Checklist: People and roles needed to do EU applications

People needed for working on application:

  1. Lead Partner: Organisation which has done many other successful calls for EU funding. Probably a university or other large established organisation with some economic clout
  2. Lead investigator: Lead scientist. This person needs to hammer out a first draft (around a weeks work). Then it needs to be out, shared with everyone. Then this person has to do final round, hammering it out into work packages etc. Time needed: Two weeks worth of work spread over several months.
  3. A project coordinator: someone who is willing to put in the heavy lifting of active work on project development and cathearding. Needs to keep an eye on it and write some legalese, beuild gannt charts and budgeting with lead investigator. Time needed: Two weeks worth of work spread over several months.
  4. Project partner representatives: Typical partnership consists of 5-8 partners. Requirements vary between calls, and the various rolls required in each call.

In addition to the formal requirements and the terminology and references used by the funding body (what research are they referring to in the publications they use to motivate the call), we also need to find and understand evaluation criteria, and the politics behind how decisions are made.

Lead Partners

For Germany I can offer:

HUMBOLDT-VIADRINA School of Governance

nextlearning (registered non-profit association) / Supermarkt (Ela) would probably an option, too

Prinzessinnengarten (Berlin-based urban garden project for which I just finished the coordination of an EU funded Grundtvig Learning Partnership)

Plus I am in good touch with the UNESCO’s U40 Network - a global network (mainly sponsored by the German UNESCO Commission), founded in 2007, that connects culture experts under 40 from all over the world. It aims at exchanging good-practice and knowledge, empowering young experts and building upon their capacities in the field of UNESCO’s 2005 Convention for Cultural Diversity and Expression.

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Investigator and Coordinator

After coordinating an EU funded project for the last two years I can say: I it is a lot of work for little money. But if the partnership is bringing together people that really want to work together, sharing the same goals and looking for some common perspective - I believe that EU funding can provide that basis for further project support, the development of business modells and some more open doors…

Last year I have been evaluating EU applications in the cultural sector and am ready to put in some time and effort to get something rolling. My dream would be to work in a tandem or small group for investigation and coordination - let’s see how we can team up!

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There’s something I dont’ get

I would add little teams instead of just one person :-) The Horizon 2020 is quite hard stuff, especially for the paperwork. What I don’t understand is how we can already present partners if we have no clear idea of what type of project we want to be on. Are there already some raw ideas in the pipleine in order to get potential partners which are ready to take the lead? 

Other question: are we going only for Horizon2020 or are we up for other types of funding?

Hang Out

Dear Ilaria, if I understand right this first attempt aims more at locating possibilities and resources. Small teams are the best! Maybe we could open an excel sheet and list possible partner from different countries, people that we have worked with and trust. What about hanging out sometime soon and brainstorm some first ideas?

Sure!

Sure thing (both for Excel and for Hangout), although I know that the resources I have depend from the sectors. For example, I can move for culture, creative industries and space technologies (yes, what a mixture!) but have less trustful relationships in the field of transportation. Also, I think it is important to map the themes of interest and the resources within the Edgeryders to understand where we can develop projects? For example there is maybe more interest in themes linked to ICT than to tranportation. And so on. Last but not least: brussels-based ER which can go and knock on some doors to present the project beforehand should do so. As Nadia puts it, politics behind the procedures are as important. Closer to the deadline quite a few “partnership proposals” are going to circulate: it’s like attaching to a ready-made project which is looking for last-minute contributions. This is, in my experience, a bit of a risk but still can come out handy if one doesn’t manage to build from scratch a personal project.

I’m in for a Hangout after the 18th: my questions would be related to

  • mapping EU-funding opportunities for ER
  • defining some themes of interest for ER and some resourceful people which have either skills or contacts (or both) to invest in the projects
  • wiki doc for contacts 
  • ...

I’m in to tap on your hangout! Mb I can bring something useful from the FormStorm universe. I think it somehow relates to coordination. Horizon2020 is a heavy stuff indeed. So I thought may be some juju magic pocket swarm for every Edgeryder who does the work?