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Earma 2023: EU support for profession hailed amid push for role expansion and technological innovation
Research management and administration is entering a “golden age” in Europe, attendees of the European Association of Research Managers and Administrators’ annual meeting have been told.
This is shown in both increased attention paid to the profession by policymakers and the growing diversity of research management roles, speakers at the Earma 2023 event in Prague said on 25 April.
“We are entering the golden age of research management and administration in Europe,” said Nik Claesen (pictured), the association’s managing director.
“Every day, more people are realising the value of research managers. While our profession is still being misunderstood by many, the value of our work is becoming clearer.”
Action 17
Claesen pointed to the work done by the European Commission and the Council of the EU member state governments to support the profession through the European Research Area policy package for strengthening the continent’s R&I system.
One of 18 priorities for 2022-24 agreed for the ERA is ‘Action 17’, “enhancing the strategic capacity of Europe’s public research performing and funding organisations”, which is focused on the role of research managers and administrators.
Action 17 includes the creation of a taskforce on the needs of research management; a boost to the upskilling of RMAs through training; support for the creation of national networks of RMAs; and the funding of cross-border exchanges.
The leadership of the EU institutions through Action 17 is “game-changing” for the profession, said Claesen.
“The EU member states and stakeholders including Earma have now begun the real conversation about what research management is and, more importantly, what it should be in the future,” he added.
‘Essential roles’
Anna Panagopoulou, director of ERA and innovation at the Commission, said that Action 17 clearly illustrates how EU institutions believe that research management has an “essential role” in strengthening the European R&I system.
Fifteen of the EU’s 27 member states committed to support the action from the outset, she said, and five more have been closely following its first activities.
“There is a strong momentum for change that we should not lose,” she told attendees via a video message.
She called on them to provide evidence of the impact of research management to policymakers and to build stronger networks among RMAs, including through the research management ‘roadmap’ project on which Earma is leading.
“The [research management] profession is often overlooked, despite its vital role in supporting the research and innovation cycle,” Panagopoulou said. “To address this issue, we need evidence of the added value of the profession, to raise awareness and persuade policymakers to invest in research management capacity.”
Stijn Delauré, a policy officer in the Commission, explained after Panagopoulou’s video that their institution was looking for information on things such as how much of researchers’ time is freed up by RMAs and what minimum investment in research management is needed to improve R&I.
“We have circumstantial evidence that countries and organisations that invest in these roles are more successful in knowledge creation, circulation and valorisation, but we do not know the extent,” Delauré said.
Research Professional News is media partner for the Earma 2023 conference in Prague. Read all of the coverage here.