The 7th annual workshop for research managers and administrators, organized by the Research Management Task Force  took place in Iași (Romania) at Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iași, on 25th – 28th September 2022. 

The workshop continued the tradition of networking events sharing best practices in research management. Since 2015 when the first edition was held in Utrecht, the event provided a supportive forum for developing networks and opportunities among research managers and administrators. 

The participants 

41 researchers, research managers and research support officers from 12 institutions around Europe (UUN members) participated in various networking activities to exchange their knowledge and expertise. 

Programme and focus 

The programme of the 2022 workshop focused on the becoming of European Universities within transnational alliances and on the European research and innovation program Horizon Europe (2021-2027).  

Different cooperation models for European Universities were brought up to the attention of the participants through the presentation of the following projects: 

• EC2U & RI4C2 – Prof. Dr. Daniela SOITU (Iasi) 
• ARQUS – Gerhard Fuchs (Leipzig) 
• EDUC – Ladislav Čoček (Brno) 

• CHARM-EU – Rianne Giethoorn (Utrecht) 

Another interesting session focused on the quality of the Horizon Europe grant application and was delivered by Nikolaos Floratos (Funding Expert Academy). 

The interest of the participants was raised by the experiences with the Horizon Europe project’s implementation. Emmanuel Kofi Ovon Babatunde & Hiwa Målen (Bergen University) presented a new approach for finding strategic partners and building networks using Cordis. 

In a session about MSCA actions, the following researchers and research managers shared their experiences: 

• Jakub ZEMAN (Brno) 
• Barbara HASELSTEINER-ZACH (Graz) 
• Staska MRAK JAMNIK (Ljubljana) 
• Juditto TOMASKINOVA (Malta) 
• Elena SULTANA (Malta) 
• Nicoleta POPA (Iasi) 
• Ionut TOPALA (Iasi) 

Visiting the – CERNESIM Center and RAMTECH Center within UAIC, the Botanical Garden (also owned by UAIC) and the Iasi guided tour completed the program of the event in an interesting and attractive way. 

The participants enjoyed the hospitality of the hosts from the Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iași as well as the very good conditions for carrying out the activities during the three days of interaction.  

Overall, the event marked a new stage in the development of cooperative relations within the network, contributing to improve services and support at the appropriate home institutions and build a professional international network.