The Grant

A New ERA for Research Management
RM Framework Series #9 with Anna Seip from DG RTD

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Why has research management become a European policy priority? In episode #9 of the RM Framework Series, I’m joined by Anna Seip, Policy Officer at DG RTD, to trace the policy journey behind the initiatives we have been exploring throughout this series. We go back to the renewed European Research Area and ERA Action 17 and look at how research management moved from a relatively undefined concept towards an increasingly recognised profession. Anna explains an important part of that history: the initiative did not simply originate inside the Commission. Member States helped put the issue on the agenda, after which the Commission, countries and stakeholder organisations worked together to define the challenges and determine what should happen next.

Those challenges became upskilling, recognition, networking and capacity building. We discuss how projects such as RM Roadmap and RM Framework turn those policy objectives into practical initiatives, and why RM Comp has become an important common language for describing what research managers actually do. But creating frameworks is only part of the job. The next challenge is adoption: getting institutional leadership and Member States to recognise the profession, use the tools and invest in research-management capacity. It is a useful look behind the curtain at how a European policy priority gradually moves from discussion to concrete change inside research organisations.

Time codes:
02:23 Guest introduction and fly in
06:11 Why Research Management Became a European Priority
12:11 Building the Foundations: RM Comp and the European Framework
19:02 From Policy to Practice: Implementing RM Comp Across Europe
33:13 The Next Step: Shared Ownership Across Europe
48:12 Reflections and Call to Action

Exploitation in EU Projects – From Results to Real Use
With Ana-Marija Špicnagel, Director at IPS Konzalting
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In this episode of my Implementation Series, I’m joined by Ana-Marija Špicnagel from IPS Konzalting for a practical guide to exploitation in EU-funded projects. We begin with the basics: communication tells people what the project is doing, dissemination shares its results, while exploitation is about somebody actually using those results. And that does not necessarily mean selling a product. Exploitation can be commercial, regulatory, educational, organisational or linked to further research, depending on the project and the expected outcome.

From there we move into implementation. How do you identify key exploitable results when many of them may not even be visible at proposal stage? When should you start talking to partners about commercialisation and IP? How do you deal with researchers, SMEs and other consortium partners having very different motivations? And how do you involve stakeholders early enough for their feedback to actually shape the result? Ana-Marija shares a concrete working rhythm for exploitation throughout a project and explains why the real objective is not another Excel sheet or polished deliverable. It is creating something that somebody wants to use — and ideally something that can continue living after the funding stops.

Time codes:
02:03 Guest introduction and fly in
06:13 Defining Exploitation
18:00 Designing for Exploitation from Day One
31:57 The Consortium Challenge
37:13 From Project Results to Real Adoption
58:38 Life After the Project
01:09:07 Reflections and advice
01:10:29 The toughest challenge

EU Funding in the Western Balkans – The View from Albania
With Luziana Hoxha from the Agricultural University of Tirana
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In this episode, I’m joined by Luziana Hoxha from the Agricultural University of Tirana to look at EU funding from the perspective of Albania and the Western Balkans. Albania is associated with Horizon Europe, so on paper its universities and researchers have broad access to the programme. But access and competitiveness are two different things. Luziana explains the challenges of joining established consortia when other European universities may have decades of experience, mature project offices, stronger research infrastructure and long-standing international networks.
We also talk about how European programmes can gradually change that position. Erasmus+, earlier Tempus projects, mobility, Widening instruments and participation in international networks have helped universities build administrative capacity, modernise curricula and laboratories, and develop researchers who are increasingly able to write and lead proposals themselves. Luziana shares her own journey—including succeeding with a Marie Skłodowska-Curie fellowship after previously doubting whether an Albanian researcher could compete at that level. It is a conversation about funding, but equally about visibility, confidence, relationships and becoming a trusted part of the European research ecosystem.

Time codes:
01:55 Guest introduction and fly in
05:39 The View from Albania – What Opportunities Exist?
16:08 The Challenges of Competing in European Funding
32:18 Building Capacity Through European Collaboration
47:03 From Participant to Contributor
58:42 Reflections and advice
01:04:34 The toughest challenge

How RTOs Turn Research into Impact – The Spanish Model
With Patricia Castillo, Director of Impact at Eurecat

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In this episode, I’m joined by Patricia Castillo, Director of Impact at Eurecat, to explore what research and technology organisations actually do and why they occupy such an important place in Europe’s innovation ecosystem. RTOs sit between universities, companies, start-ups and public authorities. Their purpose is to help move technologies beyond promising laboratory results and towards something that can be manufactured, scaled, financed and used by companies in the real world. Patricia explains why that process is not a simple linear transfer from science to market, but a continuous interaction between researchers, industry and society.

We also examine the distinctive Spanish model, where RTOs are private non-profit organisations with limited baseline support and must combine competitive public funding with industry contracts and services. That creates a difficult but productive tension: responding to companies’ needs today while investing in the knowledge, people and infrastructure that may be required ten years from now. We discuss impact management, responsible technology development, long-term research capacity, tacit knowledge, falling success rates and why generic AI-written sections on impact, gender and dissemination are becoming increasingly easy for evaluators to recognise.

Time codes:
01:39 Guest introduction and fly in
05:15 Understanding the RTO Model
16:06 The Spanish Context
26:41 Living with the Challenge
49:09 The Book - Capturing Knowledge Before It Disappears
01:01:17 Reflections and advice
01:03:17 The toughest challenge

Rethinking Impact – From Funded Projects to Real Adoption
With Christopher Adlung from TU Delft

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In this episode, I’m joined by Christopher Adlung, a PhD researcher at TU Delft and a medtech entrepreneur, to rethink what impact actually means in EU-funded research and innovation. Christopher studies the adoption and scaling of telemedicine in low-resource settings, and that adoption perspective shapes our entire conversation. A technology can perform brilliantly in a laboratory or pilot project, but real impact only emerges when the wider ecosystem can and wants to use it. That includes not only researchers and end users, but also procurement teams, administrators, investors, technicians, managers and everyone else whose decisions shape implementation.

We also question whether Europe’s increasingly large and complex collaborative projects are always the right mechanism for innovative SMEs. Could smaller, simpler grants involving fewer partners create faster and more focused progress? Could new structures connect universities, companies and public authorities without forcing them into temporary consortia with very different incentives? Christopher also shares examples from telemedicine in Bangladesh, where innovation has grown from practical constraints and combines digital consultations, mobile health teams, diagnostic devices, pharmacies and local access points. It becomes a wide-ranging conversation about funding design, ecosystems, sustainability and why impact should be measured through adoption and long-term consequences rather than activity alone.

Time codes:
01:39 Guest introduction and fly in
04:37 The Traditional Funding Model – Where Does It Fall Short?
22:20 Beyond Silos – Do We Need New Ways of Organising Innovation?
36:47 Inspiration Beyond Europe
47:46 Rethinking Impact in Future EU Projects
59:00 Reflections and advice
01:06:11 The toughest challenge