During the second year of my doctoral studies, I completed two internships at the Romanian Office for Science and Technology in Brussels (ROSTeu), an organization created upon Romania’s accession to the European Union and part of the informal network of research liaison offices of Member States, the IGLO NETWORK.
ROSTeu, part of the Ministry of Research, coordinates the national network of Contact Points for the Horizon 2020 program in Romania (NCPs, National Contact Points) and ensures institutional links with the equivalent offices in Member States for Romanian institutes and research centers, and universities, playing a crucial role in ensuring multilateral meetings for Romanian projects with European partners – the ELI-NP social project is based in ROSTeu\’s premises.
The IGLO network includes over 20 similar offices from partner states, organizing monthly events on various research topics, networking, and exchange of experiences, and periodically providing training for interns regarding the strategies, programs, and funding aspects for research and development and innovation in the EU. I also participated in a week-long training program.
The ROST institution facilitated my enrollment, as its representative, in several European research conferences organised by various directorates of the Commission and other institutions in Brussels. The first internship took place in November/December 2016 (2 weeks), and I returned due to the exceptional potential to accumulate new information from the source, needed for the doctoral study, for a longer internship from January to June 2017. The internships were financially supported by me, as although ROSTeu accepts Erasmus work mobility (the situation of other intern colleagues during the same period), at that time there was no contract with UAUIM, and I did not have enough time for the required periods (3/9 months).
Check out the list of events I participated in during my ROSTeu 2016 internship, broken down by month and including a brief description.
2016
- November 29: Conference “20 Years of Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions” (EC DG-RTD) – Familiarisation with MSCA program, grants for doctoral candidates and young researchers, part of Horizon 2020.
- November 29: Conference “European Social Index” (Committee of Regions, EC) – Presentation of the European context on social aspects (economy, demography, poverty, etc.), references to the European Competitiveness Index (partially).
- November 30: Conference “EU Belmont Forum Day – Funding research to address the challenges of global environmental change” (Belmont Forum) – Presentation of synergies between achieving the 2030 SDGs and the funding priorities of the Forum and the Union, including CRA schemes.
- November 30: Conference “Circular Economy” (Techitaly, online registration) – Concepts, new technologies, programs, funding, from the Italian perspective and within the European framework (Horizon 2020).
- December 1: Conference “Factories of the Future Conference 2016 – Materialising Factories 4.0” (EFFRA) – Future of research for Industry 4.0 and new generations of manufacturing, including in construction and new materials.
- December 5: Conference “Research and Innovation for Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals in the European Context: Current State of Play and Ways Forward” (CEPS) – regarding the current state of achieving the 2030 SDGs in the EU, strategies and actions.
- December 6: Presentation “European Institute of Innovation & Technology” (IGLO OPEN) – Within the monthly meeting of the IGLO NETWORK (open to interns) of the EIT program (framework for ClimateKIC, as mentioned in the previous sub-chapter), from a delegation of the EC.
- December 7: Policy seminar and workshop on: “Cultural Heritage, Disaster Resilience and Climate Change: the Contribution of EU Research and Innovation” (EC DG-RTD, DG Climate Action and Resources Efficiency, REA, JP CH, EASME) – presentation of recent results of the latest European thematic projects, priorities for public policy, etc.
- December 7: Presentation “Circular Economy” (POLSCA) – Polish examples of the circular economy presented by the Polish equivalent of ROST (evening event).
- December 8: Conference “Innovative by Nature: Responding to Societal Challenges through Nature-Based Solutions and Cultural Heritage” (EC DG-RTD, DG Climate Action and Resources Efficiency, REA, JP CH, EASME) – The conference through which I came into contact with the OPPLA.eu portal and a large part of the results of European projects regarding NBS, green infrastructure and ecosystem services.