EARMA history

  • Initial meeting London

    In the first meeting that was held in London the need for a European network was discussed. Following the already existent ARMA, the idea was to create a broader organisation. This step was based on different circumstances. Firstly, there was a growing need for communication and connection for and between RMAs across Europe not only to share best- practices but also to recognise the profession of RMA’s.
  • Founding of EARMA

    After the need for a European association was defined, in 1995 EARMA was officially founded in Genoa, Italy. The decision to start a association was taken there and finally conducted as well, therefor EARMA was founded under Italian law and the first statues were set. The organization was in the beginning solely organized by volunteers.
  • 1st Annual Conference: Genoa

    1st Annual Conference: Genoa
    From the beginning on the annual conference was the main event. In the beginning the conference was rather small and organized by local which led to often a lot of local researchers that discussed rather local contexts than European ones in these conferences. Nevertheless, from the beginning on the conference was held every year in a different city in a different country.
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    CHAIR: Sigurd Lettow, CH

  • 2nd Annual Conference: Vienna

  • 3rd Annual Conference: Barcelona

  • 4th Annual Conference: Dublin

  • 5th Annual Conference: Amsterdam

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    CHAIR: Campbell Warden, ES

  • 6th Annual Conference: Heidelberg

  • 7th Annual Conference: Stockholm

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    CHAIR: Frank Heemskerk, BE

  • 8th Annual Conference: Budapest

  • 9th Annual Conference: Faro

  • 10th Annual Conference: Bucharest

  • 11th Annual Conference: Genoa

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    CHAIR: Wiktor Kurzeja, UK

  • 12th Annual Conference: Paris

    In 2006 the EARMA Annual Conference took place from 18 - 20 June 2006, at the Institut Pasteur in Paris. The issues highlighted were: Research management and support within institutions (strategic planning, internal structures and governance); Sources of research funding and associated issues; Making international research links last longer and Practical ways to help structure international research collaborations and what this means for research managers and their roles.
  • 13rd Annual Conference: Warsaw

    The 13rd annual conference took place in Warsaw, Poland, from 29 June until 1 July 2007. The theme of this year's conference was 'Building the European Research Area: the responsibilities of research managers'. The conference looked into the broad policy and other factors affecting the international mobility of researchers, international research collaboration and the international dimension of the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7).
  • 14th Annual Conference: Barcelona

    In 2008, EARMA's annual conference took place in Barcelona, Spain. The main theme of the conference was "Shaping the profession: exploring the boundaries of European research management & administration". In discussions and workshops, the conference tackled a variety of questions ranging from the identification of basic skills of European research managers and administrators to legal issues under the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7).
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    Creating new statues

    Due to unclear statues, it was possible that some people gathered a lot of power in the association and the power of the members was declining. As a reaction to those new statues that would clear separate different powers were introduced to the general assembly at the Barcelona conference. It was the aim that with the new statues the association would not only be renewed but also professionalized.
  • 15th Annual Conference: Copenhagen

  • 16th Annual Conference: Ljubljana

    The 16th Annual Conference of EARMA took place at the University of Ljubljana from 20th to 23rd June 2010. The main theme of the Conference was “Grand Challenges in Research Management and administration in Europe” and it covered topics such as the likely role of Grand Societal Challenges in future programmes or the developments within the European Institute of Innovation and Technology.
  • Formal move to Brussels

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    CHAIR: Jan Andersen, DK

    Senior Executive Officer, External Relations Team - Faculty Sciences of the University of Southern Denmark
  • 17th Annual Conference: Bragança

    17th Annual Conference: Bragança
    In 2011, the EARMA conference took place in Bragança, Portugal. Research managers, administrators and others concerned with European science policy met to discuss current European opportunities and the future shape of European research policy. Key themes included how to improve access to funds and better prepare applications, as well as how to deal with the management of funded projects.
  • 18th Annual Conference: Dublin

    18th Annual Conference: Dublin
    The 18th Annual Conference of the European Association of Research Managers and Administrators took place from the 8th -11th July 2012 in Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland during the celebration of ‘Dublin, City of Science 2012′ and just prior to the 2012 European Science Open Forum. The EARMA conference focused on the upcoming HORIZON 2020 programme, ongoing research management and professional development. 300 delegates from 30 countries participated at this conference.
  • 19th Annual Conference: Vienna

    19th Annual Conference: Vienna
    The 19th Annual Conference of the EARMA took place in the Vienna University of Technology, Austria, with theme "Stairways to Excellence in Research Management and Administration". The Conference took place against the backdrop of the completion of the final arrangements for the H2020 programme. The Conference focused on how Research Offices can adapt to the new programme and how they can help manage sustainable research activities.
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    CHAIR: John Donovan, IE

    Head of Research at Technological University Dublin
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    EARMA SECRETARY: Emma Lythgoe

    The board decided in 2013 that for the further professionalization of EARMA a hired person would be necessary since up till then the association solely relied on the voluntary work of its members even for the chair and board. As a reaction to that identified need Emma Lythoge was hired in 2013 as a Freelancer who could support EARMA mainly with administrative work such as IT-tools or invoices. With that step EARMA started to build up and establish today’s organization.
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    EARMA´s Future Prospects Estorill, Portugal

  • Certificate in Research Management (CRM)

