TERN, in its role as a member of the Global Ecosystem Research Infrastructure, GERI, endorses the global declaration on research infrastructure which arose from the 2022 International Conference on Research Infrastructures (ICRI).
In addition to TERN, the GERI members include NEON (USA), eLTER (Europe), SAEON (South Africa), CERN (China) and ICOS (Europe). The group has welcomed the Brno Declaration and supports its calls for action on research infrastructure investment, capability enhancement, integration, and recognition.
The Brno Declaration on Fostering a Global Ecosystem of Research Infrastructures highlights the essential role research infrastructures (RIs) around the world play in underpinning cutting-edge research, advancing science-driven innovation, and providing services to solve the planet’s grand societal challenges, including the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
Launched during ICRI 2022, the declaration is a call to action to research and innovation policy-makers to place RIs at the forefront of their decision-making, including at the global level. 12 specific actions are detailed on topics including RI funding, capabilities, integration, collaboration and global diplomacy.
GERI, having achieved global recognition for its status as a federation of continental and country-scale ecosystems, welcomes the Brno Declaration, its call to action and looks forward to helping ensure its ambitious objectives are achieved.
GERI’s highly-regarded global governance model and its overarching aspirations to inform political and managerial decision-making to address grand biodiversity and climate challenges are well aligned with the Brno Declaration’s call to action. Its integrated network of RIs across five continents is already aiding the development of a thriving and impact-delivering global environmental RI community — with the potential to deliver much more.
The Brno Declaration is supported by the European Union Member States, the European Commission, and the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI). It will help to frame ongoing research infrastructure discussions ahead of the next global ICRI meeting in Australia in 2024 — at which GERI will be a feature and participant.
