On Friday, November 17, 2023, the Juraj Dobrila University of Pula hosted a Horizon Europe Information Day, organized by the National Agency for Mobility and EU Programmes. The event featured a comprehensive overview of the Horizon Europe program, alongside valuable insights and firsthand experiences in drafting project proposals. Additionally, specialized parallel sessions were dedicated to individual clusters within the Horizon framework. Ivona Peternel, PhD, introduced the CARDEA Horizon project and shared its milestones and key outcomes achieved to date.

On September 6 and 7, 2023, a project meeting for the CARDEA Horizon Europe project was held, in which Juraj Dobrila University of Pula participates as one of the partner institutions. Assistant Professor Rozana Veselica Celić, PhD, traveled to Ireland to attend and participate in both the project meeting and a study visit at University College Cork (UCC).

The Horizon Europe-funded CARDEA Project , coordinated by Mary Kate O'Regan from University College Cork (UCC) , is driving institutional changes to formalize and standardize research management as a recognized profession across the European Research Area (ERA). The coordinator, Mary Kate O'Regan, presented the project, its activities, and its objectives.

Dr. Ivona Peternel, Head of the Mobility, International Relations and Programmes Department at the Juraj Dobrila University of Pula, participated at the end of January 2026 in two international events held in Kraków, Poland, focused on strengthening research capacities, fostering international cooperation, and enhancing support for researchers and project offices within European higher education institutions.

The Horizon Europe annual conference, titled "Development of the Research Managers Network," was held on June 15, 2023, at the Hotel Academia in Zagreb. The event was organized by the Ministry of Science and Education and the Agency for Mobility and EU Programmes. This first annual national conference was primarily dedicated to research managers at higher education institutions and research institutes involved in developing and implementing EU-funded projects, as well as anyone interested in the topic.

Juraj Dobrila University of Pula is a partner in the prestigious project "Career Acknowledgement for Research (Manager) Delivering for the European Area – CARDEA," which is funded by the Horizon Europe program. This call is part of the European Research Area (ERA), designed to maximize the impact of EU research and innovation funding (HORIZON-WIDERA-2021-ERA-01-20)."

On May 14, 2026, the UP IAM InnoRenew CoE premises hosted the final meeting of the projects dedicated to strengthening the project offices of public research organizations. Along with the analysis of best practices and future collaboration, the international CARDEA project was presented. The meeting brought together over 60 participants from 19 organizations united across four consortia (KRPAN, 5XPRO, ROAD3P, and SKUPP). These consortia were formed under a public call within the Slovenian National Recovery and Resilience Plan.

On Tuesday, March 3, 2026, the workshop Commercialization of Research Results: Necessary Steps and Practical Examples was held in the InnovaLab space on the University of Rijeka Campus . The workshop program, which brought together about forty scientists and scientific managers, was opened by Prof. Dr. Sc. Goran Vukelić, Vice-Rector for Strategic Projects of the University of Rijeka, emphasizing the importance of systematic support for the commercialization of research results and strengthening the innovation potential of the university.

A significant cross-European, EU-backed, project aimed at empowering, training and enhancing the role of Research Managers was launched at University College Cork (Ireland).  Juraj Dobrila University of Pula representative and project manager Ivona Peternel, PhD attended the kick-off meeting. CARDEA - Career Acknowledgement for Research (Managers) Delivering for the European Area - has received €1.49m in European Commission funding towards developing the ‘unsung heroes’ of research - the Research Manager.