The main aim of the project can be summarized in 5 steps: to equip research managers with special skills through organizing trainings and workshops covering several areas of their daily work, give the research support offices visibility, build a strong network of research managers in the 4 Visegrad and the Western Balkan countries. An additional goal was to give a better understanding and recognition of the profession and enable the involvement of the RMA network in the RM-related EU initiatives.

A total of 67 participants from 12 countries attended the 2-day conference. The first plenary session was dedicated to the presentations of keynote speakers, such as Giulia Carpineti, Consultant at the European Commission, DG RTD, Teodora Konach, EARMA, Head of Professional Development and Borbála Schenk, NRDIO, Head of Department for International Affairs.  Their presentations focused on the research policy landscape in the European Union and in Hungary.

In the second plenary session, Virág Zsár, Research Attaché at the Permanent Representation of Hungary presented the results of the RM Roadmap survey mapping the Europe-wide landscape of research managers. After this, Edwin Kanters, EU Liaison Officer of the Utrecht University gave some advice on working together in an innovation and research ecosystem.

After the networking lunch, stakeholders of the V4WB region shared their views during a roundtable discussion about research management, focusing on what has changed in the recent past, and what changes are still needed.

We had the honour to welcome the speech of Linda Kapustová Helbichová, the Executive Director of the International Visegrad Fund, which is the donor of the project. After her speech, interactive workshops followed covering challenging topics such as intellectual property management, conflict resolution at the office, and how to make the best out of funding opportunities as EU and non-EU countries.

The second day kicked off with a campus tour at Corvinus University and an introduction of the Centre for Grand and Project Management and Liaison Office led by Judit Fekete, Head of Centre and Orsolya Lugmayer, Liaison Officer of Corvinus and ELTE in Brussels.

Finally, as an addition to the conference, colleagues of the NOVA University in Lisbon organised an interactive workshop in the framework of the RM Roadmap project, titled “Advancing Research Management Training in the V4 and Balkan Regions: Needs, Insights, and Future Collaborations”. In the second part of the workshop, 3 trainers of the region presented their institutions’ training programs for research managers.

This conference provided valuable insights through 12 presentations, 6 workshops, and a stakeholder discussion. Additionally, it fostered relationship-building, networking, and strategic collaboration, enhancing the competitiveness of the V4+WB region.

The main focus of the event is to present how the situation and status of research management has changed during the time of the project in the 4 Visegrad and the 3 Western Balkan countries, what are the improvements, opportunities and the achievements in the field.

Some policy makers from the European Commission, ministries and funding organizations and institution leaders will also be present at the conference, who will give an overview of the present state and further initiatives of research and innovation and research management from their perspective in the form of presentations and a roundtable discussion.

On the second day of the conference there will be a workshop organized by NOVA University of Lisbon with the title ’Advancing Research Management Training in the V4 and Balkan Regions: Needs, Insights, and Future Collaborations’ as part of the RM Roadmap project.

The conference attendance is free of charge, but we can only accept a limited number of registrations due to spatial limitations. You can register via the following e-mail address until the 21th of January:

v4wbrmaplusconference@gmail.com

Read more about the conference here, and access the agenda through this link.

The conference was attended by more than 1,400 participants from 52 countries. The results of the RM ROADMAP survey  focusing on the current status, needs and obstacles of Research Managers across Europe were presented by HÉTFA colleagues in the form of a poster session and also on a panel discussion. HÉTFA was represented by Virág Zsár senior grant advisor and Blanka Csite junior project manager.

The survey reveals that in line with previous surveys, research managers are predominantly female and highly qualified: over 90 percent have either Master’s or PhD degree. Their academic qualifications are just as diverse as the fields covered during their daily work. It is also visible that most of them need expertise from different fields backed by a huge diversity of skills and competences as  45% of them cover 2 or 4 fields of Research Management during their daily work. The most preferred umbrella terms for this group of professionals are Research Manager, Research Manager and Administration and Research Management and Support Professional. Opportunities for career advancement often involve promotional aspirations towards leadership positions or moving to another institution. The biggest challenges in the profession are the demanding and stressful environment, low salaries and the lack of opportunities for professional development. The final and more detailed results will be available this autumn.

