E-RIHS ERIC is expanding with the inclusion of Austria and Greece as two new Member States. Both countries had made the formal Accession Request to the General Assembly that, taking into consideration the positive opinion expressed by the Scientific and Ethics Advisory Board, on Monday, 15th June 2026, were unanimously approved.
Bettina Glaser and Marlene Antretter (as her substitute) of the Austrian Federal Ministry of Women, Science and Research (BMFWF) were officially recognised as the Austrian representatives to the General Assembly; Klaudia Hradil of Vienna Technical University (TU Wien) is the National Node Coordinator.
“By joining E-RIHS ERIC, Austria is sending a clear signal for top-level international research and for the protection of our cultural heritage. The membership opens new perspectives for European cooperation and access to scientific infrastructure for Austrian researchers, museums, universities and memory institutions.“, said Bettina Glaser.
The representatives for the Hellenic Republic Ministry of Development, Greece, are Spiros Anastasiadis and Dimitris Plexousakis (as his substitute) of the Foundation for Research and Technology – Hellas (FORTH); Demetrios Anglos of FORTH is the National Node Coordinator.
“We are happy to join E-RIHS ERIC as a full member. Greece had been involved in the long-term efforts to establish an effective coordination of the Heritage Science efforts within the European Union whereas we hadcontributed in the preparatory work to establish E-RIHS ERIC. We believe that our participation as a Member of the Consortium would ensure the access of Greek scientists to pioneering, high-level European research facilities, the strengthening of national extroversion, the attraction of significant research resources and the participation in initiatives to develop strategies for research and innovation in the field of Cultural Heritage Science” said Spiros Anastasiadis, who had served as the Vice-Chair of the interim General Assembly that prepared the ERIC application to the EU.
Now E-RIHS ERIC includes thirteen Member States: Austria, Cyprus, France, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Spain and the United Kingdom, with ICCROM (International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property) as a permanent observer.
Vania Virgili, Director General of E-RIHS ERIC, said: “The countries and their National Nodes are the backbone of our distributed infrastructure, a wealth of expertise that grows with every member. A warm welcome to Austria and Greece, and to what we will continue building together for the advancement of heritage science.”
This was the 3rd time the General Assembly had reunited since E-RIHS became a European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC) in March 2025. Besides approvals of the Accession Requests, there were many other topics on the agenda, including the approval of the 2025 E-RIHS Annual Report and the Financial Statements, the first produced since the establishment of the ERIC and an important milestone in its institutional life. Moreover, future planning was carefully evaluated through the E-RIHS Scientific Strategy 2026-2030, the result of a collective effort that brought together all the National Nodes, including their communities at national level, and which now sets the scientific direction of E-RIHS for the coming five years.
Furthermore, during the closed session of the meeting, the new Chair and Vice-Chair of the General Assembly were appointed:
- Chair: Pascal Liévaux, Deputy Head of the Delegation for Inspection, Research and Innovation, Ministry of Culture, France
- Vice-Chair: Joanna Dunster, AHRC-UKRI (Arts and Humanities Research Council – UK Research and Innovation), United Kingdom.
E-RIHS warmly thanks Lucia Toniolo, Politecnico di Milano, Italy, and David Fiala, Ministry of Higher Education and Research, France, who professionally and diligently performed respectively as Chair and Vice-Chair of the E-RIHS General Assembly during the first year of the ERIC.
