Liaison Officer EU

The main goal of the Liaison Officer EU is to coordinate IHE Delft overall participation in key EU programmes (e.g. Horizon Europe, Erasmus+, EuropeAid), by ensuring an active institutional response to EU programmes and calls for proposals with the ultimate goal of further strengthening the EU project and programme portfolio of the Institute. This will be achieved by creating and maintaining excellent relations with relevant European institutions and European platforms that are directly or indirectly related to water, as well as identifying new EU funding opportunities and supporting the administrative processes related to project proposal submissions. The Liaison Officer EU will also, based on the experience in dealing with EU grant management activities, support the improvement of project management processes and systems at the Institute. The working language is English.

• Monitor policy developments at the EU level, participate or contribute to policy dialogue meetings and propose ideas (e.g. in the form of briefing papers) to strengthen IHE Delft’s position within EU programmes;
• Identify, assess and internally disseminate new EU funding opportunities within relevant EU funding programmes, including but not limited to Education (Erasmus +), Research (Horizon Europe), development cooperation (EuropeAid);
• Support academic staff members in all pre-award administrative aspects, workflows and procedures related to EU projects’ submissions, including reviewing call regulations and assisting with budgeting; “ad hoc” support to post-award phase as required;
• Liaise with the internal and external stakeholders to develop potential consortia for project proposals;
• