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European Network of FP7 Science in Society NCPs

Final Report Summary - EUROSIS 2.0 (European Network of FP7 science in society NCPs)

Executive summary:

The cooperation amongst national contact points (NCPs) in the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) and the networks that they have established is one of the most important aspects in order for their work to be successful, especially keeping in mind the diversity of NCP systems. In order to tackle this diversity and synergise NCPs skills and services, the EUROSIS 2.0 project set out to continue the work done within the EUROSIS project (2008 - 2010), to strengthen the Science in Society (SiS) NCP network and through this improve the operation of each SiS NCP in order to provide more effective and better quality services to organisations in all the FP7 countries, the European Union (EU), as well as in the associated countries.

Project context and objectives:

The overarching objective of EUROSIS 2.0 was to enhance cooperation between FP7 SiS NCPs with a view to improving the service provided to researchers and stakeholders in the field of SiS all over Europe. Due to the wide scope of the SiS programme and the diversity of its stakeholders, it is necessary for the SiS NCPs to be able to orientate in the wide area of SiS topics and research areas as well as FP7 rules and regulations in order to be able to fulfil their job.

Within the first SiS NCP project EUROSIS (2008 - 2010) the SiS NPC network was successfully established with a view to support NCPs in their work at national level and provide them with a common support mechanism in order to perform their work in the most adequate and effective way. EUROSIS 2.0 took over where EUROSIS left off, by making effective use of the work performed and defining the continuing and pending issues that needed to be addressed in the follow-up project.

These issues provided the starting point for approaching the needs and challenges that were addressed within EUROSIS 2.0. Due to the fact that the proposed project would only last for 12 months with a limited budget and a smaller number of active partners, the work carried out in the previous project and the ongoing definition of needs and objectives within the partnership, provided an extremely valuable starting point to build on.

The EUROSIS 2.0 targeted a twofold concept, with the idea of mobilisation and mutual learning as a central point of departure:

1. Mobilisation of the SiS NCP network as a working and ongoing support mechanism for all SiS NCPs building on the issues still pending after the EUROSIS project and new demands of FP7 SiS programme. The objective was to reach out to the diversity of stakeholders in the SiS community through three action lines:
a. to increase the awareness of SiS NCPs of SiS policy issues;
b. to raise the awareness of SiS stakeholders about the SiS programme;
c. to create a fruitful network of contacts between SiS stakeholders.

2. Mutual learning with a diverse group of SiS stakeholders to ensure that stakeholders understood the new approaches taken in the SiS work programmes. This was planned in order to take a step forward from activities of the previous project and to direct the focus of the mutual learning activities in two complementary levels with the overall aim of improving the level of qualification of potential participants in the SiS calls for proposals, in order to improve the quality of proposals with the best possible partners and achieve the strongest possible impact in Europe:
a. mutual learning within SiS NCPs with objectives to consolidate the learning of the previous EUROSIS project and to exchange the best practices among NCPs through hands-on training and workshops;
b. mutual learning from SiS NCPs to SiS stakeholders with objectives to provide specific training for potential SiS actors in Europe, interested in preparing and submitting proposals under the SiS calls and to contribute to the development of specific skills and knowledge in less experienced SiS actors.

Finally, an important objective of EUROSIS 2.0 was to act as a transition from the initial EUROSIS project to the third SiS NCP network project, ensuring a seamless continuation of the overall SiS NCP network and its activities. The dedicated partnership and the targeted activities planned, all aimed at assuring a smooth continuation of all three projects, as well as continual improvement of the services provided, especially through a dedicated definition of future activities built into the project.

Project results:

In order to achieve the objectives of the project, the work was divided into five work packages (WPs). WP1, Management, was dedicated to the coordination of the project, its other WPs tasks and deliverables. The project coordinator, RANNIS (IS), was responsible for managing the project and its consortium and for taking care of all administrative and financial matters, as well as ensuring efficient cooperation and communication with project partners, the larger network of SiS NCPs and with the European Commission (EC).

The aim of WP2, 'Mobilisation', led by TSV (FI), was to reach out to the diversity of stakeholders in the SiS community, both those that have been active in FP7 and those that were still to engage with the programme. This meant that it was necessary to bring the work the policy and stakeholder level both for NCPs and SiS players, by increasing the awareness of SiS NCPs of SiS policy issues, raise the awareness of SiS stakeholders and create fruitful contacts between them.

The main objectives of WP3, 'Mutual learning', led by Archimedes (EE) was based in the achievements of the previous project, especially as regards exchange of best practices between NCPs through dedicated trainings and other activities, seeing the learning process of NCPs as a continuous process started in the EUROSIS project and taken on in EUROSIS 2.0.

