On Tuesday, 20^th September 2022, the EHRI Board of Governmental Representatives (BGR) meeting took place at the Austrian Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research in Vienna. The BGR consists of distinguished representatives of decision-making ministries and/or funding bodies. Delegates from Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Israel, the Netherlands, Romania and the United Kingdom met in person, while the delegate from Belgium joined virtually. The meeting’s main agenda item was to discuss the final drafting of documents contributing to the transformation of EHRI from a project into a permanent Research Infrastructure in the form of an ERIC (European Research Infrastructure Consortium).

At the start of the meeting, EHRI-PP’s Project Director Reto Speck introduced the timeline for the transformation process, which aims to be complete by January 2025. Each delegate provided a brief overview of the progress in their respective country with regards to EHRI-ERIC, including the establishment of national nodes, while also indicating the timelines required for official approval of documents and budgets and for the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). The meeting continued with presentations and discussions on EHRI-ERIC’s statutes, the financial plan, and the scientific and technical description.

Excellent progress was made with regards to all agenda points. All the documents required for an ERIC application are close to completion, and EHRI is on course to submit an ERIC application to the European Commission in early 2023.