Activity report 2024 - Mission Europe pour la Recherche
The Mission Europe pour la Recherche (MER) has published its first activity report, marking the culmination of a pivotal year for the support of research units towards Europe on the Aix-Marseille site, the launch of which was symbolically marked by the signature of the 4 presidents of the founding institutions, on February 16, 2024 .
Created by Aix-Marseille Université, CNRS, Inserm and IRD, and bringing together their 'Europe' support staff (excluding financial management) as well as those of Protisvalor, MER embodies a strong ambition: to strengthen and simplify access to European funding by structuring unprecedented support for the scientific community. Its action is based on three major levers: the harmonization of processes between establishments, the enhancement of services offered to researchers and individualized support, from European strategy to project implementation.
2024 was marked by a strong dynamic: 191 projects submitted, 38 projects accepted for negotiation and 194 projects monitored financially. At the same time, the MER has carried out an in-depth overhaul of processes and tools to simplify, optimize and strengthen the support offered to researchers and teacher-researchers, culminating in the publication of a clear service offering to provide better support for teams.
Unique in France, the MER is an innovative model for pooling support for research. This report provides food for thought on the prospects for larger-scale pooling, on the Aix-Marseille site and elsewhere in France. It illustrates how a concerted, structured approach can maximize the impact of French research on the European stage.
This first activity report is particularly dense and of singular importance. It looks back at the key achievements that have made the MER a benchmark player for Europe on the Aix-Marseille site, and opens up ambitious prospects for the years to come. From 2025 onwards, the implementation of the Europe 2025-2027 multi-annual action plan will enable us to experiment with and reinforce new activities, in particular on-the-ground detection and continuous improvement of the quality of projects submitted.
***The report is available for consultation, in French and English.
