Elevating Research Proposals: Highlights from the RIS4SEB Horizon Europe Proposal Clinic

In April 2026, the RIS4SEB Proposal Clinic took place at the Prague University of Economics and Business, offering a unique hands-on experience for five international research teams preparing their proposals for the Horizon Europe programme. Led by Marco Liviantoni, an expert in EU funding from Liviantoni Consulting, the two-day workshop allowed participants to navigate the entire proposal development process, focusing on aligning project ideas with strategic objectives, developing project logic, creating work plans, and building impactful pathways and partnerships. 

Marco Liviantoni shared his reflection on the workshop: “The clinic showed a very high level of engagement from all participants, with teams approaching the proposal development process in an open, constructive, and highly collaborative way.” He further emphasized how the hands-on format of the clinic successfully merged strategic thinking with practical proposal-writing skills, helping teams understand and apply the Horizon Europe evaluation logic to their projects. 

Transforming Ideas into Impactful Proposals 

The clinic’s collaborative environment fostered insightful discussions, encouraging teams to critically challenge and refine their project ideas. Additionally, participants had ample opportunities for networking and exchanging experiences with others in the RIS4SEB community. 

The Proposal Clinic was set up because high-quality projects do not happen by chance – they are the result of systematic work, collaboration, and a clearly defined impact logic. This approach was central to the clinic, where participants gained the tools and knowledge needed to craft strong, competitive proposals for Horizon Europe. 

How was this made possible? 

The RIS4SEB is a Horizon Europe VŠE-coordinated project. The point of RIS4SEB is to elevate research and support capacities of widening partners to fully integrate into the European Research Area. The proposal clinic was one of the steps in a grander scheme of things, and it was preceded by a series of research workshops where the respective teams networked and pitched their ideas, and then the best ideas were matched with relevant Horizon calls. The teams went into the clinic equipped with fundamental information to make the best of the opportunity and to make sure the clinic provided the much needed value-added to the proposals.  

Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Research Executive Agency. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.