Transforming ReseArch & INnovation agendas and support in 4EU+

Project Information

TRAIN4EU

Grant agreement ID: 101016674

DOI

10.3030/101016674

Project closed

EC signature date 28 October 2020

Start date 1 January 2021

End date 31 December 2023

Funded under

• SCIENCE WITH AND FOR SOCIETY

Total cost

No data

EU contribution

€ 2 000 772,65

Coordinated by

KOBENHAVNS UNIVERSITET
Denmark

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - TRAIN4EU (Transforming ReseArch & INnovation agendas and support in 4EU+)

Reporting period: 2022-07-01 to 2023-12-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

TRAIN4EU, the 4EU+ Alliance’s Horizon2020 SwafS R&I project, ran from Jan. 2021 to Dec. 2023. Its vision was to identify, develop and potentially implement a series of transformative actions to strengthen 4EU+ and European University Alliances. It sought to upscale already ongoing cooperation and activities within R&I support functions across the project’s six partner universities, to create effective and sustainable synergies with existing activities and initiatives in 4EU+, as well as strengthen 4EU+’s ability to address policy issues at EU level to further enable university collaborations.
TRAIN4EU was rooted in 4EU+’s ambition to strive for excellence in all aspects of our roles as comprehensive, public research-based and excellence-focused European universities. With the aim to be a transforming effort targeting the R&I support dimensions of the 4EU+ vision, it was designed to further improve and expand how we support our researchers as they in turn continue to expand the limits of knowledge, as well as help strengthen their ability to reach out to businesses, citizens and other stakeholders to help society address the challenges of our times.
TRAIN4EU had five main objectives, which were all met, resulting in new learnings and collaborative pathways:
1. Identifying new ways to improve individually and collectively our support structures for enhancing the quality and impact of R&I.
2. Fostering a culture of co-learning and co-innovation across the consortium based on thorough assessments of best-practice.
3. Piloting selected transformative measures within different modules within the project lifetime for long-term learning in the 4EU+ Alliance.
4. Pushing boundaries by identifying drivers, facilitators and barriers to transformative change and co-development within each of the universities and 4EU+ as a whole.
5. Ensuring wide uptake and exploitation of project outcomes, through targeted dissemination and communication to the various stakeholders and other European University Alliances.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

TRAIN4EU main achievements include:
• WP1 Common Research Agenda focused on supporting researchers in acquiring research funds and influencing research agendas. The WP 1 pilot action Net4Res provided information for 4EU+ researchers on Horizon Europe funding in Sustainability/Green Deal. WP 1 helped develop the 4EU+ ‘Grant Support Service’, a hub for researchers applying for external funding.
• WP2 Strenghtening R&I Human Resources focused on recruiting and developing research talents. Capacity building and skills development for research support staff were strengthened through increased knowledge exchange and collaboration. Best practices were exchanged on ways to support Ukrainian researchers displaced by the war in Ukraine.
• WP3 Sharing Research Infrastructure focused on managing and sharing research infrastructure across 4EU+, in particular core facilities. Infrastructure categorizations and inventories were created, and best practices for management as well as potential barriers for utilising, sharing and scaling infrastructure investments were identified.
• WP4 Linking Academia-Business-Citizens focused on academia engaging with civic society and industry. WP 4 developed a ‘network of experts’ around valorisation and transfer to support integration of partner universities’ existing R&I ecosystems, foster interdisciplinary research, and boost networking with industrial stakeholders.
• WP5 Mainstreaming Open Science focused on practices and challenges related to the Open Science agenda. WP 5 worked on research data management and FAIR data, responsible publishing and citizen science, developing an Open Science advocacy toolkit as a potential pilot action to implement across 4EU+ universities and beyond.
• WP 6 Governance for Joint Collaboration focused on strengthening collaboration within 4EU+ and with European University Alliances. WP 6 was in the organizing committee for the 2023 SwafS Cross-Alliances Forum in Brussels, where project outcomes were discussed and disseminated to other alliances and European Commission representatives.
• WP 7 Dissemination, Exploitation and Communication focused on fostering and maintaining effective and transparent communication channels to keep internal and external stakeholders informed and engaged. To maximise impact and exploitation dissemination of project outcomes was targeted via meetings and events, deliverables and digital media.
• WP 8 Management focused on ensuring efficient and timely implementation of the project. WP 8 interacted with WP leaders, monitored progress on milestones and deliverables and ensured timely high-quality submissions, secured efficient communication within the consortium and with the European Commission, and submitted periodic technical reports.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The TRAIN4EU project was conceived with collaboration at its core, aiming to transform R&I support functions while fostering intra- and inter-alliance collaboration within 4EU+ and across European University Alliances. Strengthening stakeholder engagement, particularly among research managers, technical staff, administrative support staff, as well as researchers, was considered crucial for fostering collaboration and creating synergies among partners in the project. By raising awareness and facilitating new collaborations across the alliance, we aimed to unlock the full potential of 4EU+.
Key to our impact strategy was our ultimate objective of making 4EU+ a truly comprehensive alliance across various dimensions of collaboration, covering research, innovation, societal engagement and education. Through TRAIN4EU facilitated collaborations within the alliance, communities of practices were formed over the project lifetime in areas such as research agendas, R&I human resources management, research infrastructures, university-industry collaborations and Open Science.
The methodology employed in TRAIN4EU emphasized collaborative cross-coordination, with activities following a structured work plan spanning the six core WPs. The methodology provided a strong basis for supporting tangible changes in operational aspects through capacity building, skills development and best practice sharing within the alliance, as well as enabled the potential piloting of transformational activities in research support functions within 4EU+.
TRAIN4EU also created impact in terms of intangible benefits resulting from project implementation. Trust between and knowledge about partners gained from privileged access to partner universities may be one of the most valuable benefits coming out of TRAIN4EU, allowing us to develop and strengthen a 4EU+ quality culture. The methodology succeeded precisely because it acknowledged the complexity and cultural challenges for intensive collaboration within the Alliance and allowed us to take our partners’ very different framework conditions into account.
Upscaling collaboration in research support functions was a cornerstone for achieving meaningful impact in TRAIN4EU, demonstrating how deeper collaboration can further enable high-quality research across our universities. With project perspectives and outcomes set to inform future strategic steps in 4EU+, impact areas such as policy influence, capacity building and dissemination of results can further boost the effectiveness of alliance collaborations, laying the foundation for transformative shifts in how research support can be collaboratively addressed within 4EU+.

TRAIN4EU online WP meeting

TRAIN4EU coordinator in panel debate at SwafS Forum 2023