4th Alliance4Life Meeting, Latvia

The Latvian Institute of Organic Synthesis (LIOS) hosted the Alliance4Life community in Jūrmala, Latvia from 10-12th June 2019.

The beautiful venue was surrounded by a forest on the coast of the Baltic Sea, and the panoramic view of the sea from the top-floor meeting room where plenary sessions took place was amazing. This exceptional environment, as well as the great hospitality from LIOS,  were greatly appreciated by one hundred colleagues who participated in this 4th community meeting.

The program covered three plenary sessions with lectures and presentations given by distinguished experts from outside the Alliance, as well as by internal experts from Alliance4Life. The growing interest in training from members resulted in a number of lectures that were included directly in the agenda of the Focus Groups.

The Strategy Board and Steering Committee had a very full agenda during this meeting. The goal was to plan the future activities of the Alliance, especially for 2020-2021. The discussions of the managerial bodies resulted in several decisions and tasks for the community, such as involving more researchers into project-based collaboration, building greater capacity for shaping European research policy, and strengthening collaborations with other EU networks. The Board discussed the Memorandum of the Understanding draft that will establish the Alliance4Life as a permanent structure and is to be signed in Vilnius in October. The management also closely looked at the advanced draft of the white paper that makes recommendations for policymakers. The white paper will be issued by the end of July.

Lastly, six podcasts and one short video were recorded and will be used to further promote Alliance4Life work and outcomes within the EU research and innovation community. These will be available in September after the summer break.

Thanks a lot to all participants for their activity, enthusiasm, inspiration, and good practice that was shared in Jūrmala!