This year's conference focused on the work programme for the Horizon Europe funding calls for 2025 and for the period 2026-2027. It also addressed current developments within Horizon Europe and the upcoming 10th Research Framework Programme (FP10). Another key topic was the potential impact of the newly formed EU Commission and the future multiannual financial framework on the forthcoming funding for research and innovation. The future of the European Research Area, questions of the research security in Europe, particularly with regard to dual-use technologies and cooperation with international partners, as well as current challenges in doctoral education at the EU level were also discussed.
A particular highlight was the panel discussion "ERC.Future" with Lower Saxony's Minister for Science and Culture Falko Mohrs, ERC President Prof Maria Leptin and two ERC grantees.
This annual conference is an important meeting point for personal exchange between the northern German EU officers from the federal states of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Schleswig-Holstein, Lower Saxony, Hamburg and Bremen, representatives of the European Commission and research funding organisations in Brussels. Evgenia Mahler, European funding advisor at Hochschule Wismar, University of Technology, Business and Design travelled to Brussels on behalf of our UAS.