AAU Researchers: The EU is Not a Quick Fix, But a Long-Term Investment

Text by Lea Laursen Pasgaard, translated by LeeAnn Iovanni and photos: Lasse Møller Badstue and Ida Marie Jensen - all from AAU Communication and Public Affairs

"I believe that AAU could bring in significantly more money from the EU than it does today. In any case, it’s my experience that our DNA, with its problem-based approach to research and teaching, is well-suited to the EU and the trends in the research programmes."

This comes from Peter Nielsen, Associate Professor and research group leader in the Department of Materials and Production. He is one of the researchers at Aalborg University (AAU) who has been most active in the EU in recent years.

Three focus areas identified

At a time when external funding constitutes an increasingly large part of the finances of Danish universities, the Executive Management has decided to strengthen taking care of AAU interests in the EU. Although AAU has a good success rate in its EU applications, the Executive Management believes that the university has the potential to do even better and get more people involved in EU collaborations.

It has therefore decided that AAU in 2024-2025 will target its EU efforts in three thematic focus areas. Areas that are in line with the EU agenda and closely align thematically with AAU's goals and missions: innovation, green transition, and defence research and critical technologies.

For many researchers, applying for EU funding for a research project can seem unmanageable and cumbersome. But if you familiarize yourself with the processes and invest time in it then it is time well spent. At least that's the experience of some, like Peter Nielsen.

"You may be lucky, of course, but I don't like to base my research strategy on luck. You can easily be facing a five percent success rate, so if you’re looking for quick funding then the EU is not your solution," he says.

Peter Nielsen estimates that he spends approximately 60 percent of his work time on EU-related tasks, but his EU applications also have a success rate that is "well above 50 percent". His research group is currently working on five different research projects funded by the EU, with a new one starting in May.

It has taken Peter Nielsen a few years and a dedicated effort to create a strong network in the EU, which means that today he is in demand when it comes to providing input to the programmes and establishing the winning project partnerships.

Be proactive and show up

Peter Nielsen's involvement in EU work started in earnest in 2018 when he was appointed to an expert group and at the same time began evaluating projects. Subsequently, in 2021, he was appointed to be one of four Danish programme committee members in the civil security programme, Civil Security for Society, under the Horizon 2020 framework programme. The task was to attend to Denmark's interests in terms of the content of the individual work programmes. He pounced when new opportunities and coffee meetings presented themselves, and his network and his sense of EU processes quickly began to grow. 

"Get involved and show up. If you know there's a new programme you're interested in coming soon, show up for the European Commission's Information Days. Take part in selected, relevant events. Ask our EU Office for advice on how to get involved," says Peter Nielsen.

Use the EU Office

The AAU EU Office has been the 'way into the EU' for several other AAU researchers, including Professor Birgitte Bak-Jensen, Department of Energy. She was part of an interdisciplinary group of researchers at AAU's then TECH-NAT faculty that in 2014 was contacted by Charlotte Pedersen Jacobsen who heads the AAU EU Office in Brussels. She had obtained a draft call text for the EU's work programme for energy technologies and asked Birgitte Bak-Jensen and her colleagues to comment on the content with an AAU lens. Was there something missing? Were the research topics relevant and up to date?

"We were very active and provided a lot of input to the text. When the final call text came three or four years later, many of the inputs we had provided were mentioned in the text. This made it much easier for us to produce a good research application, because the call text specifically mentioned some of the areas we had worked on ourselves," says Birgitte Bak-Jensen.

In the years that followed, she received a positive response to two EU applications, which gave AAU the role of project manager on projects totalling more than DKK 30 million.

Time and patience

Hans Jørgen Andersen is Head of the Department of Architecture, Design and Media Technology (CREATE). Like Peter Nielsen and Birgitte Bak-Jensen, he sees great value in long-term, strategic attention to interests in the EU, and as a researcher he has been part of several EU projects.

"As head of department, I consider myself a kind of lobbyist. There is generally very little money available for research on architecture and urban design, so I’m interested in making a small pie bigger," says Hans Jørgen Andersen.

For example, CREATE is part of one of the first six demonstration projects under the New European Bauhaus, an initiative linked to the political initiative, the European Green Deal, that focuses on issues like sustainable urban development. As head of department, Hans Jørgen Andersen has been an active advocate for an independent budget for the New European Bauhaus so that it can continue – and potentially mean new research projects for AAU. His efforts have included holding meetings with Danish members of the European Parliament as well as key players in the European Commission who have also been able to see value in the project from a Danish perspective and AAU's input.

"I’ve realized that we can use and cooperate more with the Danish members of the European Parliament. In general, however, I would say that EU work requires patience. I’ve worked with the New European Bauhaus for two and a half years, and it’s only now that we know there will be a call in 2025 that we can apply for. The time horizons can be long, so you have to see EU work as something you do strategically," says Hans Jørgen Andersen.