Being Project Manager in a EU Funded Project

by Nicolò Conti | Published in issue1 /
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After being awarded a Phd, I was offered a post as Project manager of a EU-funded project – INTUNE, coordinated by the University of Siena within the VI Framework Programme – involving over thirty European universities and over one hundred scholars clustered in seven working groups. This was a completely new job for me and probably I was not fully aware of what this activity would be like.

In the end, I thought it would be a good opportunity for me to participate in a large research project involving a European network of distinguished scholars where I could further develop my research interests. In addition, it could be a good opportunity for me to learn relevant information on how to successfully apply for funds, especially in the EU framework programs, a funding scheme that is widely recognized as being crucial in the financing of large scale research in Europe. Finally, I would also have the opportunity to be connected with the European Commission and learn about its working methods. In the end, all my expectations proved correct and my experience as Project manager has proved very useful in order to open several career opportunities for me. I will now briefly illustrate my main duties during the three years when I worked as Project manager and my main personal achievements.

Serving as manager in a EU-funded project means to work especially with three kinds of actors: the scientific coordinators of the project, the partner institutions and the European Commission. I have worked with the scientific coordinators in order to guarantee that the project is managed according to sound financial and organizational criteria. For example, it is particularly important in large research undertakings of this kind to ensure the participation of all parties involved. Communication and cross-fertilization within and among the various groups of scholars involved in the project should be promoted by all means, and the organization of dedicated conferences and meetings is certainly one of the main parts of this challenging task. Furthermore, it is the duty of the coordinator and the project management to guarantee that the time planning of the project is respected. In particular, considering that the work program is planned well in advance and accepted by the Commission for funding, it is important that no major deviation from this work program is introduced later on, as this could result in serious consequences for the consortium such as cuts to the EC contribution.

As Project manager, I have been in charge of monitoring the regularity of submission of the deliverables – the knowledge produced by the project consisting of scientific products varying from research reports, to datasets, to research papers – that I have then forwarded to the coordinators and to the Commission for review. I should say that the annual review of the deliverables on the side of the Commission is a very sensitive step in the life of these kind of projects as this could either result in the approval of the work performed or in recommendations to introduce some change to which the EC financing may eventually be conditioned. In the most unfortunate cases of inability to meet the commitments between the Project consortium and the Commission, it is the duty of both the coordinator and the manager to provide contingency plans to be proposed to both parties. This could happen, for example, in the case of withdrawal of one partner from the project and the necessity to re-distribute its assigned tasks, an event that is not so remote in projects bringing together so many institutions.

As Project manager of INTUNE, I have also coordinated the annual report of the project that is requested by the Commission in order to continue to receive its contribution. The requirements of this report present many intricacies and it is crucial that during the reporting period – lasting for the management an average of two months per year – the manager works in close cooperation with all the partner institutions. It is important that this report shows that in the previous year the project has successfully managed to meet the project objectives, maintain the Consortium scope and coherence, produce all the project deliverables planned in the contract with the European Commission whose financing is conditioned to their fulfillment, to have spent the EC contribution according to the work program. I have found particularly interesting to learn from this aspect the working methods used by the Commission and its expectations from these kinds of projects.

The European reporting rules are indeed very complex and they often diverge a great deal from the national reporting practices. Sometimes, the implementation of these rules requires important changes to the administrative routines of the partner institutions. For example, the independent auditing system introduced by the Commission has brought unprecedented complexity in the work of the university administration. Adding the EU requirements to the national administrative requirements has created an overload of work for the research offices that makes it more and more difficult for them to respect deadlines, while increasingly they ask scholars to do part of the administrative work. To familiarize the partners with these rules is sometimes the most difficult task for the Project manager. However, the respect of these administrative requirements is fundamental for the success of the relationship with the Commission and for the project as a whole. Good organizational and communication skills and the capacity to work in team are certainly necessary in order to succeed in this work. Direct experience in doing research is an added value that improves the quality of the relationship with the scholars involved and increases the capacity of the coordinator to build adequate strategies necessary to secure the success of the project.
In the end, my experience as Project manager has provided me with a lot of valuable knowledge. On the one hand , I have learned a lot in terms of procedures to be fulfilled in order to successfully run a large international project, in particular within the EU funding schemes. I trust this expertise will help me in the future both when applying for other funding and when participating in joint research undertakings. Thanks to the competence acquired, I have been invited to give training to potential applicants for EU funding at my home university. In addition to this , I have served as advisor for other proposals that have been submitted within the EU Framework Programmes for the research. On the other hand, having acquired a Phd in Political Science and my main interest lying in the active involvement in the research, I have made use of this opportunity in order to take part in an international network of scholars who consider me as a peer. Indeed, I have accepted to act as manager of this project also because I had a specific interest in the research that would be carried out. In the end, I managed to take part in the research and in the dissemination of its results including some joint publications with distinguished scholars. I have now left this position of Project Manager and took over a research post in the same university. This proves that this past experience is not incompatible with an academic career and it could instead prove to be a valuable experience to provide young scholars with skills that are more and more essential in the increasingly integrated European space.