Abstract

When you delve into EU funding calls, one theme stands out clearly: a strong emphasis on collaboration and interdisciplinary projects. Researchers today face the challenge of breaking out of their departmental, institutional, and disciplinary siloes to advance their research agendas and stay competitive. Yet, amidst the wealth of available data, finding the perfect match – be it a potential grant or a collaborator with complementary expertise – can be a time-consuming and daunting task. In response to this need, we are developing a web application that taps into the potential of AI, data science, and web technology to reinforce collaboration and EU partnering between the 23 universities of the Young European Research Universities Network (YERUN). With it we aim to empower both researchers and research managers, allowing them to harness their own data in order to bridge the gap between research programs and funding opportunities.

The key feature of this web app is the ability to recommend potential research collaborations and funding opportunities to each individual researcher in YERUN. To suggest possible matches we first collect data publicly available on the ORCID website, alongside similar databases like CrossRef and Semantic Scholar, focusing on publication abstracts. We then use Natural Language Processing AI algorithms to create and analyze the research profiles of the researchers from universities within the YERUN network. In our approach, we are of course actively working to minimize the false positives (recommendations that miss the mark) but also to reduce redundancy (like suggesting established collaborations that have already resulted in joint publications). Furthermore, we avoid the AI "black box" approach and use techniques that provide supporting evidence for our matches by highlighting specific textual and thematic similarities. The frequent data collection via automated API calls ensures the data is accurate and regularly updated, and reduces manual data entry efforts. The collected information is securely stored in an online database powered by the Django framework. The platform login is though ORCID SSO, ensuring data integrity and accessibility for authorized users, while maintaining ease of use.

Our web app is not just about technological advancement and new tools -- it's about the idea that universities and scholars are stronger when they work together. By fostering collaboration and knowledge exchange, we hope to spark synergies among YERUN member institutions, paving the way for ground-breaking research outcomes. Simultaneously, we are enabling stronger EU partnerships and building on the commitment of the YERUN Universities to share their data and develop a common tool. Finally, our initiative aims to return control to universities and the researchers themselves, enabling them to take a more active role in shaping their research agendas and funding pursuits.