Building Your Networks

Networking events gives you the opportunity to build your profile and meet researchers around Europe interested in making funding applications. Keep your online profile up to date (Orcid, LinkedIn, Research Gate, TU Dublin website etc).  Sign up to the Irish Horizon Europe newsletter to hear about these events and to be kept up to date with Horizon Europe news and events.

• National funding Information events - these are sometimes organised when calls open so are attended by those who plan on making an application. 
• EU Info Days - these are organised by the European Commission in Brussels / Online, usually, when a work programme is announced or calls are opening. 
• Brokerage events help to build consortia for forthcoming calls. You will also get a chance to meet European Commission project officers and hear more about the programme itself.
• Horizon Europe Info days have taken place virtually and all the recordings and attendee lists are available here……………. 
• Stakeholder Events are useful for meeting others in your discipline area. For example, if you are interested in energy research you might attend events organised by ESEIA….
• Intertrade and Enterprise Ireland are responsible for increasing Ireland’s uptake of Horizon Europe funding and some of the National Contact points work for them. Further information is available  here…… 

There are a number of funding programmes which cover the cost of visiting other Universities which helps to build networks. Here are some examples;

• Enterprise Ireland Travel Grant:  To facilitate participation in Horizon Europe, (excluding MSCA Individual fellowships). 
• Intertrade Ireland Travel Grants:  This scheme is run by Intertrade Ireland to encourage collaboration between the Republic and Northern Ireland. 
• IRC Ulysses Scheme: The Irish Research Council provides support for short visits to partner institutions in France. 
• MSCA Staff Exchanges:  Academic and non-academic sectors (including SMEs) from across the globe can form a consortium and make an application.
• New Foundations : This scheme supports research, the development of networks, conferences, workshops and/or more general dissemination activities. 
• Irish Fulbright Commission: The Fulbright Irish Scholar Awards are grants to complete postdoctoral or professional research or lecturing for a period of 3 months up to 1 year in the US. 
• Erasmus for Staff: These grants fund staff to travel to partner institutions or enterprises for the purpose of staff teaching or training. The International Office manages this programme. 
•  IRC Networking Working Grant: These grants are aimed at fostering the development of long-term relationships between social science researchers in the UK and Republic of Ireland.  

For more information on these and other opportunities search our Research Professional funding database or contact research@tudublin.ie 

COST is the best European funding programme for building networks. This funds a consortium of researchers with a common research interest and are an excellent meeting place for researchers working within a discipline. Funding is available for travel and meeting / event costs.

You can also attend events organised by a funded COST Action, even if you are not a member, and are open to participation by PIs or graduate students. COST proposals can be submitted at any time of the year but they are “collected” twice yearly and evaluated. 
Read more here..

Crowd Helix is a platform that facilitates research networking and consortium building. It is a key source of contacts for potential Horizon Europe proposal applications.

You can either upload your profile and explain which of the calls you are interested in joining as a partner or you can express your interest in calls for expertise that are posted on the platform. TU Dublin has subscribed to this platform and all TU Dublin staff can freely access it.