Abstract

Institutional partnerships are gaining increasing importance in the academic landscape. Though these agreements are often formed at high level management, it is up to Research Support Officers (RSO’s) to fully embody these partnerships and act upon them.

The Grant Support Teams at Radboud University Nijmegen and the University of Glasgow have been forerunners in setting up a strong collaborative approach in research funding support. Using the strategic collaboration set up between the universities in 2018 as a foundation, we developed joint goals, activities and support services to facilitate collaborative research projects since 2021. The success of this collaboration has led us to embed our collaboration in our daily practices.

Nonetheless, we remain on a steep learning curve and a significant number of questions and challenges remain. In this session we will use a problem-driven approach to create a joint learning experience in the form of (a) 15 minute discussion table(s) for EARMA participants addressing fundamental questions for RMA’s roles in international institutional partnerships:

1. How can we best embed international institutional partnerships in the daily practice of Grant Support Teams?
o What are your experiences with institutional partnerships?
o How do we ensure commitment, time and dedication in leadership in this approach?
2. How should we handle differing funding landscapes between institutional partners in research collaboration?
o Should we look beyond EU funding, is this possible?
o Would you facilitate collaboration between partners that cannot collaborate under Horizon Europe and how?

The 15 minute discussion table(s) will be led by two facilitators per table from the University of Glasgow and Radboud University Nijmegen. The discussion is open for those experienced with institutional partnerships as well as those that are new to this area but would like to learn more about it. With these discussion starters we aim to:
• Create awareness and discussion on the opportunities and challenges of institutional partnerships in strengthening research collaboration
• Learn from- and share best practices with -EARMA participants on embedding international institutional partnerships in the daily practice of Grant Support Teams
• Gain and share insights on how and whether to support research collaboration beyond EU funding