WP4, 'Communication', which VINNOVA (SE) was responsible for, aimed at raising general awareness of the SiS work programme and the services offered by the NCP network and also to improve communication among SiS NCPs. This was done through various means and tools, from engaging with stakeholders at national and European level to applying traditional communication material as well as web-based tools to raise awareness of the project and its objectives.

Finally, a special WP was reserved for internal evaluation and quality assurance with FFG (AT) as WP leader. The objectives were twofold; first to establish a management approach centred on achieving real quality work and the second to define future activities during the lifetime of the project to assure a smooth continuation throughout, from EUROSIS to EUROSIS 2.0 and to the future SiS NCP project, as well as continual improvement of the services provided by the project.

Potential impact:

At the end of the EUROSIS 2.0 project, it was clear that it has fully achieved its objectives and acquired the expected impact. The project even exceeded some of the expectations that were present at the end of the first project.

The basic vision for defining the impact was listed in the SiS 2010 work programme, a vision which was materialised in the content of the WPs in the form of an improved NCP service across Europe; simplifying and improving access to SiS calls; lowering the entry barriers for newcomers and raising the average quality of submitted proposals, with a more consistent level of NCP support services across Europe.

The first EUROSIS project provided the foundations for a successful EUROSIS 2.0 project, especially by creating a well-functioning network of NCPs. This was especially important, as the EUROSIS 2.0 project needed to continue the work with limited time and resources, but still achieve the desired impact at pan-European level through the 10 dedicated partner organisations. This required the consortium to define the tasks under each WP based on the actions already executed in the first project and to create a seamless continuation and establish a bridge of knowledge from the first project through to a possible third project towards the end of FP7. To this end, the tasks, the work and the results would have to be open to participation of all SiS NCPs; otherwise, the content of the project would have very limited impact.

Thus, the project took the network of SiS NCPs a step further and focused on improving the SiS NCPs services across Europe, facilitating the access to SiS calls and contributing to increase the quality of the submitted proposals. In order to achieve the desired impact, the project was designed under a simple structure of five WPs, two of which were dedicated to successful management and implementation, and the remaining three were designed in terms of content with the objective of meeting the expected impact described in the work programme.

The implementation of the 'Mobilisation' WP was designed to improve the level of participation in the 2011 SiS calls for proposals and to organise transnational events, bringing together NCPs with important SiS stakeholders. To this end, all SiS NCPs had the chance to acquire key knowledge on SiS policy issues, to provide them with a clearer vision of the programme and improve the support provided by the NCPs to programme participants in their countries. By organising two major open events, the SiS forum and the brokerage event, the project managed to bring together different SiS actors in order to encourage their interaction and reinforce their capacities to participate in the SiS programme.

Improving NCPs knowledge and competencies was the key element in the impact reached through the tasks of the 'Mutual learning' WP. Through interactive training and participation in the two workshops organised during EUROSIS 2.0 SiS NCPs had the chance to share best practices by focusing on specific aspects of FP7 and the organisation of their work at national level. A knowledge support team operated under the WP, with NCPs assisting each other in any issues that arose during the implementation of the FP7 SiS calls. In addition, the partner search and the updating of the NCP best practice book all continued to conduce towards increased excellence in the NCP work across Europe. But the impact of the mutual learning concept did not only function inwards. It also reached out to SiS stakeholders in the form of mutual learning actions for SiS actors, creating a wider impact than before.

The impact of the work carried out under the communication WP was twofold; first to promote the EUROSIS network of SiS NCPs and second to contribute towards more successful promotion of the FP7 SiS programme. Thus, on the one hand, the SiS NCPs' network and the project were promoted in order to create a direct impact in potential users of the activities to be implemented (not only in all the SiS NCPs but also in potential participants in the SiS calls) and on the other, there was a coordinated promotion of the SiS work programme taking advantage of the most experienced NCPs with the objective of reaching the expected impact on potential participants by means of increasing both the number of submitted proposals and their quality.

Dissemination:

An effective communication and dissemination strategy of course contributed to successful overall dissemination throughout the lifetime of the project. Apart from the wider network of SiS NCPs, which was the target group for internal communication and dissemination, the partners identified other target groups, mainly the scientific, academic and policy communities in Europe operating under the SiS arena. Thus, the EU and national policy makers, the European science and research community, civil society organisations (including non-governmental organisations (NGOs)), other networks (including European funded projects with an interest in the SiS topic) and media, such as Community Research and Development Information Service (CORDIS) wire, dedicated scientific publications, national and European media, were all made aware of the project and the interest of the SiS programme.

List of websites: http://www.sisnetwork.eu.