The evaluation of proposals and the management of projects are at the heart of research support. The Research Executive Agency will carry out these evaluation and management processes for a large part of the current research framework programme – FP7. With increasing research budgets, dedicating facilities and services to these tasks is at the core of the framework programme. These dedicated facilities and services will enable us to improve the delivery of support to the research community.

The REA will manage the following tasks:

• It will manage the Marie-Curie fellowships and related awards
• It will manage specific research grant agreements for the benefit of small and medium sized enterprises
• It will manage multi-partner projects in the field of Space research
• It will manage multi-partner projects in the field of Security research
• It will operate the proposal reception and evaluation facility in the Covent Garden building in central Brussels
• It will operate a "one-stop shop" helpdesk for enquiries about FP7

It will operate the unique registration facility for project partners to reduce the amount of paperwork involved in project management.

Source: Leonardo Piccinetti