Abstract

With the increasing emphasis on impact of research and synergies across research activities and projects, new requirements are emerging for research managers and administrators to facilitate and support this strive for greater impact. This session will scan the horizons for new requirements, opportunities, skills and potential obstacles for joint collaboration across EU-funded research projects. We will share ideas, experiences and lessons learned on joint efforts from research management/administration as well as communication and dissemination perspectives.

Two Scientific Project Officer from the European Commission will, via video, explain how they use clusterbuilding as an instrument for the commission at a policy level. You will also learn how the clusterbuilding is used for the benefit of two Horizon 2020 projects.

The session will build on the experiences of a thematic cluster, EURION, that exemplifies the novel approach by the European Commission to bring together a portfolio of research projects addressing a particular challenge. The EURION cluster consists of eight H2020-funded research projects that focus on the development of novel methods for testing and assessment of endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs). EURION was established in January 2019 by DG Research and Innovation in order to optimise synergies and avoid overlaps between the projects selected for funding from the call SC1BHC-27-2018 ‘New testing and screening methods to identify endocrine disrupting chemicals’. The cluster is coordinated by rotating teams consisting of two projects at a time to cover the 5-year life span of the projects. Importantly, EURION enables effective collaboration across the projects and facilitates sharing of knowledge, data and expertise as well as it allows joining forces especially for common dissemination and communication activities in order to maximize impact.

In this session, we will focus on four key aspects, namely understanding 1) benefits, 2) challenges, 3) skills and instruments, as well as 4) stakeholders and other actors which can be crucial for successful cross-project collaboration and greater impact. In particular, we will discuss the added value that research and project managers can bring in to support joint activities and novel collaborations.

By the end of the session, the participants will have formed a better picture on:
- Benefits and synergies of cross-project collaboration for greater impact
- Potential obstacles and challenges affecting joint efforts
- New skills, attitudes and instruments to work effectively across projects
- Stakeholders and other actors that can enable, facilitate and multiply the joint efforts and their impact

The session does not require previous experience from cross-project collaboration or thematic clusters, but rather contributes to the readiness of the participants to promote such collaborations for greater impact and synergies. The session focuses especially on collaborative research projects and their clustering within an EU framework programme context, but many of the experiences could be generalised and applied to other aspects of research collaboration and management.

To ensure wide dissemination of the key aspects and messages, a summary report and an article will be published through various communication channels after the conference.

This session is co-organised by the EURION cluster and the European Commission.