Evaluating the EARMA conference in Oslo


Published at 2022-05-09 by Paul Tuinenburg

Three years ago was the last time the RMA network met at the EARMA conference, back then in Bologna. Last week there was again, finally, an in-person EARMA conference and it was the largest one yet with 1100 participants! We were happy to have been there as well in Oslo and in this blogpost we will briefly look back at this wonderful event.

The informal start of the conference was the 4th of May with pre-conference session on institutional research strategies, pillar 2 proposals in Horizon Europe and grant applications. But there also was already plenty of opportunity to get to know each other in the pasta making workshop (it tasted great), Sauna and tours in the University of Oslo, Botanical Garden and more. The kick-off of the conference was the networking reception in the Oslo City Hall, the place where the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded. What a beautiful place!

The formal start of the conference was on Thursday May 5th and after the keynote, this was our moment to shine. Together with Christian Jagersma of the UMCU we presented how we made it easy for researchers in the UMCU to find relevant funds. If you are interested in the presentation, feel free to reach out to us! The presentation was a huge success, the room was packed with even people in the hallway trying to listen to what we had to share. Thanks again to all of you who reached out afterwards with compliments, tips and questions. It was great to see everyone so engaged in the topic!

The conference dinner in the evening of the 5th was truly a highlight of the conference. Dining with 1100 people in one gigantic room was simply amazing! Topped off with a live band, wonderful. Friday was, like the Thursday full of workshops about everything relevant for RMA’s. Open Science, grant writing, fund searching, pre-award, post-award, collaborating with people there was plenty to choose from. And this combination is what really made this conference a success. Content wise, there was enough to choose from. But in combination with actually meeting people and great food we bet that everybody is already looking forward to the next large conference in Prague in 2023!

If you didn’t get the chance to talk to Paul about the opportunities with Impacter, click the link to schedule a demo and we’ll be in touch as soon as possible!