On October the 9^th, the Round Table of Design: Regulatory and Administrative Perspective was held at the Warsaw School of Economics. The Silesian University of Technology was represented by Katarzyna Markiewicz-Śliwa and Ewa Mendec, employees of the Project Management Centre and the Coordinators of the FAA Design Section.

The aim of the event was to create a platform for dialog between academic administration staff, representatives of funding institutions, representatives of the world of science - the University authorities and the Polish Academy of Sciences and other key stakeholders in the process of implementing scientific and development projects. The meeting was devoted to the most important challenges related to project management from an administrative perspective, including the synergy of national and European programs, simplification of procedures and institutional cooperation.

The organizers of the event in the walls of the Warsaw School of Economics were the Academic Administration Forum in cooperation with the Polish Association of Managers and Administrators of Research and Scientific Projects PolARMA, and the whole was coordinated by Prof Katarzyna Górak-Sosnowska.

The meeting coincided with the announcement of the latest project of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education:  a new e-Grants platform, whose assumptions and future role in improving the process of applying and implementing projects in the higher education system in Poland became the fuel for a lively discussion among the panellists. Above all, however, it was an opportunity to get to know one’s needs and problems, clash of mutual perspectives and proactively seek solutions. Representatives of the most important institutions financing projects in the higher education sector (NCN, NCBR, NAWA, FRSE, ABM, FNP), KRASP, PAN, OPI - as e-Grants system providers, the Science Promotion Office "PolSCA" of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Brussels and representatives of science administrators and managers - RMA took part in the meeting.

The main conclusion was that its participants clearly identified the need to continue discussions on application systems and project implementation in order to create the most efficient e-Grants platform, responding to the real needs of users: funding institutions, as well as scientists and project administrators.  Everyone agreed that the process would be a huge challenge, but the added value it will bring is worth the effort. OPI (National Information Processing Institute) representatives declared cooperation with stakeholders in the course of planning and then implementation works.

The long-term goal of the Round Table formula is to develop a permanent platform for dialog between institutions responsible for science and higher education and the RMA, by organizing such meetings periodically. At this stage, we want to look at the most important challenges related to the acquisition, implementation and closure of projects from an administrative perspective, based on the project lifecycle. An important horizontal thread in all phases is the synergy of national and European programs with a view to the desired harmonization of recruitment processes, forms, and settlements. For this reason, we invited representatives of the PolSCA Office and the KPK and HPK networks to discuss, who had the opportunity to present good practices developed at the level of international programs, mainly Horizon Europe.

Key benefits for all stakeholders in the process are:

• elimination of barriers to obtaining national and external funds,
• developing a form of dialog that allows understanding of mutual needs and expectations,
• developing common demands and recommendations for implementation,
• developing a roadmap for simplifications and creating a forum for good practice,
• building a sustainable network of cooperation between the institutions involved.
  
  Katarzyna Markiewicz-Śliwa and Ewa Mendec