says Antje Keppler. 

“In the middle of this unprecedented global political, economic, ecological and energy crisis, each ERIC is facing enormous new challenges and risks of what the future will hold for their operation and sustainability. Despite the obvious role researchers have successfully had battling the Covid-19 pandemic, their budgets are now among the first being cut in many countries. Within the ERIC Forum, 24 ERICs have joined force to make our common cases heard - since 2017. In addition to addressing open questions relevant for many ERICs linked to their still young legal personality, the ERIC Forum supports its members in a continuous dialogue with their key European stakeholders, scientific clusters, EOSC Association, and Member States.” 

“As Chairperson of the Forum Assembly, I will listen closely to all ERIC representatives. We will work together to identify priority actions and present them to our stakeholders. I will strive to foster the engagement and the involvement of the entire ecosystem to ensure the sustainability of the ERIC Forum. I am truly excited and very grateful for the opportunity to serve this special, interdisciplinary community.”

Antje Keppler has been a member of the ERIC Forum Executive Board since February 2022, representing the Life Sciences ERICs. Since 2009, she has been involved in building the Euro-BioImaging research infrastructure, managing the planning, implementation and operation phases. As Director of the Euro-BioImaging ERIC Bio-Hub, she leads an international team, which coordinates and operates services for biological imaging, as part of the tripartite headquarter of Euro-BioImaging ERIC, which has its Statutory Seat in Turku, Finland, and the Med-Hub located in Torino, Italy.

“It is a true honor to take these responsibilities one step further, with a new mandate from my peers,” concludes Antje Keppler.