Highlights of the 10th Euro-BioImaging Board Meeting

On May 21-22, 2024, the Euro-BioImaging Hub team had the pleasure of hosting the 10^th Euro-BioImaging Board Meeting at EMBL Heidelberg. The Euro-BioImaging Board is composed of representatives of our 19 ERIC members (18 countries and EMBL). It meets twice a year to make decisions that help shape the strategy and future direction of Euro-BioImaging ERIC. Under the excellent chairing of Professor Maddy Parsons, the Board made a number of decisions and discussed important topics for the future of our infrastructure. In addition, we celebrated 10 years of collaboration with the Euro-BioImaging Industry Board. Many thanks to all our Board members who joined us for these two days of meetings.  

The 10^th Euro-BioImaging Board meeting, which took place from May 21-22, 2024 at EMBL Heidelberg, was the occasion to host our Spanish Board representatives for the first time. In addition, the Belgian delegation, which had observer status previously, was able to vote for the first time due to its new member status. Important decision items included approval of the 2023 finance report and of  the proposed Node Upgrades recommended for inclusion in our infrastructure by our Scientific Advisory Board (SAB), and approving three new medical imaging technologies recommended for inclusion in our portfolio by the SAB after the Proof-of-Concept study. In addition to these important decisions, the Board renewed the term of our SAB members and approved one new member nominated to join our SAB.

One of the central themes of the 10^th Euro-BioImaging Board meeting were the Euro-BioImaging Image Data Services. Head of Image Data Services, Aastha Mathur, introduced the growing service portfolio from image analysis at our Nodes and data FAIRification to global coordination activities and new technical developments. Special guest Matthew Hartley, Head of the BioImage Archive, spoke to our Board about the potential of the BioImage Archive and EMPIAR for storing and FAIRification of imaging datasets. As he pointed out, data FAIRification is crucial to today’s research and is increasingly a prerequisite for publication. Matthew Hartley highlighted the important role Euro-BioImaging has played through our FAIR data stewardship services bringing datasets to the BIA and by providing training and raising awareness of these important repositories. Section Director of the Med-Hub, Linda Chaabane, also presented the current developments in data-related EU projects and the metadata repository PIDAR, which aims to provide a data sharing resource for the preclinical imaging community.   

The Euro-BioImaging Directorate provided a number of updates on Euro-Bioimaging activities. John Eriksson filled our Board members in on a number of important EU initiatives and our strategic activities for increasing the role of Euro-BioImaging in the European research landscape and future funding opportunities. Antje Keppler provided an overview of ERIC Forum activities and updates from the Global BioImaging network, such as the newly launched project, Imaging4All. Linda Chaabane shared information about the Cancer Image project (EUCAIM) and other important cancer imaging and image data initiatives.  

Finally, this meeting stands out because it was the opportunity to look back on ten years of collaboration with the Euro-BioImaging Industry Board (EBIB). Industry Board coordinator, Claudia Pfander, provided an overview of the important milestones and outlook on future opportunities to work together. Herbert Schaden of Zeiss, Chairman of the Industry Board, also praised the collaboration with the Node community as well as with the other members of the EBIB. Antje Keppler also confirmed how important the support of the industry board had been in the early years of Euro-BioImaging. We had the pleasure of raising a glass to celebrate this long-standing collaboration. 

The 10th Euro-BioImaging Board Meeting took place at EMBL Heidelberg from May 21-22, 2024. Photo by Kinga Lubowiecka/EMBL PhotoLab.