Heinrich-Heine University and Düsseldorf University of Applied Sciences: "European Project Office Düsseldorf" to receive over € 330,000 in state funds

The Ministry for Innovation, Science, Research und Technology (MIWFT) of North Rhine-Westphalia is to sponsor the "European Project Office Düsseldorf" with over 330,000 Euro from 2010 to 2012. Heinrich-Heine University and Düsseldorf University of Applied Sciences thus emerged as one of four winners from the "Establishing project management structures for EU research projects at universities in NRW" competition with a joint project application.

How can EU research projects be successfully applied for and executed? Two project managers financed from the funds will support researchers in Düsseldorf in applying for EU subsidies in future. They will undertake administrative tasks in the on-going projects. Both universities hope to bring in more outside funding in this way.

Applying for and managing multinational research projects for the European Union is a complex task. It has transpired that applications for grants are approved more often if they can demonstrate professional project management.

Under the motto "Institutionalise professionalism", Düsseldorf University and its cooperation partner, Düsseldorf University of Applied Sciences, will provide valuable assistance to their researchers in future applications for research grants and in executing complex research projects. The scientific work will thus be relieved of administrative tasks and can concentrate more on the actual research work at hand. "We expect these new structures to be more successful in applying for EU projects than before", says Prof. Dr. Lutz Schmitt, prorector for research and innovation at Heinrich-Heine University Düsseldorf. Prof. Dr. Brigitte Grass, president of Düsseldorf UAS, adds: "Universities of Applied Sciences have been under-represented in EU projects to date. We want to considerably raise the share of European funds for Düsseldorf University of Applied Sciences."

The two project managers of Heinrich-Heine University and Düsseldorf University of Applied Sciences will bundle the application know-how and project management expertise in the " Düsseldorf European Project Office". Both the number of coordinated projects and the quality of the applications and later project processing are to be increased. The University of Applied Sciences can benefit from the University's experience with European Projects. The University in turn can profit from the close contacts to business maintained by the University of Applied Sciences. Both universities are obliged to set forth their cooperation beyond 2012 even after the subsidy period has ended.

The state of North Rhine-Westphalia wants to support the establishment of professional project management structures at the universities in NRW. To this end, it launched the "Establishing project management structures for EU research projects at universities in NRW" competition in 2009. Four project applications won through and will receive a total of 1.6 million Euro in subsidies. The EU project managers will start their work in 2010.

Contact:

Research Management, Heinrich-Heine-University Düsseldorf:
Patricia Nitsch (0211/81-11398)

Department of Research Sponsorship/Planning, Düsseldorf University of Applied Sciences:
Jörg Balcke-O’Neill (0211/81-12854)