Horizon Europe Academy – Part I + Part II

The Horizon Europe Academy covers the full life cycle of a research and innovation project: from proposal conceptual development to financial audits. The Academy consists of two parts over four days.  

The Academy is built on our direct, hands-on experience gained in developing and managing EU research and innovation projects over the past 20 years. The trainers of Europa Media are actual project managers, coordinators and financial administrators, currently running seven Horizon Europe projects – one as coordinator – while also preparing proposals to submit under the open and forthcoming calls of Horizon Europe. This course is designed based on this direct experience and is, therefore 100% practice driven. 

 

Part I: Horizon Europe Proposal Writing, 6-7 June 2023

The Academy starts with a 2-day course which will provide a complete insight into writing and submitting competitive proposals under the 2023-2024 calls of Horizon Europe.  

Over two days, you will learn all about the features of winning Horizon Europe proposals and get equipped with the right tools to develop your proposal with confidence. The combination of practical presentations and hands-on workshops in groups will introduce all the aspects you need to know, from identifying the right call for your project idea to developing and submitting a competitive proposal. We are sharing our first-hand experiences from the first submissions and evaluations. (See here our projects)  

 

Topics covered: 

• The rationale of Horizon Europe work programmes, calls and topics: understanding the EU R&I policy context to position your project concept more competitively 

• What is new in the 2023-2024 work programmes? Lump sum, blind evaluation, newest guidance documents and tools from the EC, latest statistics, etc. 

• How to make sure your proposal fully matches the call text: call analysis, proposal design, consortium composition, cross-cutting issues  

• Who is who in a Horizon Europe proposal? Beneficiaries, affiliated entities, associated partners, subcontractors, contractors, stakeholders, end-uses. 

• Building a consortium vs. joining a consortium as a partner: step-by-step guidance 

• From proposal concept to full proposal: Proposal writing from the coordinator’s and partner’s perspective 

• How to compose text and fill in the application forms: Practical tips, examples and ready-to-use templates for Excellence, Impact and Implementation 

• Key steps and success criteria for winning Horizon Europe proposals: How to finalise and polish your proposal before submission 

• Evaluation of horizontal aspects: how to address gender, ethics, SSH and interdisciplinary aspects of your proposal 

• Proposal Development Workshop: The afternoons in both days are dedicated to practicing actual proposal writing in response to a real Horizon Europe call. You will be able to apply this methodology to any call for your ongoing and upcoming proposals. 

Part II: HE/H2020 Project Management and Financial Reporting, 8-9 June 2023

The Academy continues with a 2-day practice-heavy hands-on course that will assist you in gaining a comprehensive understanding of the financial rules, project management and reporting protocols of the Horizon Europe and Horizon 2020 programs and their practical application in day-to-day operations. 

During the 2-day program of Project management and Financial Reporting, you will learn all about the project management duties and practices and gain in-depth understanding of the financial rules and reporting protocols of Horizon Europe and Horizon 2020. The combination of practical presentations and the hands-on workshop on personnel cost calculation will introduce all the aspects you need to know, from preparing your Consortium Agreement and Grant Agreement to submitting your last Periodic Technical and Financial report.  

Please note that this part of the course is not recommended for beginners with no experience in Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe.

 

Topics covered: 

• How to prepare a project management driven Consortium agreement?  

• Detailed discussion about result ownership and access rights in the CA;  

• How is innovation management linked to the daily management and the reporting activities?  

• How to follow IP development, capture and manage results; assess novelty elements and how to decide on the best exploitation route.  

• Practice-based tips on how to build and what exactly to include into your PEDR - Plan for Exploitation and Dissemination of Results including Communication activities? 

• Deep dive into EC services to boost your dissemination and exploitation efforts. 

• Step-by step introduction to the Horizon Europe Continuous Reporting tool 

• When and how the internal reporting should be completed to be able to identify “problems”.  

• Periodic technical and financial reporting from A-Z 

• Step-by-step analysis of the different personnel cost calculation protocols in H2020, compared to the all-new approach in the Horizon Europe program.   

• How to deal with parallel running H2020/HE projects when the reporting requirements are quite different? Should you change the time-recording protocols?  

• Why record time in hours if HE apparently has daily rates?  

• What is a day-equivalent, and what to do when one works part-time or on sick/parental leave?  

• How to optimize efforts, handle budget deviations, and monitor spending in reality?  

• How to harmonize national accounting protocols with the H2020/HE Grant Agreement articles?   

• Internal cost calculation – how to make internal costs measurable, eligible for EC auditors, and still maintain sanity?  

• Financial management of lump sum projects behind the scenes: is it really that simple? What if you have both a lump sum and an action grant project? 

•  ...and many more! 

Download the agenda of the Academy

 

Why Europa Media? 

Europa Media is Europe’s leading provider of practical training courses on EU’s research and innovation programmes. We have 20+ years of experience in developing and implementing projects under the Framework Programmes. Under Horizon 2020, we have been involved successfully in over 30 projects, coordinating six of them. Under the first work programmes of Horizon Europe, we are currently involved in seven collaborative projects, coordinating one of them. Europa Media’s trainers are actual project managers, coordinators and financial administrators of these projects, sharing their stories and providing you with hands-on tips based on their everyday experience. This event, as always, has been designed based on our direct hands-on experience with EU research and innovation proposals and is, therefore, 100% practice driven.  

Our events also provide a great opportunity for networking and exchanging experience with leading universities, research institutions and companies from around Europe and beyond. In our events, it is not uncommon to find a partner for your next proposal! The presentations, workshops, and free afternoons are organised to ensure the best combination of learning by doing, meeting new colleagues, and getting to know the city. 

 

Who is this course for?   

Whether you have already submitted proposals or managed projects under Horizon 2020 / Horizon Europe or will be just starting to develop a project proposal for the first time, this course will help you enhance your knowledge and skills on proposal writing and gain hands-on tips to apply in your current and future proposals under Horizon Europe. 

Feedback from previous participants shows that this course is equally useful for: 

• Project managers and coordinators; 

• Researchers and research administrators; 

• Research advisers, EU grant advisers; 

Coming from:     

• Universities and research institutions; 

• Public administrations; 

• SMEs and large companies; 

• CSOs and NGOs.