Successful Australian & European Health Research Infrastructures symposium

From September 16-19, 2025, representatives of European and Australian Health Research Infrastructures gathered at the Monash University Prato Centre in Prato, Italy. The Euro-BioImaging Directorate was invited to attend, along with representatives from European Research Infrastructure partners, BBMRI-ERIC, ELIXIR, Instruct-ERIC, INFRAFRONTIER-ERIC, EATRIS and EMBL, European funders and policy makers, and their homologues from the Australian NCRIS group of health research infrastructures and government representatives. Discussions focused on common priorities like AI in health, data interoperability, innovation pipelines, and RI workforce development. A successful event that allowed all involved to build exciting momentum toward deeper, more strategic international cooperation. 

Strategic international collaboration

This was the third event of its kind, following a successful pilot event in Prato in 2023. As ERIC Forum Chair, Antje Keppler played an important role in organising it alongside Ian Smith (EMBL Australia, PHRN and Chair of the Euro-BioImaging Scientific Advisory Board), Merran Smith (PHRN), Michael Raess (INFRAFRONTIER), Jana Pavlic-Zupanc (BBMRI-ERIC), Johanna Kostenzer (BBMRI-ERIC), Andrew Gilbert (Bioplatforms Australia) and Annette Wittmann (EMBL Australia). 

The event kicked off with a welcome address from the Ambassador of Australia to Italy, followed by presentations of national and regional roadmaps from European Commission representatives and Australian NCRIS. Presentations from both Australian representatives and European representatives demonstrated that coordinated RIs facilitate cross-border research efforts, enabling scientists to access shared resources and expertise, an idea which is central to Europe’s new strategy for research & technology infrastructures.  

AI in health and life science

AI was also a central topic at the event, which explored the risks and benefits of AI in health research as well as ethical considerations. Euro-BioImaging Director General John Eriksson chaired the panel discussion  on “AI in health and life science,” with panelists Wojtek James Goscinski, CEO of Australia’s National Imaging Facility (NIF), Sach Jayasinghe of QCIF, Robert Grossman from the University of Chicago, Jeff Christiansen of Australian BioCommons, and Florian Jug of Human Technopole.

Strategic collaboration with Radiology & Medical Imaging Node Valencia

The coordinator of Euro-BioImaging’s Radiology & Medical Imaging Node in Valencia was also invited to participate. He presented the EUCAIM project, which is a fantastic resource open to all, bringing together cancer medical image data from multiple sources into a single easy to use portal.  In addition, following the connection through Euro-BioImaging, an MoU to strengthen collaborations with the Australian National Imaging Facility and EUCAIM has been signed at the last meeting of the European Society of Radiology (Vienna, 2025).

A successful event

By bringing together health-focused research infrastructures, and focusing on common priorities, we were able to identify collaborative opportunities in the health research sector. We look forward to closer collaboration with our Australian and European health research infrastructure colleagues towards common user access, exchange of staff, data and AI developments. Together we will provide a collaborative environment where ground-breaking research to improve human health and well-being can happen.