Pilot Testing the Handbook

In the 5th episode of the RM Framework Series, I’m joined by Marcos Gomes, Research and Innovation Manager at the University of Coimbra, to focus on what he calls the “central engine” of the project: pilot testing. Marcos co-leads Work Package 3 on pilots and explains why the consortium deliberately made pilot testing a core activity and not a late-stage tick-box exercise. The RM Framework builds on predecessors like RM Roadmap and RMcomp which mapped needs, roles and competences – but mapping is only the starting point. To make the new handbook for research management training providers interoperable and genuinely useful across Europe, it has to be tested in real training design and delivery. Pilot testing is how the project validates clarity, spots ambiguities and gaps, and sees where different national and institutional contexts demand adaptation.

We then zoom into how the pilot concept works in practice. Marcos describes a deliberately diverse first wave of pilot testers: three universities (Technical University of Madrid, Corvinus University of Budapest and the University of Milano-Bicocca), a regional funding agency for university and research grants in Catalonia, and a professional association (NARMA – the Norwegian Association of Research Managers). Together they cover pre- and post-award, research infrastructures, innovation and business development, open science, data stewardship and different seniority levels – from junior staff to leaders. Each pilot receives the draft handbook plus a guiding document with structured prompts. They are not asked to change their courses to fit the handbook; instead they use it to “rebuild” existing programmes on paper, keep a learning diary of what works and doesn’t, and feed this back through follow-up meetings. The goal: a living, evolving handbook built with established training providers and trainees, focused on learning rather than compliance, and capable of reflecting local nuances while still offering a shared European language for research management careers.