On 21-22 October 2019, the 4th General Assembly of the ID-EPTRI project took place in Warsaw (Poland). It was organised in collaboration with the Polish partner Instytut “Pomnik-Centrum Zdrowia Dziecka” (IPCZD).
The first day of the meeting was hosted at the Polish Ministry of Health with the important participation of the Ministry of Health Łucasz Szumowski and of the President of the Polish Medical Research Agency Piotr Czauderna. It was focused on the design of the future research infrastructure of EPTRI in the context of the ESFRI landscape and what the common services foreseen to be part of its future will offer in a framework of collaboration with the existing initiatives in Europe and outside.
During the first day, two sessions were also dedicated to the feasibility studies (FSs) aimed to test at different level the acceptability, feasibility and sustainability of future EPTRI and demonstrate that the many difficulties and barriers in conducting paediatric research can be successfully overcome through the partnership and the research units providing services.
The second day started with the presentation of the data of the user survey of WP9, aimed at identifying the potential service users and their needs, and of the context analysis of the WP3, which mapped the research units and their expertise in Pan-European countries.
Moreover, the meeting provided an overview of the Thematic Research Platforms and the services offered, the management of the requests and the single access point for the users, the governance and business model, the communication activities with the newly prepared brochure.
The General Assembly meeting represented a crucial occasion to discuss the work done so far and focus on the key activities on which we need to join our efforts and collaborate with all the partners in light of the end of the project and the new amazing deadline to be crushed.
During the meeting there were also funny and cultural moments, such as the visit of some private institutional rooms of the Pac’a Palace, the walk in Warsaw’s Old Town and the marvelous concert of the violinist Patrycja Piekutowska, an international artist who gave concerts in four continents with the aim to raise funds for children’s health, being the President of the Kids Foundation in Warsaw.