The Lump Sums Methodology
In December 2013, The European Nursing Research foundation started its activities as key partners of EFN in 2 years project with ENS4Care, in which EFN was the coordinator. The main purpose was to develop the WP4 guidelines on Integrated Care as essential steps for the deployment of eHealth services for integrated care and work on the project sustainability with the final goal to provide the evidence for key political messages of the nursing community.
It was a Lump Sums project and, about that, EFN had a positive and enthusiastic approach to this methodology and continues to have it and to be the promoter of this method.
The Lump Sums system is a complete payment consisting of a single sum of money. In this sense, this methodology could be really helpful for small organizations obtaining funds and running research projects. This method would benefit small organizations that are not familiar with European funds or that do not have an internal administrative section able of concentrating on preparing the necessary documentation for applying for these funds.
At a STOA meeting, the European Parliament’s panel for the future of science and technology, MEPs lamented the EU’s inability to hold some Member States accountable and consequently argued that the EU treaties should include specific references to academic freedom. As stated by MEP Christian Ehler “European governments have been shifting norms to limit academic freedom for the first time in the history of the European Union”.
In this context, the European Commission announced its commitment to reduce bureaucracy for allowing researchers to spend more time on their research activities rather than filling out expenses claims and time sheets. And this is a very good news!
The European Commission’s objectives on the Lump Sums Methodology are 2:
- Reduction of bureaucracy in research programs
- Making research funding spending more efficient
In conclusion, we can affirm that the Lump Sums Methodology could be really helpful to accelerate research activities, especially of small organizations. The possibility of obtaining European research funds in less time and through leaner bureaucratic processes is precisely the boost we need. Nursing research is essential to build a resilient and robust healthcare ecosystem. Improving and implementing nursing research is a fundamental step forward a better European health system. Less bureaucracy and more research!
