Working together for a green, competitive and inclusive Europe.

Short intro

Under the Romanian Research Programme funded through the EEA& Norway Grants 2014-2021, there were organized two calls for Collaborative Research Projects (2018 and 2019) addressing basic and applied research. The aim of the calls was to enhance research-based knowledge developed in Romania by establishing long-term strategic partnerships between research institutions from Romania and Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein (as Donor States).

By funding this programme, the research capacity was increased, including the number of young researchers, while also encouraging their training in an environment of high scientific quality. Also an active participation of Romania in the European Research Area was one of the objectives of the Programme that led to applications in EU framework programmes calls and other international funding sources.

The programme raised the visibility of research, by engaging, inspiring and supporting researchers to communicate and to present the impact of their research for the local communities and the entire society through 6 thematic areas: Energy, Environment, Health, Social Sciences and Humanities (including gender studies and social inclusion studies) ICT, Biotechnology.

Programme summary

The Research Programme enhanced research-based knowledge development through:

• Collaborative projects in basic and applied research;

• Support for the establishment of long-term strategic partnerships between research institutions in donor and beneficiary countries;

• Research targeting societal challenges and social innovation;

• Strengthening beneficiary countries’ participation in Horizon 2020, e.g. in the European Research Council (ERC), through capacity building activities, such as support in developing project applications, training, and building networks that include donor countries.

Programme Operator

UEFISCDI as Romanian Programme Operator (PO) ensured the design of the calls, the evaluation process and last, but not least, the support for the research teams in order to implement the Collaborative Research Projects. In the same time the PO contributed to relevant experience-sharing and capacity building across Beneficiary State and Donor State institutions and also to a good communication by designing the video podcast ”Research in the spotlight”.