On May 14th, partners of the Coordination and Support Action (CSA) BrainHealth, alongside funders, member states, and the European Commission gathered in Berlin for the project’s first General Assembly!
After a welcome by Tanja Fröhlich-Israng (BMBF) and an introduction by the CSA Coordinator Ulrike Bußhoff (DLR Project Management Agency, Germany), Tim Raemakers (European Commission) presented the Commission’s perspective on the upcoming EU Partnership on Brain Health.
Highly appreciated were the contributions by Astri Arnesen (European Federation of Neurological Associations, Norway) and Erik Van der Eycken (GAMIAN-Europe, Belgium) who highlighted the importance of involving patients at the centre of coordinated research efforts.
The roadmap towards a future European Partnership on Brain Health was presented by Friederike Bathe and Christina Müller (both DLR Project Management Agency, Germany), emphasizing how the project’s vision, mission, impact and structure are designed to launch and maintain a successful partnership.
Attendant funders and partners considerably utilized the opportunity to discuss the priority research areas which were identified during the development of the Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA) and presented by Etienne Hirsch (Inserm, France).
The CSA’s interaction with global initiatives and research infrastructures, intended to ensure the careful preparation of the future partnership, was jointly presented to funders and partners by Frédéric Destrebecq (European Brain Council, Belgium) and Philippe Vernier (EBRAINS, Belgium,).
The closing Q&A session offered ample discussions with all participants, present or online. With a concise wrap-up by the coordinator, Ulrike Bußhoff, the General Assembly was closed and the CSA BrainHealth Project Steering Committee (PSC) likes to thank all partners, funders, member states and participants for joining us in Berlin or online.