Equality, Diversity and Inclusion. A MOOC for Academic Purposes

Since its fifth framework programme (1998–2002), the European Union has promoted gender equality and equal opportunities in the higher education sector and science and technological development. In its current framework programme for research and innovation, Horizon Europe (2021–2027), the EU requires scientists to systematically integrate the concepts of sex, gender and intersectionality into their research paths and to promote equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) in their working environments. However, for historical reasons, following the EU requirements is challenging, particularly for scientists in STEM disciplines. The University of Genoa is planning a MOOC suited to a large research institution audience to address this problem. The MOOC’s targets are researchers, scholars, administrative personnel and students interested in advancing EDI practices in the scientific fields. It enables them to understand the basic principles underlying the gender mainstreaming adopted by the EU and integrate methods and strategies related to sex, gender and intersectionality to progress towards an EDI-sensitive institution. Supported by a learner-centred instructional strategy, this chapter explores the choices related to EDI-sensitive methods and strategies adopted to develop and implement an online education path. Theoretical and practical implications are also discussed.

The QUEST III R&D Model

This chapter provides a description of the QUEST III model, with a special emphasis on its innovation mechanisms, and offers an example of its application to the analysis of the impact of innovation policies in the EU. In particular, the results of the simulations of an ex-ante impact assessment of Horizon Europe Framework Programme 2021–2027 are presented and discussed.

Taking Stock

This Chapter presents the EU policy context that underlies the need for macroeconomic modelling for the conduct of impact evaluations of R&I funding programmes and provides a critical summary and comparison of the different ex-ante macroeconomic impact assessments of the Horizon Europe Framework Programme 2021-2027 presented in the previous three chapters. In particular, it focuses on the results obtained with the three different modelling approaches apdopted, and links them to the dissimilar properties of each of these models.

How to Evaluate a Transition-Oriented Funding Programme? Lessons Learned from the Evaluation of FONA, the German Framework Programme to Promote Sustainability Research

This article is based on the evaluation of the German research funding programme “FONA - Forschung für Nachhaltigkeit” (Research for Sustainability.) It reflects upon the methodological challenges confronting the evaluation. These challenges result from the specific objectives and design of the FONA programme (a strategic portfolio of heterogenious interventions). FONA’s ambition is to fund activities under the emerging field of ‘sustainability research’. The core characteristics of sustainability research are: interdisciplinary and trans-disciplinary research processes; orientation towards transferring the research results (into society) and the interdependency with a wider system and global perspective.

Designs of borders: Security, critique, and the machines

Over the past 15 years, the European Commission has poured millions of euros into Research and Development in border security. This article looks at the devices that are funded under this scheme. To this end, it applies Multiple Correspondence Analysis to a database of 41 projects funded under 7th Framework Programme. This method of data visualisation unearths the deep patterns of opposition that run across the sociotechnical universe where European borders are designed and created. We identify three rationalities of power at play: territorial surveillance aimed at detecting rare events in remote areas, policing of dense human flows by sorting out the benign from the dangerous, and finally global dataveillance of cargo on the move. Instead of trends towards either the hardening of borders or their virtualisation, we, therefore, find multiple rationalities of power simultaneously redefining the modalities of control at EU borders. A second finding shows where precisely critical actors are located in this sociotechnical universe and indicates that the structure of European R&D in border security keeps irregularised migrants off their radars. This finding calls for more caution as to the possibility to effectively put critique to work within the context of EU R&D.

Exploring European-funded project-based networks in ICT and their links with regional total factor productivity: The FP7 and the CIP

The research evaluation community has devoted multiple efforts to analyze the effects of Framework Programmes. However, there is little empirical evidence on their impact on economic performance. This article presents an empirical analysis of the research project-based networks created by 7th Framework Programme in the field of Information and Communication Technologies and investigates their links with regional total factor productivity. For comparison purposes, the diffusion network created by the Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme is also studied. Our results allow us to assess whether (or not) there are any common patterns in the research and diffusion links established by regions in these two European-supported networks and evaluate their (potentially) different connection with productivity. We use tools from Social Network Analysis and, specifically, the novel measure of bridging centrality, which takes into account territories’ internal microstructure.