From 28 to 29 January, the CTAO ERIC participated in the ERIC Forum Annual Meeting at the Club University Foundation in Brussels, Belgium. During the event, Designated Director General for the CTAO ERIC, Stuart McMuldroch, signed the Memorandum of Understanding to make the CTAO the Forum’s newest member after the European Commission established it as an ERIC (European Research Infrastructure Consortium) on January 7, 2025.
The ERIC Forum supports the 29 ERICs in their mission to deliver excellent science and services by serving as a collaborative platform for its members (source: https://www.eric-forum.eu). As an ERIC and a member of the ERIC Forum, the CTAO will now collaborate with Forum members to identify and address common challenges, contributing to the continuing development of ERIC regulation and the European research framework, and participating in advancing ERIC visibility, impact, and sustainability.
Top Left: (from left to right) Antje Keppler, Chair of the ERIC Forum; Michael Arentoft, Head of Unit Open Science & Research Infrastructures, DG Research and Innovation, European Commission; Stuart McMuldroch, CTAO ERIC Designated Director General; Jana Pavlic-Zupanc, BBMRI-ERIC, ERIC Forum 2 Project Coordinator; Agnès Robin, DG Research and Innovation, European Commission;, Tiziana della Ragione, Research Program Administrator at ERA and Research Infrastructures Unit, European Commission. Right: Group photo at the ERIC Forum Annual Meeting. (Credit: ERIC Forum)
The annual meetings bring together ERIC representatives, policymakers, and key stakeholders like EU institutions (Commission, Council, Parliament, Committee of the Regions), ESFRI, national ministries, funding bodies, user communities, international partnerships, regulatory authorities and industry. This significant crossroads of the European research community will be an asset and resource for the CTAO’s development while supporting the enhancement of the European Research Area (ERA) through shared advancements and collaboration.
The current CTAO ERIC Members are Austria, Czech Republic, European Southern Observatory (ESO), France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Slovenia and Spain. Additionally, Switzerland is an Observer, Japan is a Strategic Partner and Australia is a Third Party. The establishment of the CTAO ERIC enables the Observatory’s construction to advance rapidly and provide a framework for distributing its data worldwide, significantly accelerating its progress toward scientific discovery. Read more about the ERIC and what it means for the CTAO here.