During 25-29 October 2021 ResearchCult project partners visited University of Sapienza Rome (SUR), an activity which was postponed several times due to Covid-19 restrictions for international travel during 2020 AND 2021. Around 45 participants from all partner institutions visited Rome, where they had the chance to see the research support services at SUR and discussed about their experiences and best-practices related to research.
On each day of the study visit, there were meetings, presentations, workshops and follow-ups held, and during those days the partners from Italy, Bulgaria, Higher Education Institutions from Kosovo and the MESTI made presentations on different topics related to research departments, international projects, etc. The program of the visit was quite intensive with workshops and presentations in various research development practices, among which the Project Steering Committee Meeting and Project Management Team Meeting have been conducted.
This study visit had an enormous contribution to the ResearchCult project, in order to complete its main goals and outcomes of the project itself, considering the below topics which have been discussed in details, and also future plan and follow-ups.
- Steering Committee Meeting – Held on the first day together will all members of the Committee from each project partner
- Activities of the research support services – On this topic it was discussed and presented the overview of research services office from Sapienza University
- Professional profiles of research support services – Details were presented on how the office from Sapienza supports professional profiles on research
- Rules and activities for research – Real project and research examples from the Sapienza University were presented, for example, Horizon 2020; ERC; Marie Sklodowska- Curie and other strategic partnerships
- Roles and activities for patents, start-up, spin-off – The Sapienza University presented an overview of the patents, proof of concept and academic start-ups, and then the local and international partners presented real cases of patents
- Rules and activities for Scientific Journals – On this topic it was discusses about the legal requirements for publications in scientific journal in Kosovo and the way forward. Regarding this topic, real examples of Scientific Journals were presented from local and international partners
- Rules and activities for ethics and integrity – MESTI presented the requirements for research ethics and procedures in Kosovo, and the Sapienza University has presented the overview of activities in order to support research ethics and integrity as well.
- Workshop on SWOT analysis on research capacities – All project partners have participated on the workshop, where SWOT analysis have been conducted for each partner on the project, where has been understood what the capacities of each institution are for the moment, and what needs to be improved or created through the ResearchCult project
- Management meeting – Leaded by the project manager IBC-M, they presented the project progresses under each work packages; presentation on remaining activities, including dates and methodologies; presentations on finance; and other project management issues were communicated and discussed with all partners
After each presentation, the participants had the chance to ask questions, and discuss about what was presented. The study visit provided a good opportunity for the participants to have a fruitful discussion about best-practices regarding the research process. Therefore all partners who participated in this study visit have benefited the real practice on research ethics and activities, as well as have been informed on details regarding the progress of the project and future plans of the ResearchCult project.