Proposals’ Preparation Support Procedure (Pilot programme: 10 months) - Research and International Relations Service University of Cyprus

The Support Team Research and International Relations Service: Proposals Preparation Office (central approach) Officer A (Central Proposals Preparation Office - RIRS) Officer B (Central Proposals Preparation Office - RIRS) Officer C (Central Proposals Preparation Office - RIRS) Academic Faculties/Schools represented by officers: (Horizontal approach) Officer of the School of Social and Education Science Officer of the School of Humanities Officer of the School of Economics Officer of the School of Engineering

Procedure (Leading partner: UCY) The procedure is based on the assumption that the UCY is the leading/coordinating institution

Step 1 1. Key idea by the researcher 1.1 Communication with Proposals Preparation Office (PPO) or with the officer in his/her School. The officers provide him/her with Form A (also available on webpage) 1.2 Form A is delivered back to PPO FORM A

Step 2 2. Research on the eligibility of the key idea by PPO 2.1 Result:  none  one or more available calls satisfy the idea 2.2 For each call available the PPO informs the researcher for its priorities, objectives and suggests ways to fit his key idea into the programme (the PPO delivers this report to the researcher within 3 working days) 2.3 Check feasibility of submission based on the available deadlines

Step 3 3. The researcher communicates back his comments to the PPO (through within 3 days)

Step 4 4. The researcher prepares a detailed summary of his/her idea ( words) in the language of submission on Form B. The summary includes: the problem tackled by the proposal, the main activities and the expected results. 4.1 Based on the above summary the PPO looks for partners (if needed and after the request by the researcher). The European Office of Cyprus helps to find partners. 4.2 The Director of Research appoints an officer as the “contact officer” for the researcher for the particular proposal. FORM B

Step 5 5. The officer who acts as “contact officer” brings together the researcher and the School officer to form a team of 3 persons. 5.1 Discussion of the “to do list” (Check list)for completing the submission of the proposal (summary, workpackages, LOI, CVs, Finacial Forms, Legal forms, budget, partner tables, deliverables, profiles, etc) 5.2 Distribution of work (who does what) based on the to do list between the researcher, the PPO officer and the School officer and deadlines for delivery.

Step 6 6. Filling all parts of the proposal. The PPO or the School officer compiles them together. (the communication between the three parts is often and consistent) Draft of the budget prepared by the researcher and checked by the PPO and the Financial Services of the UCY.

Step 7 – 8 – 9 7. Final check, signature by the legal representative of the University (valid also for electronic submission) 8. Submission is done by the researcher or by the PPO according to the wish of the researcher. 9. A copy of each proposal submitted is saved in the RIRS filling system.

Summary of support in a flow chart Research on available funding schemes (open calls). All information provided to the researcher (written) Finalization of Proposal Communication with PPO or School Officer, submission of Form A Researchers’ Idea The researcher examines the possible options and communicates his comments back to the PPO The director of RIRS assigns the “contact officer” (PPO officer) Distribution of work between the researcher – PPO officer – School officers Final check - signature Proposal submission PPO asks detailed summary, proposed ideas, problem tackled and results. Competion of Form B. PPO assists in partners finding.

Parallel procedures There were meetings every 2 weeks of the PPO and the School officers : Presentation on programme calls and logistics Presentation of completed successful and non- successful proposals on different programmes Invited experts, EU Programme National representatives and academics/researchers Round table discussions

Problems Difficulty in following all the steps as designed Some researchers needed only parts of the support The procedure is viewed by some researchers as bureaucratic The team requires more hands-on training and experience Close to deadlines there was overload of support requests in such a way that the number officers was not enough to handle the load The School/Faculty officers are not utilized fully for this purpose and therefore this resulted in confusion of their terms of reference within their School

Year 2008 Proposal success of UCY as of 30 October European Proposals: FP7: Approved: 4 coordinating, 10 partners LLP: 1 coordinating, 11 partners Marie Curie: 4 coordinating Daphne: 1 coordinating National: Research Promotion Foundation Submitted: 190 Approved: 86 coordinating, 19 partner