The Grant

A documentary-style episode from Hamburg on vocational excellence, inclusion and SMEs

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In this episode I try something new: a documentary-style montage recorded live during a WIN4SMES event in Hamburg. Instead of one long sit-down conversation, this episode moves through soundscapes, field notes, participant voices and short interviews to give a more immediate sense of what an Erasmus+ Centre of Vocational Excellence project looks like on the ground. WIN4SMES focuses on workplace innovation in SMEs, and the project’s different national pilots are working on themes such as inclusion, entrepreneurship, newcomers and skills development.
Across the episode, I speak with the coordinator team about the training programme, hear from participants working with agile methods, design thinking and AI in vocational education, and zoom in on two of the particularly strong COVEs from the project. One from Hungary uses an entrepreneurship camp to support highly talented young people in developing business ideas. Another from Lithuania works with hotels and restaurants to create real job pathways for young people with disabilities. The result is a more atmospheric and people-centered episode about how vocational excellence is actually built in practice — not only in policy papers, but in classrooms, workshops, company relationships and human lives.

Time codes:
00:00 Airport opening
01:25 Arriving and introducing the training programme w/Anna Maria Czarny
06:43 Meeting the training classes
11:40 The Partner Dinner w/Maëla Barcon
15:34 Introducing day 2
19:13 The Hungary COVE - Supporting Entrepreneurship w/Tamas Rettich
28:20 The Lithuanian COVE - Young People with Disabilities w/Egle Lizaityte
48:16 WIN4SMES - Status and where it is moving w/Max Hogeforster
01:01:55 Farewell and outro

Building Your Funding Team – Skills, Structure & Survival
With Stephanie Harfensteller and David Christensen

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In this episode I’m joined by Stephanie Harfensteller and David Christensen to talk about one of the most difficult and under-discussed challenges in EU funding: how to build a funding team that actually works. Stephanie has been building up an EU funding function at FIR since 2019, while David has been doing something similar inside BOFA on Bornholm. From very different organisational settings, they describe a remarkably similar reality: a strong funding unit is not just a service desk for forms and deadlines. It needs to support proposal development, project execution and long-term networking and positioning — and in smaller organisations, the same people often need to move across all of those roles.
From there we dig into the real difficulties: how to identify the right skills, how to recruit people when profiles are hard to find, how to train juniors without losing all the knowledge when they move on, and how to create some form of knowledge management when most of the most important know-how still sits in people’s heads. We also talk about management commitment, public perception, long-term vision, the pain of falling proposal success rates, and the need to balance patience with pressure. It’s a very honest conversation for anyone trying to professionalise funding work inside an organisation without the luxury of a large specialist department.
Time codes:
01:48 Guest introduction and fly in
07:01 What Is a Good Funding Support Unit?
18:08 The Skills Question
28:28 Building the Team in Reality
40:05 Keeping Knowledge in the Organisation
50:45 Working Under Organisational Constraints
01:06:07 Reflections and advice
01:10:24 The toughest challenge

Explain Science (1) – NoVOC, Batteries & Life Cycle Assessment
With Kristin Fransson from RISE

Check out the episode website with links to webinar, scientific paper, the NoVOC project etc.

In the first episode of Explain Science, I’m joined by Kristin Fransson from RISE to talk about the NoVOC project and the science of life cycle assessment in battery innovation. Kristin explains that NoVOC is working on one very practical challenge: reducing the hazardous solvents used in battery manufacturing and exploring alternative dry and wet production methods that could make battery production more sustainable. From there, we use the project as an entry point into a much bigger discussion about how Europe develops cleaner battery technologies and why environmental thinking has to be built into research projects from the start.

We then unpack what life cycle assessment actually means. Kristin explains how LCA looks across a product’s full life cycle, why it matters for battery research, and why it is so difficult to get right when projects are still working at lab or pilot scale. We talk about methodological choices, data collection, scale-up, recycling assumptions and the challenge of making sure that an innovation that looks promising in one corner does not create problems somewhere else. It’s a very accessible first episode for anyone curious about batteries, sustainability and what science communication can look like when EU-funded research is explained properly.

Time codes
02:40 A word from the collaboration partner
03:55 Guest introduction and fly in
08:17 What is Life Cycle Assessment?
11:46 Why does this matter for Europe?
18:28 Why is battery LCA difficult?
27:19 Closing and event promotion

Research management training, competence mapping and the quality label

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In the 7th episode of the RM Framework Series, I’m joined by Cristina Borrás Sardà and Cristina Bosch Pla from Generalitat de Catalunya / AGAUR to talk about the Spain pilot in the RM Framework project. We start with the training scheme they already run in Catalonia: a structured programme developed with universities and built around two microcredentials, one focused on pre-award and one on post-award. It covers everything from the EU funding system, consortium building and impact to grant agreement management, financial reporting and lump sum implementation — and is designed as a practical, modular and highly interactive offer for early-career research managers.
From there we move into the pilot itself. Cristina and Cristina explain how the RM Framework handbook and RMcomp helped them map their existing training more clearly against competencies, identify where learning outcomes were already strong, and spot areas where the programme could become more explicit and coherent. We also talk about the value of in-person delivery, peer interaction, mentoring and the growing need for a European reference point that can support quality, mobility and career development across the research management profession.

Time codes:

02:14 Guest introduction and fly in
05:08 RM Training Good Practices
12:57 Experiences from the Pilot Testing Phase
19:13 Why the RM Framework Matters at EU Level
24:07 Expectations & Final Reflections

Talent Attraction and EU Funding – A Regional Development Lens w/Maria Haglund and Nikolaj Lubanski

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In this episode I’m joined by Maria Haglund and Nikolaj Lubanski to talk about how talent attraction can be supported through EU funding. Maria brings the perspective of a smaller region on the west coast of Finland, where the challenge is not only retaining university students but also attracting the skilled and blue-collar workforce needed by the regional economy. Nikolaj brings more than a decade of experience from Greater Copenhagen, where EU funding has helped build national and cross-border collaboration around international talent attraction, digital campaigns and long-term regional positioning. Together, they open up a very practical conversation about why funding matters in this area — and why it is about much more than just “getting money.”
We then move into the how. What kinds of EU instruments actually make sense for talent attraction? How do you build a partnership that is based on trust rather than opportunism? What should a smaller region consider before stepping into its first bigger EU project? And how do you measure impact in a field where results can be diffuse and long-term? We talk about social funds, regional funds, Interreg, project structure, partnership agreements, cross-border cooperation with Umeå, and the importance of having both a strong idea and a realistic path to implementation. It’s a very useful episode for anyone working in regional development, international talent, place branding or skills policy.

Time codes:
01:55 Guest introduction and fly in
05:55 The Motivation – Why Look at EU Funding?
21:20 Before You Apply – What Organisations Need to Consider First
44:10 Building Partnerships and Entering the EU Ecosystem
58:00 The Application Process – What Actually Happens?
01:17:14 Reflections and Advice
01:22:07 The toughest challenge