Abstract

After the first Pecha Kucha experience at EARMA conference 2023, about “Research Manager as a Matryoshka? What is behind the research manager profile?”, the second appointment aims to consider one of the several Matryoshkas characterizing a Research Manager.
A specific case from the Department of Management – Alma Mater Studiorum University of Bologna as a cue to better reflect and discuss how the RM profile is transforming according to the ongoing novelty in the research areas and even in coherence with the researchers' needs.
The case refers to a European Erasmus Plus project on the financing line Strategic Partnership for Higher Education when interviews must be conducted to collect data about specific professional profiles. The researchers detail all aspects from a scientific point of view, every piece seems in the right place, but ops... in the frame of the post-award support service, the RM turns on a bell about compliancy with privacy issues.
Suddenly, a boulder on the researcher’s head appears.
What is then the role of the RM towards the researchers?
Should RM act as a teacher, a collaborator, a supporter, a “ferryman/woman”, or something else according to the different RM’s experiences?
How to figure out? In a rapidly changing world, the RM matryoshka should catch the main transversal innovations and support researchers in understanding how to enhance their research activity and research quality.
Learning outcomes: through the analysis of a concrete experience, participants are invited to focus on helpful inputs for the identification of their own role(s) in their institution and, thus, of opportunities for an evolving profile.
Inputs for the audience: a short list of possibilities for the identification of the RM role(s).