The ICOS ERIC 10-year anniversary took place in Helsinki, Finland, on 25–27 November 2025. The week brought together scientists, technicians and other key staff from across the ICOS community, along with funders, collaborators and invited guests.
Below are some key highlights from the event week.
Info day set the scene for the anniversary week
The anniversary week began on Tuesday with the Info Day, held in the Small Hall at the University of Helsinki Main Building. The programme opened with the welcome from Sindu Raj Parampil, Science Integration Officer, and the inaugural address by ICOS Director General Werner Kutsch.
The morning continued with panel discussion on the triumphs and challenges of the Central Facilities, featuring representatives from the Head Office, Carbon Portal, Central Analytical Laboratories and all three Thematic Centres. After a coffee break, the session ‘A day in the life of an ICOS PI’ provided insights from the Atmosphere, Ecosystem and Ocean domains.
In the afternoon, the programme moved to discussions on ICOS science and stakeholders, followed by sessions on data attribution, ICOS Cities and the ICOS Curve as a new digital service. The day concluded with a hands-on activity where participants contributed their wishes and commitments for the next ten years of ICOS, before closing remarks from ICOS Director General Werner Kutsch and Director General Elect Hannele Laine.
"The purpose of the Info Day was to honour ICOS’s 10-year journey in becoming the European pillar for in situ greenhouse gas monitoring, and to usher in a new era in which ICOS continues its impactful contributions to climate science amid challenging geopolitics. For the first time, station PIs and CF staff attended the event and met the delegates of ICOS member countries. Strengthening the spirit of the ICOS community was therefore essential, in setting the tone for the next 10 years. As the organiser, I am happy that we achieved all of this and that participants expressed a deep sense of pride and commitment to ICOS", Sindu Raj Parampil comments.
MSA day: bringing the domains together
On Wednesday, the General Assembly and the three Monitoring Station Assemblies met in the same building for a full day of scientific and operational discussions. The morning opened with the joint “Super MSA” session, including welcome words by the MSA chairs of the Ecosystem, Atmosphere and Ocean domains and a presentation on the role of ICOS in global greenhouse gas observations.
The morning also included updates from the Head Office and funding tips for transnational access, followed by sessions on carbon dioxide removal, emission reduction and cross-domain synergies.
In the afternoon, the three domains continued separately. The day concluded with an evening reception for the whole community, which included music and special programme for the community, including a special look back into the 10 years of ICOS through photographs from 2015 until 2025.
Anniversary Seminar: ending the week with science and celebration
The week culminated on Thursday with the Anniversary Seminar. The event brought together ICOS researchers, European and national stakeholders, funders, policy representatives and colleagues from partner research infrastructures.
The programme featured scientific talks, reflections on the first ten years of ICOS, greetings from funding agencies and member countries and space for shared perspectives on the next decade. Both Werner Kutsch and Hannele Laine shared their insights into first ten years and the future of ICOS.
”We must find the way between panic and denial. I think this way is accepting climate change as a serious problem putting enormous risks on life in general on this planet, but more specifically on our societies and livelihoods. At the same time, accepting that it is a long way to go to get us out of the risk. It takes time and tenacity to reduce speed, to stop the car, to finally turn it, in a rational, just and cautious way. And of course, in a way that is supported by scientific knowledge. Here is where we come down again from the big picture to our ICOS world. ICOS is part of exactly this way. It’s a basic part of the value chain from observations to climate action”, Werner Kutsch said in his speech.
ICOS Director General Elect Hannele Laine’s speech highlighted how climate change is tightly connected to other global questions.
”When mitigation is lagging, climate impacts on every sector of the society are accelerating, more economic and security consequences materialise, the value of precise, trustworthy, long term observations on greenhouse gases only increases. We need to track how mitigation efforts are succeeding, and the only truly relevant measure for that is the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. That is what fundamentally determines the fate of our climate”, she said.
The seminar was followed by optional station visits, with travel to either the Hyytiälä or Tvärminne stations.
Thank you to everyone who joined us for the 10-year celebrations!
Would you like to see more pictures from the week? See all pictures on the ICOS Flickr page here. If you are a member of the ICOS internal community, you may also view and download the pictures here (requires login to NextCloud). All photographs by ICOS ERIC.
Watch the Community video, presented at the Info Day, below.