Professional practice-based research programmes
that go beyond languages, borders, and disciplines

RUN-EU PLUS

The RUN-EU PLUS project is an integrated long-term strategy for research and innovation within our European University, funded by Horizon 2020, the European Union’s research and innovation programme.

The ‘PLUS’ stands for Professional Research Programmes for Business and Society, as the main goal of this project is to reinforce academia-business collaboration in the three RUN-EU thematic areas (Future Industries and Sustainable Regional Development, Bioeconomy and Social Innovation), through the development of a framework and programmes at MSc and PhD levels across the network.

RUN-EU PLUS logo

Goals

  • Define the roadmap for the development of Collaborative Professional Practice-based Research Masters and PhD Programmes. These will be accredited, scalable, interdisciplinary, and focused on business and society needs.
  • Create a collective and collaborative Cloud of Knowledge Portal to strengthen the capacity of the human capital engaged in research and innovation across RUN-EU. This will provide researchers with pedagogical and research skills and create a research career evaluation system to reward researchers and research excellence at all career development stages.
  • Mainstream new and innovative programmes and initiatives across the alliance to strengthen the RUN-EU commitment to open science practices, principles and skills.
  • Reinforce cooperation in R&I activities across and between alliance members and their associated industry, business and societal partners.
  • Contribute to the development of the recently announced European Research Area Hubs by fostering joint R&I activities across the RUN-EU alliance and support the development of the RUN-EU European Innovation Hubs with business, industry and societal stakeholders.

RUN-EU PLUS Management

The RUN-EU PLUS project management structures and procedures are similar to those that govern the RUN-EU alliance to exploit synergies and avoid duplication of efforts.

The RUN-EU PLUS General Assembly, Student Advisory Board and Associated Partners Advisory Board are drawn on the RUN-EU alliance governance structure.

However, while the RUN-EU Management Committee is led by the Polytechnic of Leiria, the RUN-EU PLUS project is coordinated by the Technological University of the Shannon and co-coordinated by the Polytechnic of Leiria, as well as supported by all the work packages leaders and co-leaders.

Objectives

  • To set out the ethics requirements the project must comply.

Objectives

  • To manage the overall work plan, budget execution and quality assurance entailing a set of tools for internal guidance.
  • To promote partners’ communication and engagement by carrying out regular (online and face-to-face) transnational meetings, assuring the cooperative work between all alliance members and relevant stakeholders.
  • To guarantee the project monitoring, quality control and evaluation of the results and producing the official reports.
  • To exploit synergies and assure complementary with the activities and outcomes of RUN-EU.

Objectives

  • To define the main regional priority areas.
  • To design the roadmap for the development of Professional Practice-based Research Degrees.
  • To specify a shared Action Plan for validation and accreditation of Collaborative Professional Practice Research Degrees.
  • To develop an Economic Resource/Impact Assessment Model.
  • To assess the potential for innovation impact and scaling of the action.

Objectives

  • To identify current practices across the RUN-EU PLUS consortium and best practices within Europe as outlined in the charter and code in the deployment of human resource strategies for researcher career development.
  • To introduce a ‘Research Career Development Programme’ adhering to the European charter and code principles to support our researchers in identifying clear personal career paths which will encourage inter-sectoral and international mobility during their careers and foster diversity and inclusiveness, including fostering gender equality and balance in research teams, to close the gaps in the participation of women.
  • To introduce a research career evaluation system across the RUN-EU consortium to reward researchers and research excellence at all career development stages.
  • To develop a cloud of knowledge portal equipping researchers with a combination of pedagogy and research skills. The European Charter regards Teaching as an essential means for the structuring and dissemination of knowledge and therefore considers it a valuable option within the researchers’ career paths.

Objectives

  • To mainstream Open Science practices and skills within our R&I platforms and delivery of new programmes and initiatives aimed at further strengthening our commitment to open science principles.
  • To develop resources across the RUN-EU PLUS network for increasing conversations around open science, cultivating awareness, fostering openness, and equipping researchers and innovators with the necessary tools to champion the open science agenda.
  • To apply the consistent application and internalization of the principles listed in the European Code of Conduct for Research Integrity (ECoC) across the consortium establishing dissemination, innovative training programmes and novel tools.
  • To develop a series of commonly agreed principles and training workshops by which to disseminate how intellectual property and knowledge transfer will be managed within the consortium. We aim to remove traditional obstacles to innovation and revolutionise the way the public and private sector works together to bring research developments and advancements to the marketplace for societal benefit.

Objectives

  • To enhance the regional R&I ecosystem within RUN-EU PLUS.
  • To strengthen the research capacity in business and academia.
  • To support innovation development.
  • To develop and mainstream entrepreneurship and transversal skills,
  • To pilot the implementation of initial cohorts of Professional Practice-based Research Degrees in collaboration with industry/business.

