Geologist, Project Manager and great climbing enthusiast, Sofia Mariano is the Head of the Research and Development Project Services Center of INGV. An expert in European and national projects, we interviewed her to find out more about her journey and the strategic importance of this sector.
Sofia, when the INGV Research and Development Project Services Center was born and for what purpose?
The first embryo of the Research and Development Project Services Center was established in 2012 with the aim of creating a bridge between the world of research, which participates in national and international projects, and the administrative sector. The first establishment of the Project Office was the response to a growing need to create processes and procedures to improve and systematize the access and management of new financing models which, as early as the second half of the 2007s, characterized a new way of financing research in the main European countries. The change in European policies relating to the programming of strategic objectives also through research funding programs has had important repercussions in Italian institutions and universities also in terms of organizational and institutional change and with a view to increasing international competitiveness and entering the be part of the European consortia. As regards the case of INGV, participation in projects funded by the European Commission's Research Framework Program had a surge between 2012 and XNUMX.
Why is the presence of offices and personnel dedicated to projects essential today?
In the context of public administration, especially in research institutions, the last two decades have seen a decrease in ordinary funds allocated to activities, which is why external funding and projects are an indispensable resource. At the same time, increasingly specific legislation was gradually defined relating to the obtaining and reporting of loans, subject to control and audit. The presence of offices and qualified personnel allows the fielding of skills capable of operating a virtuous management of external projects. The risk related to the lack of specific support in these activities is that of not being able to fulfill the requirements of the Project and this may involve, for example, the return of funds to national or European funding bodies. Well, in order to operate at its best, typically managerial management is required, carried out by pursuing specific objectives within a defined time interval with resources dedicated to project activities, also optimizing effectiveness and efficiency.
How important is project management in this context?
Orientation towards project management is essential since the figure of the Project Manager, inspired by the figure of the "Project Officer" on the European model and the manager of private companies, is able to implement a simplification of administrative procedures by enhancing the specific computerized tools support. These key figures have the task of supervising the progress of the project, guaranteeing compliance with management times and procedures, contributing to the solution of critical issues through continuous interaction with all parties involved. It is a question of elaborating, planning and scheduling each activity with an overview that allows to prevent any critical issues in full compliance with the procedures defined and standardized by the Central Administrations.
What could be, in this sense, a winning organizational model?
Surely it is desirable to overcome an organizational model based on functions in favor of a matrix scheme. This is because a matrix structure takes greater account of the characteristics and specificities of the actions carried out daily by the different operating sectors of the entities and develops on two dimensions: one horizontal, relating to the procedures intended for individual projects, the other vertical, relating to the management and transversal administrations common to all projects. This scheme not only allows the improvement of performance but combines efficiency and correctness in the management of resources and transparency of the individual actions performed. This structure would also effectively achieve strict compliance with the management and delivery times of administrative services and, ultimately, with the public resources necessary for research and technological development activities, understood as the availability of funding for the project, human resources and the acquisition of goods and services.
Sofia, tell us something about your career ... how did you approach the Projects sector and what are the aspects that have most fascinated you?
I am a geologist and I trained in the European planning sector first at the University of Roma Tre and later at the European Commission in Brussels; in Belgium I had the opportunity to carry out an internship at DG Research and it was a wonderful experience that allowed me to get away from the "particular" and from the single research group to have a more complete and multidisciplinary view of the tools and activities related to projects globally: the international environment is extremely challenging. This experience was a starting point but my training in the sector is continuous and has recently been completed with the skills of Management in the Public Administration. Today I'm very familiar with everything related to European and national projects while I'm still learning the aspects of coordination of working groups and management of administrative processes. There is still work to be done and work is being done, for example, on integrated data management and computerisation.
What would you recommend to young students who would like to pursue this career?
My advice is to follow a dedicated course of study, there are very interesting degree courses in Management and Innovation in Public Administration, Economics and Management Engineering able to provide all the necessary tools to move in this sector. Furthermore, it is very important to gain experience at an international level and the various faculties offer programs and internships that allow one to enrich one's professional and cultural background in this sense.
Finally, what are the essential characteristics to do this job?
Definitely leadership, problem solving and the ability to make decisions quickly. A manager's task is to put himself at the forefront without waiting for someone else to resolve critical issues: in this sense it is very important to have a resolution approach oriented towards optimizing results. Effectiveness, efficiency, multidisciplinarity and achievement of objectives are the mantra of those who work in this field.