The BMBF programme "ERA Fellowships – Science Management" funds the exchange of science managers, focussing on exchanges between German higher education and research institutions with partners of EU13 countries.
Getty Images / Tom Werner
The German Federal Ministry of Education and Research’s programme "ERA Fellowships – Science Management" is a fellowship programme dedicated to research and science management staff. It specifically provides science and research managers from Member States with less-developed research systems in Central and Eastern Europe (i.e. the EU13) with opportunities to spend between several weeks and several months at a German higher education institution or research institution, thereby allowing management staff to build and expand their professional networks and to gain new skills and perspectives.
The programme aims to build science and research management capacities, given the fact that efficient management structures pave the way for successful European and international cooperation in research and innovation. As part of the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research’s national programme for the European Innovation Union, the programme promotes knowledge transfer based on solidarity. Support for science managers to maintain Europe-wide networks as a basis for transnational exchange is still lacking, though effective collaboration within the European Research Area depends on interoperable management systems and trustful cooperation. For this reason, the exchange and peer learning of science and research managers are at the centre of the programme.
The programme also offers training sessions on shared tasks, in particular those related to the European Research Area and its programmes. Generally, the need for qualifications and capacity development in science management quickly increases in all European countries as a consequence of the dynamic development of science and research systems. In particular, the programme addresses this need with its Campus Weeks, which focus on shared tasks and challenges in science and research management across Europe.
In 2021, the European Commission and the Member States committed themselves in their joint policy agenda to systematically expand offers for joint trainings and opportunities for exchange for science and research managers. With the ERA Fellowships programme, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research will continue its support in this field.