Objectives

  • To develop and implement the communication, dissemination and exploitation strategies, envisaging the sharing of best practices to ensure system-level impact.
  • To disseminate the activities and results within the R&I community, including students and researchers, from the alliance members but also other national and European HEIs.
  • To deploy events and produce communication material engaging the R&I community, reinforcing cooperation with external partners, strengthening the outreach and sharing the project achievements.
  • To exploit joint structures and share best practices among members and associated partners, including business and society stakeholders, and promote structured collaboration at the European level, among other pilot alliances.
RUN-EU PLUS Management Structure Graph.
RUN-EU PLUS is divided into 7 work packages (WP1 - Ethics and Requirements; WP2 - Coordination and Management; WP3 - A Common Research and Innovation Agenda; WP4 - Strengthening Human Capital; WP5 - Mainstreaming of Open Science Practices; WP6 - Research with Business and Society; WP7 - Dissemination, Outreach and Sustainability). It also counts with three groups of ambassadors: one for Open Science, other for Gender and Diversity, and other for Research and Innovation.

Public Documents & Reports (Outcomes)

In advancing the mission and long-term vision of RUN-EU PLUS, we have successfully achieved all milestones while integrating the ethos of a European University into the Alliance.

Here you can access the completed public deliverables and outputs which include comprehensive documents and reports produced between 2020-2023.

To set out the ethics requirements the project must comply.

Set the foundations for cooperation, partner management, and quality assurance by providing a set of tools for internal guidance (including project management and quality manual, monitoring, quality control, and evaluation plan), organizing regular transnational meetings (online and face-to-face), ensuring proper communication and involvement of partners, ensuring project monitoring, quality control, and evaluation of results, and producing official reports.

Enabled the identification, promotion and development of new future and advanced skills programmes. These programmes provided students with immersive learning experiences incorporating the latest knowledge and skills in cutting-edge areas. The FASA informed WP6 and WP7 about the new skills programmes to be developed and also informed the pedagogical design process of the new Short-Advanced Programmes (WP6) and European Double and Joint Degrees (WP7), as well as assessing the relevance and quality of the innovative educational provision produced under RUN-EU.

The RUN-EU PLUS project is strongly engaged with enhancing support activities that develop strong competencies in research and transferable skills in RUN-EU PLUS researchers and which empowers them with the ability to plan their future career and learning paths. In the process we lean to educational practices as essential means for structuring and disseminating knowledge.

This WP is focused on the following three themes:

1) the implementation of the RUN-EU researcher training programme.

2) the Pilot Study of the Researcher Career Development Evaluation Tool

3) The development and roll out of the Cloud of Knowledge Portal. In addition, the role of Gender and Diversity Ambassadors in these activities is also reported.

Open science is a philosophy and approach to scientific research that emphasizes transparency, collaboration, and accessibility. It involves making research data, methods, and findings openly available to the public, allowing for increased scrutiny, reproducibility, and collaboration among researchers. Open science encompasses various practices, including open-access publishing, open data sharing, pre-registration of research protocols, and the use of open-source software and tools. The goal of open science is to democratize access to knowledge, accelerate scientific progress, and address issues such as reproducibility and research integrity.

Introduction to Open Science

Designed and delivered Short Advanced Programmes (SAPs), based on transnational curricula and focusing on the future and advanced skills needs, enabling the promotion of flexible transnational mobility of students, innovative pedagogies and blended learning activities.

Developed and implemented the communication, dissemination and exploitation strategies, reflected in the establishment/promotion of a sound and consistent brand, in the creation/animation of the communication channels (particularly the project website and social media), in the development/deployment of promotional materials and the organization of dissemination and exploitation events. This mainly consisted of transversal/cross-cutting activities linked to all the WPs

RUN-EU PLS Research Degrees
RUN-EU PLUS Professional Practice-based Research Programmes.

RUN-EU PLUS Ambassadors

Open Science

They will support the open science agenda across the alliance. By learning from our industry/academia partnership, research degree programmes will support a research commercialisation culture and mainstream entrepreneurship and transversal skills within the university community. Seamless knowledge transfer will feed the results of the professional PhD and master’s activities into the innovation cycle of RUN-EU partner companies.

Gender and Diversity

They will support, encourage and advocate for women in R&I and career advancement within RUN-EU. These ambassadors will connect the alliance members with regional, national and European agencies to maximise the impact of the activities.

Research and Innovation

Supported by an R&D+i facilitator, they will connect RUN-EU with other actors of the ecosystem, including agencies, investors and the wider business community. They will work on projects co-designed with the industry to identify a specific set of R&I deliverables situated within the specific practice-based application context (eg with the factory floor as the laboratory).

Stay tuned
For further information on RUN-EU PLUS or how to get involved,
contact run-eu-plus@run-eu.eu

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