Three Widening days allow coordinators to share experience and prepare for the implementation of their projects

On 12 and 14 November, two Coordinators’ Days hosted 12 new ERA Chair project coordinators and 37 new Twinning project coordinators who received all the necessary information for successful management of their projects. In the case of Twinning, coordinators from associated countries such as Armenia, Ukraine, Tunisia and Türkiye, were present, showing how this programme opens the possibility to newcomers.

These fruitful days put new coordinators in contact with those of the ongoing ERA Chairs, and Twinning and Teaming 2 projects, who have more experience and are therefore able to share lessons learnt, for instance in the area of REA’s lively policy feedback exchange.

Pedro Beja, Chair of Biodiversity at CIBIO/InBIO (Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos (Porto, Portugal)), and coordinator of an ERA Chair from the 2014 call (EnvMetaGen), together with a new one (Tropibio), explained how “rather than an end in itself, an ERA Chair is a step in the right direction towards scientific excellence and sustainability of a research centre”.

The "Widening Day" on 13 November was attended by Jean-Eric Paquet, Director-General of the European Commission’s Directorate General Research and Innovation. He announced that this programme will be reinforced under Horizon Europe with a proposed 3.3% of the overall budget. Mr Paquet also mentioned that countries such as Estonia and Cyprus, which have a large portfolio of Widening projects, can now share their experience with new projects.

Background:

Under Horizon 2020, the EU's research funding programme, a strong package of measures with a budget of up to €800 million is available for widening participation of low-research performing Member States. Such actions include Teaming (creation or upgrade of a centre of excellence), Twinning (institutional networking that includes support on staff exchanges, expert advice and assistance), and ERA Chairs (recruitment of an outstanding research team in a university or institute from a Widening country).

The Member States currently eligible for Widening support are: Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia. The associated countries eligible are: Albania, Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Faroe Islands, North Macedonia, Georgia, Moldova, Montenegro, Serbia, Tunisia, Türkiye and Ukraine.

More information:

Spreading Excellence and Widening Participation programme