Sustainable cooperation between national funding bodies to improve HIV/AIDS research
The EU-funded HIVERA(opens in new window) (Harmonising, integrating and vitalising European research on HIV/AIDS) project involved ministries, research organisations and funding agencies from Belgium, Germany, Estonia, France, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Portugal and Romania. It funded other projects, trained researchers and developed a research strategy. Work began with the mapping of relevant national and regional funding programmes, individual projects and major public and private actors in the national research and technological development scene of the participating countries, the Czech Republic and Ireland. Project partners, in collaboration with national and global organisations and other stakeholders, analysed synergies and complementarities at programme and project levels. This served as a basis for sustainable transnational cooperation. To this end, three joint transnational calls on emerging issues in HIV/AIDS were launched with the support of two partnering events and two training sessions on proposal writing for applicants. Nine projects were funded in total. The HIVERA team performed studies on major programme initiatives within and beyond Europe. This led to a strategic European research agenda to identify key priorities and concrete tools to help build and coordinate HIV/AIDS research in Europe. It also documented and analysed national programme implementation methods, and developed strategies to overcome barriers that hold back transnational cooperation. A platform for programme managers and researchers was set up on the project website that serves as an interface between science and funding policy. By strengthening existing collaborations, HIVERA boosted the impact of European HIV/AIDS research. This will help maintain its leading position in HIV/AIDS, and contribute to shaping an EU-wide research policy in the field.