Enhancing excellence through networking, knowledge transfer, and exchange of best practices. That's – in a nutshell – the main topic of Horizon Europe: Twinning. This also applies to the BAANG project, where partners have the opportunity to share their experiences. In addition to enhancing scientific excellence, the project also includes development in research management and administration. How is the project support at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering in Brno improving? We asked project manager Blanka Marušincová.

What makes the BAANG project special for you?

Overall it's a challenge, and not only for me. We have nine young scientists involved in the project, three of whom were starting their PhD studies at the beginning of the project. Everything was new for them: the international project, working in the project team, going and performing at a top foreign university, their first publications, and conferences. The fact that they are actively involved moves them on enormously. And as for us as project support, being in the role of coordinator, it is our job to take the bureaucratic burden off the whole international team. So that colleagues can get on with the science and the activities planned in the project.

Did the project meet your expectations? Is it somehow different?

The communication with the scientists is much more pleasant than I expected. To explain: our partners are really among the top universities in the world, so I was in awe of that at the beginning. But the team was a great fit, despite how multidisciplinary it is. Everyone is passionate about the project and I think you can see the shift in many ways. Not only in the scientific area, where even with the connection of different disciplines, there is often a need to engage innovative thinking but also in the area of collaboration. Young scientists have the opportunity to experience first-hand how a top international team works. They become a valid member and experience that their outputs matter and are important for the follow-up work of their colleagues. The communication is very intense and the progress of the young scientists is unmistakable.

How has participating in BAANG improved you and your workflow so far?

It allows me to look under the hood of project support at top universities. At TU Delft, for example, they have a great grasp of Data Management, they have the whole area very well methodologically grasped. Supporting scientists in this area is included right from the start of their PhD studies. Or Imperial College, where we are connected to the equivalent of our mechanical engineering faculty: they have ten institutes, and they submit twelve thousand projects a year in the faculty alone! It's interesting how project support works there – from the central level, where the whole university is managed, including the issuing of template documents, to the faculty who deal with the budget, to the institutes, where they always have a team of maybe ten to twenty people who just deal with supporting the project coordinators and researchers. We recently analyzed our department to see which of the inspirations can be transferred to our practice and how to move the processes in our department.

You recently had the opportunity to see Imperial College in person. What were your strongest impressions?

I was very pleasantly surprised by how friendly and outgoing they are, even though I'm from a different university. Imperial strikes me as very structured. Everything has an order to it. I find they reflect the national surveys very well. For example, the results of the 2002 survey, which highlighted the mismatch between the skills of graduates, whether at the Master's or PhD level and the skills required by employers, led to the creation and development of additional student and researcher support at Imperial. This support is centrally managed, offering up to eight hundred courses a year. It aims to ensure that graduates experience success in applying their technical knowledge in a practical environment, whether they embark on an academic or other career.

More interestingly, coaching is one of the common forms of support, whether for students, scientists, or staff. Not only can they benefit from five to seven sessions with a coach, but Imperial directly trains in coaching principles and techniques and supports their implementation into teaching or practice, for example in mentoring a student or PhD student. According to an interview with internal coach Elena, the coaching approach and facilitation both streamline the collaboration of the academics themselves and shift the work with students. It is also one of the strong motivational aspects of completing a PhD. It is during coaching that the inner satisfaction of the student can be fostered, and as Elena mentioned, when the student is satisfied, there is no reason to drop out of the study.

But coaching is part of the BAANG project, isn't it?

Yes, in the project we have piloted coaching support for our young scientists. An international project like this brings a lot of responsibility and commitment for young scientists. In addition to their regular duties, they have project tasks and objectives, and there are not a few of them. When designing the project, we considered how to support the scientists and not leave them on their own. Therefore, we proposed coaching support as one of the activities. Before the trip, there is an initial meeting with the coach, preceded by an introductory triad. The supervisor, the young scientist, and the coach meet, clarify the principles of coaching, which are not yet well known in our country, and agree on the expected outcomes. Then the young scientist and coach work alone. The second meeting takes place in the middle of the trip, and after arrival the last meeting and final triad with the supervisor takes place. We have had positive feedback from the pilot implementation, both from the scientists themselves and their supervisors, especially in that through coaching they can align their thoughts, set goals and go for it. On eis often overwhelmed by all the different things he/she has to do and so it is easy for the goal to become clouded or take a back seat.

BUT has three foreign partners in the project, which are among the world's top in the rankings. Do you think we have something they can learn from us?

I believe the project is inspiring for our foreign partners as well. Right during the kick-off meeting, also thanks to the professional facilitators, we managed to start a working and creative environment. The partners were pleasantly surprised at how the meeting was prepared and designed in detail. They particularly appreciated the interactivity, the dynamism, and how the facilitators managed to effectively connect different disciplines right from the start. I, on the other hand, was surprised that it was the first such experience for them. The project is developing all of us. Horizon Europe projects are very prestigious. Especially for the young foreign scientists involved in the project, this is also the first experience of this type of call. Processes are always innovating, and even our partners are not implementing one project after another, so I think it is also rewarding for them.

Is there any particular thing that you personally learned through this project?

I'm learning to plan well in advance because I'm aware that the scientists involved have a full diary. So I plan a joint trip six months in advance and arrange the date to suit as many people as possible. I am aware that correct communication is very important, and face-to-face meetings during the implementation of the project strengthen relationships and increase motivation for mutual cooperation. At the same time, the fact that I am also involved in the implementation of such a project means that when preparing the next project, I can evaluate this experience and take the project application up a level.