EMILIOS GALARIOTIS
Director of Research
RESEARCH DEPARTMENT
In 2022, the Research Department witnessed an increase in the production of research and an improvement in its quality. This dynamic was possible thanks to many internal and external actions implemented to support professors in the performance of their works.
262
Research papers have been produced from which 157 were published in 2022 (from these 64% are 3* or above), and 26 case studies and 07 books.
How would you assess 2022?
In 2022 research output continued its momentum and it overpassed the one of the previous year. Quality further improved with 64% of articles in 2022 at 3* compared to 56% in 2021. These figures are the result of the efforts of colleagues and of the strategies and support put in place in the laboratory by the direction and the research committee over the last few years. For one of the latest examples, during the 2021-22 academic year, the research direction inaugurated the organisation of writing retreats aiming to deblock existing work and ideas with excellent results.
Regarding EU project support, we created internal support for EU funding applications and their management with an experienced officer (February 2022 – Avec Johanna Das). We also launched a new system of decote linked to such projects to allow professors time for their involvement in their project and safety nets to protect colleagues and the school. The new system applies for new projects from 2023. We also increased our international collaborations and presence, and sourced and supported numerous events including events linked to Gaia that are fully in line with the school’s strategic focus.
Moreover, we developed the concept of Research Centres to enable faculty to pursue academic excellence and impact by attracting external funds, and inaugurated the Energy Transition & Sustainability Center, and the RISE initiative (Research in Sustainable Energy) with the Athens University of Economics and Business, in full alignment with the ECOS 2025 strategy.
What is your vision for 2023?
For the next year our vision is, first, capitalising on the developments of 2022 and, second, developing more research centres and among them have at least one under each main axis of the strategic plan.
Given the support established for EU projects, the new decote system announced in 2022, and the training and sharing of opportunities with faculty, we aim to see a gradual growth in the number of projects submitted related with EU once the new gender quality plan is in place. We have plans to further support Gaia events and, in addition we’ll roll over our strategy to have 10% of our monthly research seminars linked to GAIA.
We also want to further reduce our footprint by proposing ways to add to our existing actions to enhance responsible behaviours.
What are your goals for the completion of the strategic plan, within the scope of the ECOS plan?
We made very good progress in the two years of 2021 and 2022 in link with the number of publications of the 2025 target. (Up to now, we managed to publish 274 publications from the 560 publications PRJ targeted).
Therefore, our focus until the end of the strategic plan is to further improve quality and not focus so much on quantity. In addition, in 2022 we published 21 articles that are hybrid i.e. 18% (objective set to arrive at 30% by 2025).
We also had 71 articles focused fully on the strategy i.e. 45% and another 16 less focused but aligned to the strategy of the school (objective 40%). Eventually, regarding the support of Gaïa, we want to organize more and more-responsible events that are fully hybrid.
What are your CSR commitments?
There are 2 axes of our CSR engagement: first of all, the way we do things; second of all, the research focus we have. I have covered the second axis earlier so I focus on the first axis here, we reduced our footprint by creating new processes so that in 2022 research processes are all paperless.
We also decided to apply a policy, according to which, a minimum of 20% of research seminars are held online with the remaining being offered to the largest possible extent in a hybrid format (as done so far with the Finance department and seminars that are joined online for Southampton and LEMNA colleagues and hybrid for our faculty). The similar thing has been applied for affiliate Faculty (FIA) visits; where a minimum of 20% visits must be online; and similar for PhD examinations that are fully hybrid events.
In terms of output, we have published, in 2022, 74 of our papers with a focus on society and the environment. On that part, we identified that we can improve on self-declaration of our papers to have a more accurate figure in order to better serve our objectives.
JOANNA DAS
European projects coordinator
Invaluable aid for development of research at Audencia
“After 5 years of research project management in higher education in the UK, I joined the Audencia Research Division as European funding coordinator in January 2022 to provide in-house expertise and support the teaching staff at all stages of research funding requests.The first year’s initiatives and the work carried out, based on the objectives set by the Research Division, included the support of 10 active projects totalling 1.65 million euros and 12 proposal submissions. I also participated in a number of European Commission information days and twinning events, disseminating information on funding opportunities and identifying barriers to funding through a survey on the advantages and expertise of the faculty and the eligibility/financing rate conditions for financing flows. In addition, I mapped the available research guidance processes and published them on-line, in line with our ecological responsibility policy. I received a warm welcome from the Audencia community and the professors seem to appreciate the assistance available in-house. The support and the freedom for taking initiatives that I have received from Emilios Galariotis, as well as the assistance from the incredible and patient Benjamin Coquanty, the DAF, regarding budget preparation and management, have both been of immense help. I look forward to developing my role and support in the coming months.”
