In episode #9 of the RM Framework Series, I’m joined by Anna Seip, Policy Officer at the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Research and Innovation, to step behind the projects and look at the policy architecture that made them possible. Anna works on the European Research Area, Widening and research careers, and is the Commission-side action owner for A New ERA in Research Management. We go back to the origins of the current European focus on research management: from Member State discussions around the renewed European Research Area to ERA Action 17, where the need to strengthen the strategic capacity of research-performing organisations developed into a much more explicit agenda around research management. Importantly, Anna explains that this was not simply a Commission initiative imposed from Brussels—the original impulse came from the Member States and was then developed collaboratively with countries, associated countries and stakeholder organisations.

From there, we move into the four challenges that have shaped the work: upskilling, professional recognition, networking and uneven research-management capacity across Europe. Anna explains how Horizon Europe projects including CARDEA, RM Roadmap and RM Framework translate these policy objectives into practical tools, and we spend particular time on RM Comp as a common European language for describing research-management competences. We also discuss the next challenge: getting those tools used inside real institutions. That means reaching university leadership, creating stronger Member State ownership and building evidence that professional research management makes research organisations more effective. The conversation shows how a profession that was barely visible in the first ERA discussions has gradually gained a name, a framework and increasingly strong political recognition.

Time codes:

02:22 Guest introduction and fly in