‘Old-boy network’ effect documented

Academic institutions with a record of receiving European research funding are more likely to win Horizon 2020 grants, a Norwegian study has recorded.

University of Oslo researchers Simen Enger and Fulvio Castellacci looked at applications from Norwegian academic institutions in 2014-15, the first year of Horizon 2020. They compared these with data about the institutions’ past participation in EU framework programmes.

They concluded that institutions which had received European funding in the past were more likely to apply to Horizon 2020, and were more likely to be successful in their applications.