How to win EU grants? UO staff participated in training with foreign partners

How to effectively apply for grants from the Horizon Europe programme? To answer this question representatives of the University of Opole and universities in Valencia, Sybin, Mainz, Jyväskylä and Agder took part in the workshop ‘FORTHEM Horizon Grant Bootcamp’.

The training was attended by researchers and employees from the project management, communication and promotion units. The UO was represented by Dr Wojciech Opioła from the Institute of Political Science and Administration, Prof. Katarzyna Molek-Kozakowska and Dr Marcin Deutschmann from the Institute of Linguistics, Dr Sylwia Frach from the Institute of Literatures, and Aleksandra Krems from the Office for Research and Project Management.

‘We are taking this opportunity to compare how each of our universities acquires EU funding,’ said Dr Wojciech Opioła. ‘However, we are not only exchanging experiences, but also learning about each other’s needs. This will make it easier for us to work on future project applications for the FORTHEM Alliance.’

Workshop participants learned not only how to write grant applications, but also how to popularise science and communicate research results to audiences outside the academic community.

Horizon Europe is the largest EU grant programme for universities and other institutions. It offers not only research grants, but also grants supporting development and innovation, and grants for start-ups and green transformation.

‘This is the most important tool with which the European Commission supports higher education institutions from the European Union and associated countries in obtaining funding,’ emphasised Dr Wojciech Opioła. ‘In Poland, this is a lot of money, because we are usually talking about projects worth millions or tens of millions, and not zlotys, but euros.’

The ‘FORTHEM Horizon Grant Bootcamp’ workshops were held at the Collegium Civitas building, from 25 to 27 June 2025. They were part of the FORTHEM project and co-financed by the European Union.

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