ACCESS4EU:NZ

Background and objectives

There is a long history of cooperation between researchers from Europe and NZ. A survey by the NZ Ministry of Research, Science and Technology (MoRST) in 2003 found that over half of all NZ based researchers have at least one significant, and active, European collaboration. However, this collaboration has traditionally been bilaterial activity between NZ and the major research powerhouses of UK, Germany and France. Evidence, through data on co-authoring of academic outputs, suggests that collaboration over the last decade between NZ and Europe has been increasing, though there is little understanding of the exact mechanisms of how this collaboration is supported, or initiated. With the signing of the STC Agreement between the European Community and the Government of NZ in July 2008, and establishment of formal bilateral planning activities through the JSTC meetings, there has been a renewed impetus for closer EU-NZ cooperation, led by the EC and MoRST with initiatives such as the FRENZ project to facilitate greater collaborations between Europe and New Zealand in Framework Programme 7. It is clear, though, that, to date, the main focus of NZ government-supported joint science and technology activities has been on the participation of NZ researchers in European activities, namely the European Commission’s Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development (FP7). This project seeks to improve understanding and, if necessary, redress the balance in this relationship, by facilitating access and highlighting opportunities for European researchers to NZ’s research and innovation programmes.

ACCESS4EU:NZ seeks to establish a platform to increase the awareness and dissemination, within the Member States and Associated Countries, of opportunities for European researchers and research organisations to participate in New Zealand’s publicly-funded research and innovation programmes.

The ACCESS4EU:NZ platform aims to reduce or remove impediments to European researchers seeking to participate in NZ’s research and innovation programmes, through improving the provision of information on the opportunities available to Europe from NZ’s schemes, and the identification of prospective NZ partners with which European researchers could collaborate.

Implementation and dissemination activities

The ACCESS4EU:NZ project has a series of four integrated work-packages (WP). WP1 provides an overview of NZ funding schemes that can be accessed by researchers from Europe’s Member States, as well as identifying prospective NZ partners. WP2 disseminates this information to the broadest possible European audience, through a website and development of training materials for information multipliers. WP3 builds EU-NZ researcher connections, through workshops and networking events. In WP4 surveys of numbers of collaborations and the process/policy environment within which these collaborations were developed are carried out to ensure the project informs policy dialogue between NZ and the EC.

Expected impact

The expected impact of ACCESS4EU activities will focus around increasing science and technology cooperation between Europe and New Zealand by identifying opportunities for European researchers to participate in New Zealand based research initiatives. The focus for the project will be on building opportunities for researchers to increase their collaboration through a series of meetings, developing research synergies and participation within existing funding initiatives. Additionally, base line and review research will be combined with policy recommendations and be made available for policy makers in the hope that it offers support for increased funding programmes.
In order to identify opportunities for access of European researchers, the ACCESS4EU:NZ project will:

• Outline the scope of NZ’s publicly-funded research and innovation programmes, and their rules for European participation, with a view to making information on these programmes more accessible to a European audience.
• Develop a picture of NZ’s capability landscape, with a view to helping European researchers identify synergistic opportunities for EU-NZ collaboration in NZ’s schemes
• Provide a Europe-focused web interface to allow researchers to have free and simple access to the information on programmes and opportunities in NZ.
• Present NZ’s programmes, and opportunities for collaboration, to a wide audience of European researchers through various fora, including through the preparation of standard training materials for presentation to - and by - information multipliers and other relevant, interested parties.

To ensure an increase in effective collaborations, it will be necessary for European researchers to strengthen their connections with the NZ research community. To facilitate the development of researcher-researcher connections that are both ‘deep’ and ‘wide’, this ACCESS4EU:NZ project will:

• Bring European and NZ researchers together, through workshops and networking events, in order that the personal relationships that underpin successful collaborations can be fostered. Through sustained contact (over three days) the workshop relationships should be deep. Further, through exposure of over 100 European researchers to each NZ researcher, connections should also be wide.

Project Partners

• University of Canterbury, UC (NCRE), New Zealand
• Royal Society of New Zealand, RSNZ, New Zealand
• Project Management Organisation of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research – German Aerospace Centre, DLR, Germany
• Sigma Orionis, SIGMA, France

Further Information

CORDIS: Opportunities for access of European researchers to the New Zealand Research System (ACCESS4EU:NZ) 

Coordinator

Name: Prof. Martin Holland
Phone: +64 3 364 2586
Email: martin.holland@canterbury.ac.nz