In our application to the EU in June 2020, we included information on how we planned to implement the various actions in our action plan. I occurs to me that we need to make our thoughts clear here too.
The plan is to start a new project Implementation of Action Plan, HR Excellence in Research (I call it “The Mothership”). Every action is going to transform into a sub-project, eight sub-projects in all, with sub-project leaders. Each sub-project has its own budget and project participants. The organisational “home” of the sub-projects, the targets, the actual deliveries and the timeline are already stated in the action plan.
We have one primary target group. Our researchers. Whatever we decide to do, we need to reassure ourselves that we’re on the right track according to this target group.
The eight sub-project managers will be the project group (crew?) for “The Mothership”. And we decided to let the steering group for the prior project be the same for this one, at least for the time being. With one valuable addition: Caroline Runéus, head of communications at LU.
So – the project structure is in place and the targets and deliverables already in place, can we start working then? I wish. Let me elaborate on that “moving ground” for a minute:
In order to get this project going, we need to find the right people to lead the subprojects, to work with the deliverables. And time comes with a cost. And no, we have no money put aside for the project.
Our vice chancellor, Torbjörn von Schantz, an advocate for the EU charter & code and the LU action plan, is leaving his post on the 31.12 2020. Will he make a decision on financing a huge project like this, just before leaving office?
Will the various people we need in the project be able to commit? Without reassurance on how much money we get?
How are we going to promote the project, how to find our reference groups, how to list all those stake-holders?
And, ps, the project clock is ticking. I already got a friendly reminder from the EU: You now have 1 year and 11 months until we need your self-evaluation. Roger that.