The Karolinska Institute recently centralised its support system for European projects. Its unusual for a Scandinavian institution to do so, but the benefits are significant, says Eva Björndal, head of the grants management office.
In April 2015, the Karolinska Institute’s vice-chancellor decided to centralise the system for dealing with post-award finances and in December 2016, we became fully centralised. Almost all other universities in Scandinavia delegate the management of European awards to individual departments, but our experience has shown that there is a huge benefit in dealing with Horizon 2020 awards collectively.
In the past, each department would have to file a financial report every 18 months or so. They would have to start from scratch each time and get up to speed with changing rules. Now, we have a full-time, experienced team of people who have become specialists in the financial management of EU projects and who do regular follow-ups on project costs.
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