Beside Nik Claesen, Managing Director of EARMA provided an update on efforts to develop the profession and professional recognition in the frame of ERA Action 17, the research management initiative, by raising standards across research management and having a dedicated action in the 2025-2027 ERA Policy agenda.

Additionally, the topics presented at the conference included Responsible Research and Innovation, open science, research collaborations, and also recognition, upskilling, and better career frameworks for RMAs. Another focus point of this year was put on new technological opportunities and challenges provided by emerging technologies such as AI.

]]> https://hetfa.eu/2024/04/rm-roadmap-questionnaire-for-research-managers/ Wed, 24 Apr 2024 09:46:18 +0000 https://hetfa.eu/?p=11188 Are you helping researchers to submit proposals or implement projects? If you have extensive experience in research management and want to improve research managers’ prospects, now is your chance. Please fill in our questionnaire by 10 May, which is part of the RM Roadmap project, aimed at creating a framework and strategy for the future of the research management profession in Europe and building a community to support its implementation.

By assessing the current status and gaps in career opportunities, terminology, mobility and training opportunities within the research management profession, the project aims to contribute to improving the efficiency and quality of professional support for research projects and access more funding.

The questionnaire takes about 25 minutes to complete and will help shape the future of the research management profession.

The questionnaire is available on this link until 10^th of May.

Thank you for your contribution!

Two significant events marked the half time of the project hosted by the NOVA University of Lisbon. The first day the project partners shared their results, challenges and next steps in the form of a General Assembly. On the second day more than 80 RM Roadmap national and thematic ambassadors joined the conference from 40 countries. They could see presentations of the work packages and detailed instructions about the co-creation session, in which they have a crucial role.

The goal of this activity is that the ambassadors and research management communities validate and give their opinion about the RM Roadmap Survey , which has already been completed by 1500 professionals. Anyone can join this process to add their expert opinion following a quick registration on this link until April 18th.

During the conference project partners presented their preliminary results based on 1,5 years of research. The research concerns the definition of research management, the main common names of positions in the profession, its main fields and the skills and competences belonging to them. Besides these areas the partners and ambassadors discussed further opportunities for training, funding and creating professional networks.

The final goal of the project is on the one hand to create an online platform for research managers, which is a valuable tool to support their work, and on the other hand, to formulate recommendations for policy makers and creating a professional roadmap at a European level to standardize and professionalize research management.

The 2-day event was a great opportunity not only for professional collaboration and discussions but also for building relationships, networking and leisure activities, which included a guided tour in the city of Lisbon.

The investigation consisted of multiple methods serving qualitative research, including literature review, focus group discussions, online interviews and the summary of the results of an in-person workshop. Following the literature review and the presentation of the preliminary results, the main gaps and needs are highlighted in order to give orientation to the project work for the upcoming two years. The richness of the preliminary results enables us to formulate recommendations to the various stakeholders, which can be found in the end of the report.

The most important findings are grouped into 5 different topics, as they follow:

1) Definition and terminology of Research Management

Defining Research Management is a complex task due to the diverse and constantly evolving nature of the profession. The complexity of RM roles and responsibilities makes clear identification challenging, hindering the establishment of a professional identity. To get a better understanding, however, it is worth analysing the verbs to underline the support role of research managers shared by participants of the focus group discussions & interviewees: help, connect, translate, guide, facilitate and enable. Our findings underscore how RMs support researchers in their research activities in many possible ways but often without recognition. Therefore, clarifying RMs’ role is vital to highlight its added value.

