By Torben Haugaard Jensen, Communications Officer, AAU Business School

On May 2, five researchers from the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) at AAU met with representatives of the European Commission in Brussels. The aim of the trip was to contribute to the development of the EU's future framework program for research and innovation and to profile AAU’s research within social sciences and humanities, including experience economy.

Kristina Maria Madsen participated in the study trip because of her research on design thinking and the use of game-based methods in the context of business design, which connects her to experience economy and innovation research. The visit was a good opportunity for her to learn more about how to attract EU funding.

- It was really interesting to gain insight into the EU funding machine and the complexity of the funding landscape. Also, I got a better understanding of how to influence and gain insight into processes and applications – and how to build networks and collaborations in an EU funding context, says Kristina Maria Madsen.

Important with AAUBS representation

In Brussels, Kristina Maria Madsen participated in a series of meetings that were held to select areas that are currently underrepresented in terms of EU funding.

According to Kristina Maria Madsen, it is important that AAUBS was represented in these meetings, because that is how the business school can create impact.

- We will only impact the upcoming strategy if we put in a continuous effort. It is important that we try to increase our impact on a future strategy, giving space and opportunity to researchers at AAUBS to apply for the funds. It also provides international visibility for AAUBS, says Kristina Maria Madsen.

Building strong consortiums

For researchers, it is becoming increasingly important to apply for funding. Kristina Maria Madsen thinks that continuously building her network in EU and Non-EU context and applying for smaller grants with them will help her gradually to gain more insights into funding processes and later lead to opportunities to contribute to EU projects.

- It is not an easy task to obtain EU funding. The processes are lengthy and require many hours dedicated to developing a consortium, a project with different work packages, and the EU application, and even then, the changes of success are low. Therefore, it is important to apply together with a strong consortium especially as a junior researcher, one depends on the experience of others, says Kristina Maria Madsen.

Read more about the study trip to Brussels. NB: Story in Danish