Visegrad 4 project managers training in Brussels

On 5 – 7 December 2018 the V4 training for project managers took place in Brussels.
This time, the organizers decided to open the event for the wider public and offered some places to other liaison offices as well. A total of 34 project managers working mostly for universities and research institutions in the V4, Cyprus, Lithuania and Slovenia took part.

The training was organized by the Czech Liaison Office for Research, Development and Innovation (CZELO), the Permanent Representation of Hungary to the EU, the Slovak Liaison Office for Research and Development (SLORD) and the Polish Science Contact Agency (PolSCA). These offices have a common interest to foster the participation of their respective countries in the framework programmes for research. The training was another of their joint activities following previous events such a conference on innovation ecosystems.

The aim of the training was to contribute to build professional capacities of project managers by providing them with 'Brussels added value' information and thus raise their awareness of the political context of the European research programmes and the initiatives beyond Horizon 2020. Although the CZELO office offers individual project managers’ internships as a standard service, the
V4 format allowed for a more comprehensive and intense 3-day programme that offered a number of speakers from the European Commission as well as experts and practitioners.

Representatives from the EC held presentations on the role of European executive agencies, on the Open Data policy, on the dissemination plan and communication of research results and on different initiatives and instruments of the European Research Area, such as Joint Undertakings, Public-Public Partnerships, Joint Programming Initiatives, European Innovation Partnerships or the LIFE programme. Furthermore, the participants received an insider´s view from Brussels-based experts into comitology, the process of preparation of Work Programmes and got a hint of how professional lobbying works. Furthermore, they had the opportunity to hear about the evaluation process both from the institutional point of view and from the point of view of an evaluator. The programme reflected also the current development in the European research policy by including information about Horizon Europe.

As a part of the training, the participants took an active part in a workshop on human resources management at research institutions and they were also updated on the impact of Brexit on research cooperation and a representative of UK Research Office shared advice in how to deal with British partners in projects.

The next Visegrad 4 project managers training in Brussels is planned for spring 2019.

Agenda of the training is available here.

More photos on the Czech site.