First Project Preparation Day received positively by researchers

The first Project Preparation Day organized by Sustainable Society together with Research & Valorisation on February 4th was a success! This meeting gave researchers the opportunity to present their research ideas and to ask questions concerning Horizon 2020.

About 20 researchers from 6 faculties participated actively and received information about the challenges, topics and procedures of the European Horizon 2020 program. Building networks and other sources of funding like Interreg were also returning topics. The most discussed topics concerned the Socio-Economic Sciences and Humanities disciplines, the societal challenges 1 to 7 of Horizon 2020, with special attention to challenge 6.

The evaluation showed that the participants were satisfied en enthusiastic. They scored the usefulness of the provide information a 4,5 (average) on a scale of 1 to 5, as well as the amount of time they got to present their ideas or to ask questions (average; 4,7). They also found that their questions were answered clear (average; 4,2) and that they got a clear view about the content of the challenge they applied to (average; 4,0). Also many of the participants indicated to make use of additional follow-up appointments to get into more detail with concrete project proposals. The reactions were very inspiring and relevant. We use the evaluation forms to improve and organize more of these meetings. It is a great way to meet other researchers (networking) within the university and to increase your chances when you want to write a serious proposal for Horizon 2020.

We will organize the second Project Preparation Day on March 24th 2014. Registration will open soon. For more information please contact us at sustainablesociety@rug.nl.