The project officer is the key person for any project. It is the person that is the EU representative towards the project and in this respect their core responsibilities include securing well-run projects, deliverables on time, financial accountability and all-in-all that the projects are living up to the grant agreement signed with the EU Commission. There are of course many layers to these formal elements in the day-to-day work as a project officer.

In other words, in my Implementation Series I have reached the introductory episode about the project officers. It is not often that I am able to get the point-of-view from the side of the EU Commission and I didn’t manage either for this episode, but I managed to get a former project officer onboard. Sergio Ferreira – now Senior Innovation Advisor in Norway Health Tech - was a EU Commission project officer for six years. Hence, he has years of experience in the role.

In the first part of this double episode he introduces to us all the key aspects of the role and shares the different layers of formalities and social skills that is embedded in the role. In the second part of the double episode we will dig into how the connection with the project consortia works both formally and informally. And then of course he offers a piece of advice. This is pure gold!

Time codes (part 1):

00:01:49 Introduction

00:11:16 Fly in on the project officer

00:13:30 The EU Commission's role as funding owner

00:31:40 The project officer - their side of the table

Time codes (part 2):

00:01:50 The connection to the project coordinators

00:29:19 Throughout the project period

01:04:35 A piece of advice

01:07:38 The toughest challenge