‘V4 Training for Research Project Managers’ is the flagship training course of the Polish Science Contact Agency. Its aim is to support and develop managers of European research projects (primarily Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe) working at universities, scientific and research institutes in departments responsible for acquisition, management and reporting. These trainings have been co-organised since 2016 together with the Czech Liaison Office for Research, Development and Innovation (CZELO), the National Research, Development and Innovation Office in Hungary (NRDIO) and the Slovak Liaison Office for Research and Development (SLORD). The current training was the 12th edition. So far, more than 420 people have received the training, including 80 participants from Polish research units!
After a hiatus of more than two years for the online format, the training returned to its original version and was held onsite in Brussels. From 12 to 14 October, a total of 35 participants from the Visegrad Group countries and from countries affiliated to IGLO (Informal Group of RTD Liaison Offices) attended lectures and workshops on the European research and innovation sector, project management and supporting the potential of researchers in their organisations.
Invited speakers included representatives of the Brussels Liaison Offices, staff from the European Commission, a university and a research institute. Participants in the training had the opportunity to broaden their knowledge of the EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation, including in areas such as project evaluation thanks to Federica Roffi from the Research Executive Agency (REA), open science policy thanks to Silvia Boratto from the European Commission’s Directorate for Research and Innovation (DG RTD) or strengthening the scientific capacity of individuals within the framework of Widnening-type instruments (Adeline Kroll and Stijn Delaure, DG RTD, EC). Other issues discussed during the training included the work programme development process, budgeting and good project management practices, online tools to help monitor and disseminate projects or the specific support on offer for research managers and issues related to international visibility and building project consortia. Among the speakers were also members of the PolSCA Team, i.e. Tomasz Poprawka – office director and Magdalena Dobrzyńska – R&D policy expert.
Particularly noteworthy were the workshop sessions during this year’s training. The first of these – on communicating the priorities of research units and self-presentation for brokering meetings – was led by Magdalena Kulą from DG RTD in the European Commission. The next workshop session was aimed at exchanging good practices from their daily activities with other trainees, where the main themes were international cooperation, strengthening organisational capacities and investing in the scientific staff of the units. The latter was also fostered by an evening networking event to which representatives of science and research working on a daily basis in Brussels were invited.
We would like to thank the diplomatic services in the Permanent Representation of the Republic of Poland to the EU for their support during the first day of training, in particular, His Excellency Ambassador Andrzej Sadoś for the hospitality given to all participants and speakers.
‘V4 Training for Research Project Managers’ takes place twice a year – in autumn and spring – so stay tuned for information on the next recruitment and look forward to the next edition of this event!
