The ID Law team, led by Univ.-Prof. Dr. Nikolaus Forgó, attended and presented at the 12th edition of the BBMRI.at Annual Scientific and Ethical Advisory Board (SEAB) and Assembly of Consortium Partners (ACP) meeting. Similarly to the previous year, the event was held on the 13th of January in Vienna, at the premises of the University of Veterinary Medicine, who is a fellow BBMRI.at partner.

Within BBMRI.at, ID Law is responsible for the Legal and Regulatory work package (WP2). The meeting was an opportunity for UNIVIE to present a work package progress report detailing the activities carried out in the last 12 months. These include managing the project’s Legal Helpdesk, available to all the consortium’s partners, and updating the BBMRI.at’s Knowledge Base on Legal and Regulatory issues. This online database provides universal access to a comprehensive collection of questions and answers (Q&As) on topics relating to law and biobanking.

Additionally, WP2 reported on the organization of and participation in scientific events within the umbrella of BBMRI.at, such as co-organizing the conference: ‘New Era for Health Data: Secondary Use of Data in the EHDS and DGA and its Implementation in Europe and Austria’ (see BBMRI.at news). WP2 also participated and presented at events such as the 3rd Health, Law, and Technology Symposium (HELT 2025), Europe Biobank Week 2025 (EBW25) (see BBMRI.at news) and the BBMRI-ERIC Academy Symposium: Ethical, Legal, and Societal Aspects in View of Recent EU Legislation.

In the afternoon, to further the value of the meeting, WP2 was tasked with leading and facilitating a discussion with all Consortium partners and SEAB members on the topic of “Legal & Ethics”, which delved into the matter of Informed Consent and the assessment of the feasibility of adoption of a uniform Informed Consent sheet for all BBMRI.at biobanks (Biobank Innsbruck, Biobank Graz, MedUni Wien Biobank, VetBioBank & the JKU Biobank). After a brief impulse presentation by WP2, an exchange between the attendees was moderated by BBMRI.at Coordinator Assoc. Prof. Priv.-Doz. Dr.med.univ. Gregor Gorkiewicz (Medical University of Graz). The conclusions from the discussion will be invaluable for the progress of BBMRI.at’s research activities and outcomes on this topic.

WP2 is grateful to the SEAB members for their attendance, the BBMRI.at Coordinator, National Node Director and Executive Manager for organizing the day’s activities and the University of Veterinary Medicine for kindly hosting the meeting.

Read more about this year’s meeting here!

Read about last year's edition of the meeting here!

Funding Information:

This work was supported by the Austrian Federal Ministry of Women, Science and Research funded project BBMRI.at [grant number 2023-0.752.780].