Driving global collaboration through the Prato 2025 Health Research Infrastructure Symposium
The 2025 Australian & European Health Research Infrastructure Symposium, held from 16-18 September at the Monash University Prato Centre in Italy, united leaders from major Australian and European research infrastructures to strengthen international partnerships and tackle shared challenges in health and life sciences.
The three-day meeting focused on building a globally connected research infrastructure ecosystem capable of responding to emerging challenges – from data-driven research and artificial intelligence to global health crises and climate-related threats.
Participants included senior leadership from the NCRIS Health Group and (Bioplatforms Australia, National Imaging Facility, Therapeutic Innovation Australia, Phenomics Australia, Population Health Research Network, Microscopy Australia and EMBL Australia) and their European colleagues from European infrastructures such as BBMRI-ERIC, Euro-BioImaging, EATRIS, ELIXIR, ECRIN, Infrafrontier, EU-OPENSCREEN and Instruct-ERIC.
Over 50 delegates from the Australian National Research Infrastructure (NRI) Advisory Group, the European Commission (EC), the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI), the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) Association, and the European Federation for Cancer Images (EUCAIM) participated in discussions and interactive sessions on shared priority areas, including:
- Tackling global health challenges through coordinated research infrastructures
- Artificial intelligence in health and life sciences
- Innovation, translation, and data-driven research
- Training and workforce development
- Industry and community drivers for distributed research initiatives
- Sustainability, policy, and leadership in research infrastructure
A major outcome of the symposium was the development of a comprehensive White Paper, synthesising insights from the two‑day program and outlining a strategic pathway to strengthen international RI collaboration.
Importantly, these conversations helped open opportunities for Australian institutions to engage with European colleagues in relation to the Horizon Europe program, creating a direct pathway for collaborative consortia that leverage complementary strengths.
Extending momentum: delegation visit to EMBL Barcelona and EMBL EBI
Building on the connections and momentum established at Prato, a delegation of NCRIS Health Group members visited EMBL Barcelona and the European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL‑EBI) in Hinxton.
During these visits, the delegation explored areas of mutual scientific interest, shared national infrastructure strategies, and discussed how Australia’s strengths – particularly its integrated, nationwide research infrastructure programs – can connect meaningfully with EMBL’s European platforms. Meetings with EMBL Barcelona focused on advanced tissue biology, imaging, and organoid systems, demonstrating clear opportunities for scientific collaboration and exchange. Meanwhile, discussions at EMBL‑EBI highlighted strong alignment in bioinformatics, data platforms, and FAIR data practices – areas where Australia and Europe can jointly tackle global research challenges.
Showcasing Australia’s capability and strengthening global partnerships
Together, the Prato Symposium, the White Paper, and the subsequent EMBL site visits demonstrated that Australia is an ambitious, globally connected research partner and strengthened Australia’s visibility, credibility and collaborative potential internationally.
The symposium showcased national capabilities, brought decision‑makers together, and created strategic alignment across the sector. The White Paper turned that dialogue into a clear, forward‑looking plan. The European delegation visits then translated this momentum into concrete relationship‑building with EMBL sites.