2) Job categories in Research Management

There is a significant diversity of RM job areas and categories across Europe. Professionals in RM can be found in services including pre-award, post-award, finances, research communications, legal issues, knowledge and innovation management, research policy, research funding, research infrastructure management and research data management, and so on. Therefore, given the diversity of the fields, it is even more important to underline the importance of the profession to stakeholders. One solution could be to create a Charter or Code of Conduct to facilitate their recognition and also allocate dedicated budget line and sufficient resources for research management related tasks.

3) Professional development and career path

There are existing Professional Development Frameworks (PDFs), however, our preliminary findings revealed the lack of official career framework for RMs within the European countries.

Both interviewees and focus group participants reported that there are some research managers, who are proactive and individually develop their expertise by looking up available trainings or webinars. However, in most cases professionals do not have time or resources to exploit these trainings and build their personal career. As a solution, it would be important to establish professional associations (if they do not exist yet) and incentivise opportunities for professional development including certification programmes and trainings.

4) Relevant skills and competences of Research Managers

RM professionals “possess a wide range of skills and abilities”. Based on our discussions with RM roadmap ambassadors and workshop participants we created a preliminary table of skills and competences, which reconfirms the variation of skills needed across RM roles. The identified skills were categorized into four groups: 1) transversal skills, 2) RM related soft skills, 3) RM related hard skills, and 4) specialization or role-related skills.

It is important to underline that different job roles and categories require different skills. To ensure a comprehensive understanding of required skills, it is recommended to form a Europe-wide competence matrix aligned with the specific job roles.

5) Institutional best practices

The best practices identified through the interviews are excellent examples to clarify and develop relation with other colleagues at the research performing organisations. However, internally, they can also enable to make supportive and motivating environment for the colleagues working in RM. Some examples also showcase how Research Supporting Organizations (RSOs) can increase their strategic role and demonstrate their added value.

The report ends with the formulation of recommendations for stakeholders including national and European policymakers, research funding organisations, research performing organizations and professionals on the field.

We can conclude that our findings are in line with the literature but give a more recent and detailed overview. In order to get a more detailed picture, we are working on the full report by analysing the online survey results collected from the survey, which is available here, (open till May 2024) and validating these results through the co-creations organised by the project RM Roadmap. The full report is due to be completed by June 2025.

The Preliminary Report is available on this link.

More information of the RM Roadmap Project can be found on this website.

The investigation consisted of multiple methods serving qualitative research, including literature review, focus group discussions, online interviews and the summary of the results of an in-person workshop. Following the literature review and the presentation of the preliminary results, the main gaps and needs are highlighted in order to give orientation to the project work for the upcoming two years. The richness of the preliminary results enables us to formulate recommendations to the various stakeholders, including national and European policymakers, research funding organisations, research performing organizations and professionals on the field. The recommendations can be found at the end of the report.

In order to get a more detailed picture, we are working on the full report by analysing the online survey results collected from the survey, which is available here, (open till May 2024) and validating these results through the co-creations organised by the project RM Roadmap. The full report is due to be completed by June 2025.

The Preliminary Report is available on this link. Our detailed summary about the most important findings of the report is available here.

More information of the RM Roadmap Project can be found on this website.

]]> https://hetfa.eu/2023/11/rm-roadmap-survey/ Thu, 16 Nov 2023 07:51:01 +0000 https://hetfa.eu/?p=10911 In the framework of the Horizon Europe funded RM Roadmap project, HETFA Research Institute and the NOVA University of Lisbon (PT) have developed a survey aiming to gather evidence to shape the future of research management in Europe.

We invite you to participate in and disseminate the vital survey that aims to support the recognition and professionalisation of research managers. Your input is crucial for us to provide valuable recommendations for the professionalisation of research management.

To access the survey, please click on the following link.

This survey builds on previous surveys, primarily on the RAAAP (Research Administration As A Profession) series, and focuses on your job profile, career path, skills and competencies, as well as your training, mobility, and networking needs.

By participating, you contribute to:

• Building an inclusive definition and terminology including RM professional categories;
• Developing career development frameworks for RMs;
• Creating skills and competence matrixes specific to our profession;
• Establishing a comprehensive training scheme for future research managers.

