Mandate to update the thematic roadmaps for research infrastructures
SCNAT received a mandate from SERI to update by the end of 2024 the seven thematic roadmaps for research infrastructures (white papers) written by the scientific communities in biology, chemistry, geosciences, particle physics, astronomy, photon science and neutron science.
The seven thematic roadmaps published in 2021 by the SCNAT served in the process towards the Swiss roadmap for research infrastructures 2023, which is a planning document for the development of research infrastructures in the years 2025-2028. For the new period 2029-2032, an update of these community roadmaps is needed by the end of 2024.
After a delay due to a general rethinking of the whole four-year process leading to the Swiss roadmap and the ERI-Dispatch to Federal Council, the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI) sent a mandate in December 2023 to Swiss academies asking for an update of the existing roadmaps.
The mandate mentions the recognised importance of the thematic roadmaps as basis for decision-making and asks for two specific things to be addressed:
- an update on existing research infrastructures;
- an update of the prioritised needs for existing and new infrastructures under consideration of the national and international contexts.
The mandate further mentions that the term of "thematic roadmaps" is misleading and should possibly be changed to "white papers".
