Abstract

The European Project Office (EPO) at the Fundació de Recerca Clínic Barcelona-Institut d'Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer (IDIBAPS), a leading biomedical research center in Spain, has undergone a significant adaptation to closely work with the research community.

Challenge: Despite a strong scientific and clinical track record, IDIBAPS researchers faced limitations in leading and securing European funding, for instance due to clinician-researchers balancing patient care duties, or lack of EPO’s capacity to push for the development of new projects.

Solution: In 2019, a strategic shift began. Leveraging multiple regional and national funding programs (i) PERIS - Go Europe - 2019 (2019-2021), ii) Redes y Gestores 2020, iii) Gestión y Preparación de proyectos Europeos 2022 (2023-2024), iv) PERIS – Go Europe – 2023 (2023-2025)), the EPO increased its team size from 4 Research Managers (RMs) in 2019 to 8 in 2023 and fundamentally changed its operations to offer a comprehensive approach. Since 2019 the following strategy was implemented, 1) In-depth understanding of IDIBAPS research and innovation (R&I) activity: Through tailored interviews with 150 Principal Investigators (PIs), RMs gained a comprehensive understanding of IDIBAPS' R&I pipeline, encompassing 98 research groups and >400 PIs. 2) Enhanced proposal writing expertise: RMs developed specialized skills in proposal writing, incorporating deep knowledge of cross-cutting issues and EU policy priorities. 3) Co-development of coordinated proposals: The EPO transitioned from a reactive approach to partnering with PIs, co-developing new projects by deeply contributing to all steps from project concept definition to submission.

Impact: This proactive approach has yielded significant results: 1) Highly specialized and trained EPO staff enabled more PIs to lead new proposals, 2) Increased involvement from IDIBAPS’ Directors and coordination with other units, 3) New EPO profiles (e.g. innovation manager) are now playing a key role in proposal development.

Conclusion: The EPO's evolution at IDIBAPS offers valuable strategic steps for research institutions seeking to build better RMA services. The EPO’s evolution highlights the importance of proactive research management and demonstrates how fostering very close collaboration with researchers, strategic resource allocation and targeted skill development can enhance the international profile research institutions.