Press Release: Europe’s Strategic Autonomy Agenda Requires Well-Resourced Research Management Professionals

Speaking at the launch of a report issued by the Horizon Europe-funded RM Roadmap project, Professor Kurt Deketelaere, Secretary General of the League of European Research Universities, said that research management professionals would require additional resources and funding if Europe is to promote its strategic Autonomy Agenda.

In a wide-ranging address, Professor Deketelaere touched on several subjects that intersected with ongoing discussions surrounding the European Union’s next framework research programme - Framework Programme 10.

To maximise the potential of any new funding programme, Professor Deketelaere believes that the role played by research managers will need to be recognised and professionalised so that Europe can maximise its impact across numerous fields of science and research.

“It's not enough to have excellent researchers in our institutions. We need to have excellent research managers. I’m delighted that this has been recognised by the EU Commission”.

“The strategic autonomy agenda will lead to a situation where there will be new research and innovation priorities, with new policies such as dual-use or export control or foreign interference”.

“What does all that mean for open science, research integrity, academic freedom and institutional autonomy?”

“I expect that there will also be an increased amount of legal action from the Commission and Parliament because all legislation that is passed has an impact on research and universities, particularly around data management and AI”.

“That’s why we need a research management check on all legislation so that we can create a level playing field for universities across Europe. The level playing field that has been created for business needs to be replicated in research”.

“If our institutions want to continue being leading institutions that need more funding - sustainable funding that promotes quality research to solve global challenges and promotes sustainable careers for researchers”.

Launching the results of the RM Roadmap project’s first co-creation session, Nik Claesen, Managing Director of EARMA and the coordinator of the project, spoke about how the Horizon Europe-funded project seeks to address some of the issues raised by Professor Deketelaere.

“RM Roadmap seeks to address some of the complexities that are manifesting, by bringing together Europe’s research management community”.

“We’re doing this by creating a bottom-up consensus among Europe’s research management networks to enhance the strategic capacity of Europe's research-performing and funding organisations”.

“We have about 110 national ambassadors and 35 thematic ambassadors supporting us”.

“40 countries participated in our co-creation process and assisted us in creating consensus documents that will create clear career pathways and professional development opportunities for research management professionals”.

In his remarks, Crowdhelix CEO, Michael Browne, expressed his belief that a well-funded and coherent research management profession is key to maintaining Europe’s position as a leader in deep tech.

“We shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that Europe's deep tech sector has substantial technical talent and is uniquely positioned for global impact”.

“Europe leads in high-impact research publications in this space with a 28.1% share, ahead of the US, 19.3%, and China 17.7%, and has a higher percentage of STEM graduates than the US”. 

“Europe is also home to prestigious universities, including six of the top 20 in computer science and five in engineering”.

“Converting that advantage into commercial outcomes remains a challenge but that is what projects like RM Roadmap have been designed to support”. 

“At its core, RM Roadmap is about strengthening Europe’s research capital base by empowering research management professionals to shape and implement policy at a local and European level to enable high-quality research that creates a national, European and global impact”. 

The results of RM Roadmap’s first co-creation session have been published on Crowdhelix’s open innovation platform.