B11: Yhteistyö – kuinka paljon on liikaa?

Lauri Keskinen, Turun yliopisto & Janika Luukinen, Oulun yliopisto
Aiheet: 2. Yhteistyö, Kokeneille

The Covid-19 pandemic, which forced everybody to work remotely, increased collaboration between research funding units in different Finnish universities tremendously. Universities along with actors like EUTI and the NCPs began to plan and organize joint workshops, training sessions etc. This was also partly due to the start of the new EU framework programme, which needed national collaboration in the case of, for example, lump sum budgeting. There is also the increased tendency to see other universities as a source of help instead of competition – at least when it comes to international funding like the one granted by Horizon Europe. 

In the presentation we – the Universities of Turku and Oulu – will describe the case of our joint Marie Skłodowska-Curie PF Master class as an example of what can be achieved with close collaboration between two organizations. However, at the same time we wish to raise two questions in the field of EU funding: 

1) Could collaboration still be increased to further enhance the success rate of Finnish applicants (in all fields, not just in MSCA)? If yes, what forms could it take, and would there be other benefits than simply the increased success rate? 2) At what point does collaboration begin to feel excessive, waste of resources or simply the cause of more problems than benefits? 

By discussing these two questions, which shed light on the single issue of collaboration and its uses, we hope to engage the audience to think outside the box and picture what collaboration between research funding units could be in the near future.