    In the process of further professionalizing the EARMA and also in getting recognition for the profession of RMA’s the EARMA started already around 2010 to plan together with ARMA an official credited program that aspiring RMA’s could take part in. The program goes over two years and participant who complete the program successfully can get ECTS. The program was launched in 2014 and had so far a total of 75 students in the first five cohorts.
    https://earma.org/courses-and-training/
  • 20th Annual Conference: Tallinn

    20th Annual Conference: Tallinn
    In 2014, the EARMA conference took place in Tallinn, Estonia. This time it was focussed on cross-border research collaborations, the changes with regards to Horizon 2020, research management from policy to practice, and the professional development frameworks.
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    PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT ADMINISTRATOR: Kathleen Toth

  • Leiden- group initiative

    The Leiden-group initiative is a common collaboration platform among all Research Managers associations across Europe. It is forum for all European RMA associations, through the chairs and presidents, to discuss themes of mutual interest and share good practice. It was instantiated at a meeting of various association chairs at the EARMA annual conference in Leiden, hence the name.
  • 21st Annual Conference: Leiden

    21st Annual Conference: Leiden
    The 21st Annual Conference of the European Association of Research Managers and Administrators (EARMA) took place from the 28th June till 1st July 2015 in Leiden, The Netherlands. The EARMA Conference 2015 focused on Global Outreach: Enabling Cultures and Diversity in Research Management and Administration.
  • Leaders in RM

    The leaders in RM is not so much of a program but more an event that until now took place before the annual conference and gives the opportunity to experienced RMA’s and those in leadership positions to share best-practices, create a further network.
    https://earma.org/courses-and-training/
  • 22nd Annual Conference: Luleå

    22nd Annual Conference: Luleå
    The European Association of Research Managers and Administrators' (EARMA) Annual Conference 2016 took place in Luleå, Sweden, on 20th to 23rd June in cooperation with Luleå University of Technology.
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    EARMA Strategy Meeting Tarragona, Spain

  • ERION thematic group

    In 2017 ERION was launched it is a special interest group within EARMA regarding to ethics in research. The idea for a special interest group was initiated when the topic of ethics became more and more relevant in research.EARMA could provide a platform to share knowledge and best practices and ultimately developed ERION to envelop standards for ethics in research.
    https://earma.org/thematic-groups/
  • 23rd Annual Conference: Valleta, Malta

    23rd Annual Conference: Valleta, Malta
    The 23rd Annual EARMA Conference was held in Valletta, Malta.
  • Formal change to Brussels

    In 2017 the formal change to Belgium took place. Since EARMA was founded in Italy under Italian law there also was a need of changing the association into Belgian law. The decision to change the association to Belgian law was already made way earlier around 2010 but as the process of changing started it turned out that the registration in Italy was never fully conducted and therefor it was difficult to deregister the association quickly and could only be conducted in 2017.
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    CHAIR: Sharon Bailey, IE

    Chief Financial Officer / Bursar, National University of Ireland Galway
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    MANAGING DIRECTOR: Nik Claesen

  • EARLY Stage Research Administrators Masterclass

    The EARLY- Stage masterclass was initiated to give an entry opportunity to complete beginners in the field of RMA’s to get to know to other RMA’s, to get a closer idea of the profession. It was launched in 2018 and so far 6 workshops been held.
    https://earma.org/courses-and-training/
  • 24th Annual Conference: Brussels

    24th Annual Conference: Brussels
    The 24th Annual conference took place in Brussels between 15 and 17 April 2018. This year the EARMA conference co-hosted the conference together with the NCURA International Region (Region VIII) which has members across 38 countries around the world.
  • 25th Annual Conference: Bologna

    25th Annual Conference: Bologna
    The 25th Annual EARMA Conference took place in Bologna, from 27 to 29 March 2019.
    "Supporting a sustainable future for research" was the theme for that year, which received about 1000 participants.
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    CHAIR: Esther Phillips, NL

    Advisor Research Funding CML, Leiden University. Executive Director bij LDE Centre for Sustainability
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    FINANCIAL AND ADMINISTRATION OFFICER: Sahar Arafat

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    PROJECT MANAGER: Borana Taraj

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    COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER: Nyle Lennon

  • Online Annual Conference

    Due to the Covid- pandemic, annual conference in 2020 had to be transformed into an online event in a matter of week. But overall the pandemic lead to an increasing offer ofonline events when before most of the events were held in person.
  • Online Annual Conference

    Online Annual Conference
    Due to the situation of the pandemic, EARMA organized a Digital Conference in October 2020. This was a four-afternoon event featuring a variety of guest speakers and experts that looked at the hot topics in the RMA field. This event provided an interactive space for sharing insights within the EARMA community.
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    ONLINE COMMUNITY AND EVENTS OFFICER: Johanna Roodt

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    CHAIR: Evelina Brännvall, SE

    Research Funding Specialist
    Lulea University of Technology, Sweden
  • 26th Annual Conference: Oslo

    26th Annual Conference: Oslo
    Over three days, May 4 – 6, 2022, EARMA will bring our community together again to share the most relevant and interesting information in research management, administration and support. This time, for our long-awaited EARMA Conference in Oslo, Norway.
  • INORMS in Madrid