Mentoring is a counseling program that aims to join the mentor and applicant so that the result is a quality project that has received a high score. With this advice, we want to contribute to increasing Slovakia's overall participation in the Horizon Europe program and strengthening the European Research Area (ERA).
Mentoring involves presenting with recognized professionals and gaining their support in the process of preparing a content and competitive application. A gender equality plan (GEP) has also been a reliable and successful project proposal (as amended by the European Commission) since 2021. Mentors will study your proposal and give you feedback recommendations and recommendations to improve it. Gender equality experts will help you prepare a gender equality plan.
Mentoring can be obtained by Slovak applicants coming for support under the HORIZON EUROPE program, who have an idea, a solution, but will welcome another experienced view of their proposal. The precondition for inclusion in the program is a draft prepared in consultation with the national contact point for the appropriate area.
Mentoring for the creation and implementation of GEP is a specialized consulting service for applicants - public institutes, colleges, universities, public private research institutions based on funding from the Horizon Europe program. This type of mentoring is not conditioned by the developed project proposal, which applies only to selected parts of the applications - the GEP evaluation criterion.
You can find more detailed information and conditions for project mentoring in the document Mentoringová schéma SK4ERA
Information and conditions for mentoring the Gender Equality Plan (GEP) can be found in the document: Konzultačná služba k plánu rodovej rovnosti GEP
Both mentoring schemes are implemented within the national project SK4ERA.
Are you preparing an application under Horizon Europe? Move forward with mentoring!
Take advantage of the mentoring program of the SK4ERA project. Ask for a consultation on the processed application, the national contact point according to the affiliation to the HORIZON EUROPE program area, ask for mentor advice and agree on the conditions.
The mentor will provide you with expert advice, comments and recommendations to improve your application in the final stages of its preparation and thus contribute to increasing its quality, efficiency and competitiveness in the competitive environment of the European area. The main advantage of mentoring is the professional view of a top recognized expert on the prepared proposal and its compliance with the requirements of the program and evaluation criteria.
The relationship between the mentor and the applicant is voluntary.
As the budget for mentoring is limited, the degree of readiness of the application and the order of application of the request will be taken into account for its granting.
More detailed information and conditions can be found in the document Mentoringová schéma SK4ERA
Contacts at Horizon Europe National Contact Points
In all calls published since 2022, the European Commission sets out the requirement to meet the gender equality criterion through the Gender Equality Plan (eligibility criterium). The requirement applies to selected target groups - research institutions and universities participating in the 9th Framework Program for Research and Innovation Horizon Europe.
The research institutions will confirm the preparatory activities related to the creation of the gender equality plan in the calls with the date of publication in 2021 in the project proposal by a special document (declaration). In the period between the submission of the project proposal and the signing of the grant agreement (transition period), there is room for the preparation and implementation of a gender equality plan at the institution level. At the time of signing the grant agreement, the participating research institutions submit a functional - officially legitimized and publicly available gender equality plan.
More detailed information and conditions can be found in the documents:
Contact person for gender equality
Do you have experience in managing, implementing or evaluating project proposals? Do you share a passion for career advancement of researchers? Can you apply your skills in writing effective project proposals and provide feedback during their preparation? Expand our network of mentors.
Our mentors are experienced researchers, innovators, evaluators who use their expertise, experience and skills to support Slovak applicants in preparing a competitive application under the Horizon Europe program.
The role of the mentor is to provide the applicant with professional advice in the final phase of preparation of the application in the form of comments and recommendations for its improvement in terms of content and form and thus contribute to increasing Slovakia's participation in the Framework Program for Research and Innovation.
If you meet the above requirements, you can register for external cooperation with the National Office of the Horizon within the national project SK4ERA. Upon registration, the conditions must be declared by submitting a CV in the Europass format with references.
After fulfilling the required conditions, you will be included in the database of mentors and we will contact you if necessary.
The activity of the mentor is honored in accordance with the rules of the SK4ERA mentoring scheme and valid legislation.
The conditions of cooperation are regulated by an agreement on the performance of work between the mentor and CVTI SR.
More detailed information and conditions can be found in the document Mentoringová schéma SK4ERA
Mentoring is carried out within the national project SK4ERA.