Speakers

Photo © European Union, 2024, licensed under CC BY 4.0

This year’s Symposium brings together influential voices from across the global research and innovation landscape. The opening keynote will be delivered by Manuel Heitor, architect of the Align, Act, Accelerate report and former Minister of Science, Technology and Higher Education of Portugal. On day two, Rosie Hicks, CEO of the Australian Research Data Commons, will share international insights into building sustainable research data federations, and day three will feature a keynote talk by Mercè Crosas, Director of Computational Social Science and Humanities (CSSH) Laboratory at Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC). The programme will also welcome Anna Maria Bernini, Italy’s Minister of University and Research, underscoring the importance of Italy for EOSC and EOSC for Italian and European researchers.

Thematic tracks

The sessions of EOSC Symposium 2026 will be organised into three thematic tracks:

• Track 1: EOSC collaborations and future opportunities
• Track 2: EOSC best practices and user experience
• Track 3: EOSC Federation operationalisation

Lightning talks

The programme committee selected eight lightning talks from an exceptionally strong and highly competitive pool of 42 applications submitted by members of the community. The selected talks represent a diverse and compelling range of topics, each offering a distinct perspective on the development of EOSC. The lightning talks will be delivered during the last session of day 1.

• Paediatric health data in EOSC: From Federation to AI | Rafał Bartczuk, European Paediatric Translational Research Infrastructure / Children’s Memorial Health Institute (Poland)
• From hospital data to the EOSC Federation with SIMPL | Francisco Rey Garduño, Institute of Biomedicine of Seville and European Federation for Medical Informatics (FISEVI, Spain)
• Federation in practice: From FAIR data to distributed AI | Katja Gilly, Miguel Hernández University (Spain) | Federated Urban Mobility Datasets and AI-based Handover Prediction project (FUMD-AI)
• OpenREL: Machine-actionable policies and licences for EOSC | Wim Hugo, DANS (The Netherlands) | EOSC Beyond
• From genomes to hate archives: Sovereign compute-to-data | Jan Krasni, Zentrum für Antisemitismusforschung, TU Berlin (Germany) | ERIHAD.OS
• Astrophysics Astroparticle Space Sciences Thematic EOSC Node | Marco Molinaro, Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF, Italy) | Astronomy Open Science Competence Center pilot (Astro-CC, OSCARS cascading grant)
• CORAL-Collaborative Research Application Layer for FAIR data | Valentina Pasquale, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (Italy)
• TeSSHub4EOSC: FAIR training catalogue infrastructure | Phil Reed, The University of Manchester (United Kingdom) | TeSSHub4EOSC

Registration for the EOSC Symposium is open until Friday, 09 October 2026 (23:59 CEST) and tickets are available on first-come, first-served basis! The event will bring together an exclusive group of 500 participants on site. With no live streaming available, this is a unique chance to engage directly in the conversations shaping the future of EOSC!

Whether you are looking to contribute to milestone discussions, be part of landmark moments for the EOSC community, or expand your network, the EOSC Symposium is where it all comes together. Do not miss the opportunity to join the community building the EOSC Federation and advancing an open and secure research ecosystem across Europe. Secure your place today!

How to register

1. Create an account on the registration platform
   • Visit the registration platform and hit “Click here to create an account”.
   • Fill in and submit the form.
2. Confirm your account
   • Check your email inbox for a confirmation message.
   • Follow the instructions to complete your account setup and continue registration for the event.
3. Register for the event
   • Log in to your newly created account.
   • Complete the event registration form with the required details.
4. Pay the registration fee
   • Choose your preferred payment method and complete the registration fee payment. You can pay either by bank card through the online payment system or by bank transfer.
   • If you select bank transfer, you must complete the payment within 2 weeks and send proof of payment to the organisers. If you need a pro-forma invoice, you can request one from the organisers after selecting bank transfer as your payment method.
   • Full payment instructions and additional details will be available on the registration platform.
5. Receive final confirmation of your registration
   • Once your payment has been processed and approved, you will receive a confirmation email securing your place at the EOSC Symposium 2026. This email will also include the final invoice for your registration fee.

Event venue

Accommodations

Participants of the EOSC Symposium can take advantage of exclusive accommodation rates at selected hotels near the event venue by booking through the Florence Convention Bureau.

After check-in and check-out dates are entered, the platform displays the available hotel options, including prices and the distance from the Symposium venue, to help choose the most convenient stay.

As October is a particularly busy time in Florence, we strongly recommend booking your accommodation well in advance. Prato offers a budget-friendly alternative to Florence, with good train connections.

⚠ Beware of scam accommodation messages

Please be aware that scam messages from operation@gtravelhosting.com have been circulating. These messages offer to arrange accommodation and ask recipients to reply so that a booking link can be provided.

Please do not reply, click on any links, provide any personal or payment information, or make any bookings through these messages. If you receive a message of this nature, please ignore it and do not engage with the sender.

The Florence Convention Bureau is the only accommodation booking channel recommended by the organisers. Participants are also welcome to arrange their accommodation through other channels of their choice.

Throughout the three-day EOSC Symposium, participants will have the opportunity to visit the exhibitor area, where EOSC Nodes, EOSC-A Task Forces and INFRAEOSC projects will showcase their work, activities and latest developments. Check the list of exhibitors below.