Are you a researcher willing to activate the exchange of ideas between EELISA researchers and academicians? Do you dream of creating a space for sharing experiences, contacts, capacities, infrastructures, and research projects with your international peers? If so, this is your chance to get your ideas funded!
“EELISAConnect” is the first joint call of EELISA InnoCORE, the research and innovation wing of EELISA, aiming at workshops with the potential to trigger new research proposals under Horizon Europe and other European or international calls, as well as providing a forum for EELISA researchers.
In this interview, Sara Barsanti, project manager of EELISA InnoCORe and EELISA Unfolds for Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna of Pisa (Italy), explains some important aspects of this call.
“It is time to translate the added value of the EELISA Alliance into new research opportunities that are in line with contemporary societal challenges”
Sara Barsanti (SSSA)
Q. What is the main purpose of this call?
A. The main aim of this EELISAConnect call is to build and reinforce paths and instruments for new collaborations among the EElisa partners and strengthen the R&I dimension of the Alliance through the organisation of thematic workshops involving at least 3 partners. During the EElisa InnoCORE activities, partners have noticed that the involvement of EELISA researchers is still a main challenge. For this reason, the project has set 170.000 euros to support the organization of selected workshops. The budget will be managed in three rounds of calls and the workshops to be funded will be evaluated and selected by the EElisa InnoCORE Advisory Council for Research and Innovation.
In this way, the call could create an environment for sharing ideas and challenges to be met, ensuring that organisational and logistical costs of the workshops are adequately covered to leave room for research creativity. The call acts as both a connector of ideas and a sounding board of new research proposals not only within the EELlSA network but also at an international level.
Q. What type of workshop proposals are you looking for?
A. The aims of the workshops are to concretize interdisciplinary projects and lay the foundations for joint research proposals. In this sense, the workshops should have these potentials:
- to stimulate connections between EELISA researchers in order to strengthen the way research is networked and to share experiences, facilities, and research methodologies with even long-term impacts;
- to align with the EELISA dimensions of Strategic Research Areas, EElisa Communities, and possibly EElisa Research Clusters;
- to initiate new research collaborations, especially new research proposals under Horizon Europe and other European or international calls.
The workshop organization must involve at least three researchers or academicians from three EELISA partners located in different countries. One partner will be the local organizer and will be in charge of the organization of the event.
Q. Could you share with us some key offerings you think will motivate researchers to participate?
A. The benefits of participating are several. Workshops are an opportunity for researchers to firstly provide a formal (but also informal!) setting for the discussion among EELISA researchers and academicians that share common specialized technical research topics in order to improve, integrate and enhance their research ideas and projects, but also the possibility to share facilities. Secondly, the workshop will serve to generate new research ideas and proposals for possible new collaborations under Horizon Europe and other European or international calls.
Last but not least, the call will finance the main costs of organising the workshops, including the mobility of the professionals involved, up to 17.000 euros. So more research collaboration, more connections, and more resources to find possible solutions for research challenges… Take the chance!
Q. Finally, from your perspective, how will this call impact EELISA at this moment in the life of the Alliance?
A. Now that the relationships between the Alliance partners are well established, it is time to translate the added value of the Alliance into new research opportunities that are in line with contemporary societal challenges and supported by validated, multichannel, and multidisciplinary research methodologies. In this sense, open calls can create fertile ground for new projects within EElisa partners, with a focus on research and innovation projects. In addition, the continuous exchange of knowledge may lead to the creation of more and more research clusters that are recognisable on a European and international level.
EELISA not only means “mobility of people”, but also “mobility of ideas”. Open calls give research ideas the chance to take shape and translate into opportunities. At the end of the open calls, it will be interesting to see, together with other EELISA InnoCORE initiatives, what the main research and study topics are and where the researchers’ wishes are most focused.
This could be a driving force for a possible phase two of EELISA!
Sara Barsanti, project manager of EELISA InnoCORe and EELISA Unfolds for Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna of Pisa (Italy).
She has a PhD in Management. In the past years, she has worked on a variety of research projects as a scientific responsible and collaborated with a wide spectrum of international institutions. She has several international and national publications.
How to apply?
Applicants should complete and send the application form (below) as a PDF by April 20th to eelisa@santannapisa.it reporting in the email subject line “Open Call EELISA Connect”. The form includes a brief summary of the organisers’ résumés, a description of the workshop and how the workshop meets the aims of the call.
The EELISA InnoCORE Advisory Council for Research and Innovation (ACRI) will perform the evaluation and selection of applicants. Please download the document below to read more about the call and selection criteria.
DEADLINE FOR APPLICATION
20th of April, 2023
Do you still want to participate?
The next EELISA Connect Call for workshops will be announced in September
*EELISA-InnoCORE has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 R & I programme under GA No. 101035811
