3rd ESFRI Stakeholder Forum Meetup

The ESFRI Stakeholder Forum is a key platform to interact with European Research Infrastructure (RI) stakeholders, raise awareness across the R&I ecosystem, and facilitate cooperation and mutual learning. The Forum aims to attract a diverse range of stakeholders, seeking to look beyond traditional RI communities and foster new and improved services of RIs.

The Meetup of the Forum is a regular event that gathers diverse participants, including research infrastructures, policymakers, research organisations, and higher education institutions. The primary objective of the Meetup is to create a structured, constructive communication channel with a broad community of stakeholders, facilitating the exchange of ideas and expertise between research infrastructures and their stakeholders. The aim is to promote better integration of RIs with related communities, increase their visibility and relevance, and contribute to their long-term sustainability.

The first two ESFRI Stakeholder Forum Meetups, held in Brussels and Tenerife, brought together stakeholders to discuss key topics such as funding, access, and collaboration, highlighting the need for sustained two-way communication and identification of good practices. The previous meetups laid the groundwork for the 3rd ESFRI Stakeholder Forum Meetup, building on discussions to inform the path towards sustainable research infrastructures.

The event aims to discuss ideas and best practices for enhancing a range of sustainability aspects of the European research infrastructures ecosystem. Through a combination of panel discussions, networking opportunities and break-out sessions, the event seeks to foster trust and cooperation among stakeholders, discussing current topics of mutual interest.

The opening session will provide an overview of the programme for the two days and highlight the crucial topic of sustainability of the RI ecosystem, building on recent ESFRI work on this topic, notably its reports on Long-Term Sustainability of Research Infrastructures (2017) and on Funding of Research Infrastructures (2025).

The event will be structured around two main sessions:

• Driving Innovation and Sustainability through RI-Industry collaboration
• Synergies from different funding sources

For each session, panel discussions will be organised, as well as breakout sessions, discussing questions from the audience, but also a number of pre-defined themes and questions. At the end of each set of breakout sessions, a rapporteur from each session will summarise the findings to the plenary audience.

In addition to the core programme, a series of site visits and networking opportunities will complement the event experience. On 11 June, an open panel discussion on “The Role of Research Infrastructures for Technological Sovereignty of the European Union”—organised by the Polish Presidency, SOLARIS and LEAPS—will take place at the Auditorium Maximum of Jagiellonian University.

That afternoon, participants who have signed up will have the opportunity to join one of the following guided visits:

• Czartoryski Museum (15:10 & 15:25) – including highlights from the renowned Czartoryski collection (details)

• Jagiellonian University Museum (15:30) – including access to rarely seen historical scientific instruments (details)

• Tour of Synchrotron SOLARIS (16:00–18:20) – with transportation provided to and from the site (details)

In parallel, a series of internal ESFRI meetings will be held at SOLARIS, including:

• Roadmap 2026 Group meeting

• Executive Board and Working Group Chairs joint session

• Implementation Group meeting

  Followed by an optional guided tour of SOLARIS for the meeting participants.