The 1st Central and Eastern European Congress for Research Managers
A breakthrough moment for the research community - on the 4th and 5th of November Brussels was the venue of the first Central and Eastern European Congress for Research Managers (CEE Congress for RMAs). It’s more than just a new event – it’s a long-awaited platform for the growing RMA community in the region.
The Congress is a natural continuation of ten years of V4 Training for Research Project Managers, a series of trainings organized by four Brussels liaison offices of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia. This decade of practical, professional knowledge exchange is turning into a pan-European platform with sufficient leverage to co-create standards, share know-how and strengthen the recognition of the RMA profession. Fortunately for Polish professionals with such a professional profile, the organizers did not forget about the newly established organization associating Polish RMA – PolARMA Association and invited its representatives to participate in both the discussion panel and workshop classes – both as leaders and panellists, as well as active participants.
Why was Congress organized now?
The answer comes naturally – because the RMA community in our region needs a dedicated space where institutions from the countries of the region can join forces and accelerate the development of competences at every stage of the project life cycle. The Congress gives a real shape to this, becoming a visible, bottom-up regional forum, consistent with European priorities and open to partners from all over Europe. It is to become a flagship event that creates sustainable networks of cooperation, launches dialog with decision-makers, and builds institutional partnerships of strategic importance.
This event perfectly fits into PolARMA’s program of activities – which not only has a strategic goal of integrating Polish RMA professionals, creating a strong and stable network of cooperation between universities, research institutes, innovative enterprises and foundations, offices and centres for servicing research projects and more broadly supporting science in various fields, whether it is technology transfer, data management or Open Access, but also wants to join the RMA community in Europe, draw on their knowledge and experience.
In Brussels, in partnership with EARMA, the Congress included:
- plenary sessions and expert speeches. Strategies in line with ERA; best practices in research management; the future of the RMA profession in the region;
- practical workshops. Development of RMA talent; shaping the concept of the application; budgeting and financial planning; implementation; reporting the impact of projects,
- focus sessions. Digital tools for managing research projects; AI in research - from applications to strategic readiness.
In the backstage, as well as during networking meetings, there was an opportunity to make new, professional acquaintances, which we hope will result in RMA project initiatives networking in the region, e.g. under the Visegrad Fund. It was also possible to successfully meet the group of Polish RMA present at the congress.
The culmination of the event was a visit to the Brussels headquarters of EARMA - European Association of Research Managers and Administrators, the largest European network of individual and institutional members associated with the activities of RMA. During the lunch with EARMA’s head – Nik Claesen, PolARMA was officially presented as a representative of the Polish RMA, we emphasized that its strategy and objectives are in line with EARMA’s policy.
Thanks to the courtesy and commitment of the Head of the Office for the Promotion of Science “PolSCA” of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Brussels, Ewa Mendec, the President of PolARMA/Vice-President of the FAA, Head of the National Projects Office of CZP, took part in the Congress and in the visit to EARMA.
Author Ewa Mendec
Photos: Press materials of the PolSCA Office
