In June, Welsh Higher Education Brussels (WHEB) hosted a group of early and mid-career researchers from WISERD, as part of their work in supporting researcher networking for future funding bids to Horizon Europe and other funding programmes.
The group, from Aberystwyth University, Bangor University, Cardiff University and Swansea University, had meetings with key European organisations, including the European Commission, European Parliament and European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST). They also attended briefings from the UK Research Office, Civil Society Europe and the Delegation of Catalonia to the EU.
Information was shared on European funding programmes and opportunities, including Horizon Europe, and wider European research issues such as AI, regional policy and language were discussed. Researchers were also given a presentation by the European Parliamentary Research Service, with information on how they could contribute their research to the work of the Service.
Dr Rhian Barrance from Cardiff University, who was part of the delegation, said:
This was a brilliant opportunity to learn about sources of European funding for research and how to tap into existing European research networks. It was also interesting to hear how the European Parliament uses research and how researchers can participate in this.
Pictured left to right: Catherine Marston (WHEB), Lelia Toma, Annie Tubadji, Ian Thomas, Alexandra Sandu, Rhian Barrance, Nick Hacking, Sioned Pearce, Robin Mann, Flossie Caerwynt and Catrin Wyn Edwards (WISERD).