Research and project managers — the unsung heroes in the second row
and everything you always wanted to know about the MCAA Research Management Working Group but were afraid to ask
Research and Innovation (R&I) drive social, scientific and technological progress, and economic growth in Europe. Sustainable R&I relies on effective research management, but is facing significant challenges in terms of building and maintaining a strong community of research and project managers. Marie-Skłodowska Curie Actions (MSCA) are no exception, in which project managers often start from scratch without previous experience and lack professional networks to support them, especially in the early project phase. Starting from this need, the European Project Managers (EPM) Jonas Krebs, Eitan Segev and Hakim Ferria co-founded in 2021 a Pan-European Network of MSCA Project Managers that was in 2022 transformed into the MCAA Research Management Working Group. Here they give some insights into their motivation to create the group and explain its aims and objectives.
Could you please present the Working Group and its objectives
Jonas: The working group aims to provide a forum for discussions, exchange of ideas, and mutual support to both junior and more experienced research and project managers. Within the group, members can share in a very informal way knowledge and good practices to ease the daily management of their MSCA projects and improve the quality of the projects’ implementation as a whole. We also would like to promote joint activities across our different networks. Our ultimate aim is to build a sustainable knowledge and support platform, but also strengthen the essential role of EPMs, who are often hidden in the back of scientists in the front row and their research outcomes.
What was your own pathway to becoming research managers and the challenges of the transition?
Eitan: Well, in my case, I somehow evolved into the position. After the compilation of my PhD, I went on to a post-doc position in which I had to find my own funding. Quickly I found myself involved in extensive proposal writing, and shortly after we were selected to coordinate a Marie-Curie (MSCA) ITN. Surprisingly or not, when talking to many colleagues, it seems that many have had a similar career path: most of us have a scientific background but left the “bench” work for a scientific management position.
What do you find useful within the group as a research project manager?
Eitan: I didn’t have management training and experience before, and the specific requirements of EU consortia were very new to me. I had to struggle with many problems and logistics for the first time. Today, I feel I am experienced enough to share some of my knowledge with fellow research managers. In the research project managers group, we extensively support many new project managers, and we hope that this platform makes their tasks somehow easier. For us, to find a solution, we most likely had to submit a query either to the project officer or the local national contact point (NCP) and wait for their answer. Within the group, we provide an immediate solution and sometimes discuss ways to improve the action. It is important to note that we do not replace other channels, but provide additional and accessible support.
Why are you involved in the WG?
Hakim: When I was in charge of an ITN, I created in 2017 a network of project managers of ITN projects coordinated in France. The goals were to share best practices and propose a sustainable network to overcome the high turn-over of project managers. Then, I had in mind to do the same at the European level and I met, thanks to the aforementioned French group, Jonas and Eitan who had the same idea. And now here we are. I see those networks as a priceless community of practice: we learn a lot from each other.
Jonas: Eitan and I were really happy to have met Hakim and benefitted from all the work he had done already on the French level. Shortly after we also came across a Dutch network of ITN project managers and since these early days, our group is constantly growing. At the moment we have roughly 150 members who represent around 130 different MSCA projects.
How did you then team up with the MCAA?
Jonas: It was a very important and highly appreciated step. A couple of years ago the MCAA opened itself also towards project managers and coordinators. This means that also those who did not formally receive an MSCA fellowship but had direct links to MSCA projects through their work could become an MCAA member . When we created the group, the three of us were already MCAA members for some time and had informal exchanges and collaborations with the MCAA board. We were extremely happy to notice that the MCAA was from the beginning very much interested in our network of project managers and gave us the chance to be integrated in its organisation, also benefiting from the excellent MCAA infrastructure and ample networks.
Eitan: Also many NCPs and the MSCA and REA unit of the European Commission are and were very supportive and helped us gaining visibility and attracting new members by reaching out to newly funded projects and giving us a presentation slot during the Doctoral Networks Coordinators’ Day.
What are the next actions of the Working Group? What is your vision for the future?
Hakim: Our WG will participate in the next MCAA annual conference and organise a panel discussion on «Sustainability of Research Management: challenge + opportunity.» We are glad to have invited Zlatuše Novotná, the Head of Strategic Partnerships & International Relations at CEITEC Masaryk University, and the Coordinator of Alliance4Life as well as Nik Claesen, Managing Director of the European Association of Research Managers and Administrators (EARMA) main coordinator of the RM ROADMAP project, to discuss with us challenges and opportunities of research management from different perspectives and angles. You can still register for the conference and follow our session.
Eitan: Beyond that, we aim to continue to strengthen the network and discuss and collect difficulties and needs from the project managers to be raised at the European level.
How can interested people become a member of your working group?
Jonas: You find us with our own page on the MCAA website, where you can also apply to become a member of our working group. Besides, you can contact us by email with any question or suggestion. Our working group is mostly composed of project managers, but we are also welcoming MCAA members with an interest in research and project management.
The interview was conducted by the Communication Working Group of the MCAA.
About the interviewees
Jonas Krebs
Jonas Krebs is scientific project manager and coordinator of the projects area in the “Strategy and Funding” office at Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG) in Barcelona. Since his PhD in plant molecular biology, which he received in 2010 from the University of Potsdam, Germany, he worked in different institutions and roles in the field of project development, research management, internationalization and professional networking. In 2014 he specialized in European research funding and received the certificate “EU-Liaison officer” of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research. Since 2015 Jonas has developed and manages EU projects at CRG, with a major focus on Marie Skłodowska Curie Actions. Jonas is an active member of the Marie Curie Alumni Association (MCAA) and co-founder and current chair of its Research Management Working Group.
Eitan Segev
Holding a PhD in life sciences, I have vast experience working in a multidisciplinary and international environment, with diverse position holders in industry, academia and the public sector. I was involved in initiating, writing and assembling proposal applications to the EU in various programs and actively managed winning proposals, including the production of workshops and full-size conferences. Between 2018–2022, I was the network manager of MSCA-ITN EpiSyStem and will be the project manager (starting in July 2023) of RT-SuperES, a Pathfinder-open project.
Hakim Ferria
Hakim works as a European Projects Manager at INSAVALOR, which is the subsidiary for R&D of the engineering school INSA Lyon (France). He obtained his doctoral degree in fluid mechanics in 2011 from ECL, École Centrale de Lyon, France, and KTH, the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden. He worked within the space industries and governmental institutions on fluid-structure interaction in turbines. He is now fully involved in research projects management. He was the project manager of the ITN INFRASTAR. Besides his position at INSAVALOR, he coordinates a network of French European Project Managers of ITN/DN projects coordinated in France. He co-founded the research management working group of which he is now one of the vice-chairs.