Your responses are anonymous and will it take approximately 25 minutes to complete.

The deadline to complete the survey is December 22, 2023.

Your and your community’s participation represents a significant contribution to the professionalisation of research management in Europe. Should you have questions or need further information, please contact us at rm-roadmap@hetfa.hu.

The RM Roadmap project – funded under Horizon Europe – aims to support the strengthening of an inclusive research management community in Europe. As a member of the consortium, HÉTFA is responsible for leading the work package on Intelligence aiming to gather and assess the current state of the art and gaps in the field of research management.

The RM ROADMAP project now connects existing European networks on a smart community platform (Knowledge and Community Platform) which will enable an unprecedented co-creation process and discussion on research management. These discussions will be organized into dedicated groups for each country, led by the national RM Roadmap Ambassador. The first online session will commence on 2 October 2023 and will conclude on 13 October 2023. The topic of the session is ‘Understand the landscape – national networks and associations’. Following these discussions, RM Roadmap Ambassadors will compile country-specific consensus documents. Subsequently, national research management communities will vote on these documents, and the insights will inform both the European Commission and European research management.

This initiative involves diverse research management professionals collaborating with researchers to enhance research quality. The active participation of RMs from various backgrounds ensures diverse perspectives enrich the project, benefiting the broader Research and Innovation (R&I) system in Europe.

You can already register to the online platform which enables you to take part in the co-creation. Please consult the co-creation session guides and FAQs here.

Watch the Knowledge and Community Platform demonstration video.

The RM ROADMAP consortium welcomed more than 60 Ambassadors from 40 countries, who are the national and regional community builders of research management communities. The first part of the meeting was live-streamed via Zoom. The meeting provided an opportunity for networking and knowledge exchange for the selected Ambassadors.

The event was opened with the welcoming words of Renáta Anna Jaksa, Head of Division for International Cooperation of HETFA Research Institute and László Lengyel, Vice President of the National Research, Development and Innovation Office (HU), both highlighting the significance of research management in the research and innovation ecosystem.

After their opening words, Stijn Delauré, Policy Officer at the European Commission, introduced the European-level initiative dedicated to research management, Action 17 of the European Research Area (ERA), highlighting the importance of Member States supporting the Action. Hungary recognising the importance of the initiative is one of the co-sponsors of Action 17. A workshop focusing on the Action was organised back-to-back with the Ambassador meeting, on 10 May with the participation of Ambassadors and other stakeholders. You can learn more about our project foRMAtion which is a flagship initiative of the ERA Action 17.

By participating in the Ambassador meeting, Ambassadors learned about the vision and objectives of the RM ROADMAP project and gained insight into the Knowledge and Community Platform (to be opened in the autumn of 2023) and the Research Management Helix (Crowdhelix). An interactive session was dedicated to the possible ways of engaging with national research management communities. Adele Del Bello from the RESTART Foundation in Italy, Andreja Zulim de Swarte from the University Medical Centre Utrecht in The Netherlands, and Ladislav Cocek from Masaryk University in Czechia shared their best practices on how to reach local communities.

The event continued with parallel sessions, with discussion groups focusing the future engagement with the Ambassador’s national communities. The event was concluded by the reflections of Jan Andersen (RM ROADMAP Advisory Board Member) and Nik Claesen, and Borana Taraj (EARMA) who outlined the next steps of the project.

The recording of the Ambassador meeting is available on the YouTube channel of EARMA.

HETFA is delighted to be part of the RM ROADMAP project and host of the 1st RM ROADMAP Ambassador meeting. It is a unique opportunity to participate in the co-creation of the future of research management in Europe. We would like to welcome and thank the support of the coordinator of the RM ROADMAP project, EARMA, especially Nik Claesen and Borana Taraj, furthermore Stijn Delaure, the representative of the European Commission, all of the other partners participating in the project, and the sponsors of the ERA Action 17 as well. We are also extremely grateful for the engagement of Ambassadors; who are the driving force of the new European Research Area.