WS5 How to Support Researchers in Writing Pillar II Proposals

Workshop content and the learning outcome

Pillar II of Horizon Europe is designed to address EU Challenges and EU Industrial Opportunities. Pillar II is a  ‘top-down’ programme – the Topics in Pillar II are designed to address specific EU policies.  Success in Pillar II Proposals demands Excellent Science AND an understanding of the EU policies behind Pillar II Topics. This course describes how Research Support Staff can help researchers with the content of Pillar II Proposals. (The presentation does NOT cover legal and financial rules of Horizon Europe)
 

1. Research Support for Pillar II Proposals

• - Profile of Researchers with High Success Rates in Pillar II
• - Fundamental Levels of Support for Pillar II Proposals
• - Advanced Support for Pillar II Proposals

2. Horizon Europe Funding Landscape

• - Sources of Information on Pillar II (Horizon Europe)
• - Pillar II in the Horizon Europe Funding Landscape
• - Identifying Opportunities in Pillar II Clusters

3. How to Analyse a Pillar II Work Programme

• - From EU Policies to Pillar II Work Programmes
• - From Specific EU Policies to Pillar II Topics
• - Case Study of a Topic in Pillar II

3. Pillar II: Proposal Questions and Evaluation Criteria

• - Scale and Significance of the proposal
• - Structure of the consortium (multi-actor approach)
• - The ‘Skills Matrix’
• - Outputs, Outcomes and Impact Pathways

5. How Pillar II Proposals are Evaluated

• - The Evaluation Process for Pillar II
• - The Role of the Remote Evaluators
• - The Role of the Evaluation Committee

6. How to Screen Pillar II Proposals (Proposal Clinics)

• - The Role of Proposal Clinics
• - Template for Proposal Clinics
• - From Proposal Clinic to the Final Proposal

Workshop facilitators

Dr. Seán McCarthy designs training courses to develop the skills of researchers participating in European Research programmes. He has delivered training courses to 78 of the top 100 European Universities. Seán has been active in European Research since 1980. He has been involved in over 150 research proposals to the Framework programmes and has participated in over 60 Framework projects. In 16 of these projects Seán was the coordinator. 

Sylvia McCarthy is an EU Policy Analyst. Based in Brussels since 2008, Sylvia has worked in the European Parliament and various EU consultancies and representations. Sylvia specialises in the preparation of ‘Proposal Intelligence Reports’ for Pillar II Proposals. Sylvia has a Bachelor’s degree in European Studies (University College Cork, Ireland) and a Master’s degree in International Politics and Europe (University of Warwick, UK).