ECRIN welcomes MRINZ

Today, Alex Semprini, Deputy Director, Marina Dzhelali, Principal Research Manager, and John Martindale, Principal Data and Quality, all from the Medical Research Institute of New Zealand (MRINZ), visited the ECRIN headquarters in Paris to follow up on the recent Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the two organisations. 

The MRINZ is the leading medical research institute in New Zealand. As an independent research institute and trial coordination centre, it advances high-quality clinical research with a focus on both local and large-scale multinational trials. 

In April of 2025, ECRIN and MRINZ signed an MoU to exchange information on regulatory and ethical frameworks, organisation of clinical research in Europe and New Zealand and funding mechanisms, among other topics. This has led to their CTU currently being the only one outside of Europe with a valid self-assessmentsheet (ECRIN’s CTU quality assurance) in the ECRIN quality system.

The discussions today built on this foundation and focused on key areas of interest for both organisations. More specifically, we discussed the best means of inclusion for investigators from New Zealand in upcoming Horizon Europe Pillar II calls and how to build on and share tools and training hosted by the two institutions.