Our project will be introduced at two events coming up next week gathering participants with colourful backgrounds from the Visegrad countries (HU, SK, CZ, PL) and beyond.

First, on 28-30th March, in the frame of a training organized by the representations and liaison offices of the Visegrad countries, Virág Zsár, Senior Grant Advisor of HETFA will showcase foRMAtion among the different projects and initiatives with the ultimate goal of contributing to the competitiveness of research performing organizations from the V4 regions (and beyond).

The V4 Training aims to increase the professional capacity of research managers (RMs) by providing targeted information with added value from Brussels and raising their awareness of the political context of European research and innovation programs and initiatives with special focus on Framework programmes. This online three half-days training consists of presentations and interactive sessions during which the participants can get to know each other and share their experience and best practices within the institutions.

Then, on the 30th and 31st March, the Final Conference of the project Visegrad 4 and Western Balkans Network of Research Managers and Administration will take place in Budapest. This in-person event will gather 70-80 participants mainly from the Visegrad and Western Balkan countries and, thanks to the Central European Initiative Cooperation Grant, participants from Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Romania, and Bulgaria will also take part.

The conference will focus on the RMA profession, its recognition, current status and challenges in the V4+WB countries. The conference will provide opportunity for networking, knowledge exchange and skill development of RMA professionals. foRMAtion will be presented as a flagship initiative in the session ‘Possible ways to strengthen the profession in V4WB: founding, networking, associations’ to start a dialogue with regional policy-makers and funding bodies to identify opportunities for the development of the RMA profession within the region.

More information on the V4WB Final Conference is available here: https://hetfa.eu/international-projects/v4wb-rmas/final-conference/

Web streaming of the sessions will be available on the Facebook site of the project: https://www.facebook.com/V4WBRMANetwork