18th Meeting of the Group of Senior Officials (GSO) on Global Research Infrastructures

30 nov 2026, 09:00 → 1 dic 2026, 14:00 Europe/Rome

Marconi Room (Piazzale Aldo Moro 7, Rome, Italy)

Giorgio Rossi

The 18th Meeting of the Group of Senior Officials (GSO) on Global Research Infrastructures will be hosted by the Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR) in Rome, Italy, on 30 November and 1 December 2026. The meeting will bring together members of the GSO and invited participants for the scheduled discussions and activities outlined in the meeting agenda.

In addition to the GSO sessions, participants will have the opportunity to attend the presentation of the ESFRI Roadmap 2026 on 2 December 2026 at the Auditorium Parco della Musica in Rome. The programme also includes the possibility to join a visit to the Gran Sasso National Laboratories (LNGS), organized in the framework of the International Conference on Research Infrastructures (ICRI), on 4 December 2026.

Please note that this event will not be live streamed and remote participation will not be available. Remote access is reserved exclusively for approved speakers.

lunedì 30 novembre

09:00 → 09:30 Arrival and Registration

09:30 → 09:40 Institutional welcome

09:40 → 11:00 Regular Items

• Opening remarks and introduction of the Chair
• Introduction of participants and approval of the agenda
• Approval of the minutes from previous meeting
• Tour de table with updates from delegations

11:00 → 11:30 OECD Update

11:30 → 12:00 Coffee break

12:00 → 13:00 Session 1: Research Infrastructure ecosystems

How international collaboration among RIs can evolve into networks tackling shared global challenges.

12:00 Multimessenger astronomy

In-person contribution

Speaker: Prof. Marica Branchesi (Gran Sasso Science Institute, President of the Scientific Council of Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica)

12:20 Successes, opportunities, and risks: an international radioastronomy perspective

Speaker: Prof. Geoffrey Bower (Director of ASTRON)

12:40 Event Horizon Telescope

Remote contribution

Speaker: Dr. Shepherd Doeleman (Senior Research Fellow, Harvard-Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory)

13:00 → 14:00 Lunch Break

14:00 → 15:20 Session 1: Research Infrastructure ecosystems: Continuation

How international collaboration among RIs can evolve into networks tackling shared global challenges.

14:00 The case of LEAPs

In-person contribution

Speaker: Dr. Jakub Szlachetko (Director of the SOLARIS Synchrotron in Kraków, LEAPS Vice-Chair)

14:20 Presentation on CNPEM and ecosystems around Sirius

In-person contribution

Speaker: Dr. Gabriela Ferreira (CNPEM)

14:40 Prairie Hub – The Vaccine and Infectious Diseases organisation (VIDO)

Remote contribution

Speaker: Dr. Trina Racine (Director Vaccine Development, Vaccine and Infections Disease Organization -VIDO)

15:00 EU initiative ISIDORE

15:00 → 15:30 Coffee break

15:30 → 17:30 Session 2: Environmental impact of RIs

How RIs address energy supply and other environmental footprint issues, and perform as demonstrators of solutions transferable to wider society.

15:30 German PRISMA Forum

Speaker: Prof. Sebastian Schmidt (HZDR)

15:50 Green IT Cube at GSI/FAIR

Speaker: Prof. Thomas Nilsson (Scientific Managing Director of GSI and FAIR)

16:10 Canadian High Arctic Research Station

Remote contribution

Speaker: Dr. David Hik (Chief Scientist and Vice-President of Research, Polar Knowledge Canada)

16:30 Designing a new Summit Station (Greenland) to minimize energy use

Remote contribution

Speaker: Sig. Michael Gencarelli (Planning Manager, US National Science Foundation Office of Polar Programs)

16:50 Perspectives on minimising energy use at astronomy labs from NOIRLab

Remote contribution

Speaker: Dr. Pat McCarthy (Director of NOIRLab)

17:10 Perspectives from ESSRI workshops

Remote contribution

Speaker: Dr. Maurizio Vretenar (CERN Honorary Associate)

20:00 → 22:00 Social Dinner (Complimentary)

martedì 1 dicembre

09:00 → 10:30 Session 3: Science-based algorithms for AI use in research infrastructures

How a science-driven and researcher-controlled AI development can lead to better collaboration and science production at RIs.

09:00 EIROforum perspectives on AI in science

In-person contribution

Speaker: TBA

09:15 TBA

Speaker: Dr. Ben Brown (DoE, US)

09:30 TBA

Speaker: Dr. Luigi Serio (CERN)

09:45 Towards Reliable AI for Synchrotron Brain Imaging at SSRF

In-person contribution

Speaker: Dr. Chunpeng Wang (Assistant Director, SSRF Science Center & Department Director, Big Data and Experiment Center, Shanghai Advanced Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences)

10:00 Validating algorithms for Copernicus ocean data

In-person contribution

Speaker: Sig. Pierre Bahurel (Director General of Mercator)

10:15 TBA

Speaker: TBA (SKAO)

10:30 → 11:15 Coffee break

11:15 → 12:30 GSO vision: actions beyond the Framework

12:30 → 13:00 Closing Remarks

• Roundtable on next steps and emerging issues to be addressed.
• Next GSO meeting

13:00 → 14:00 Lunch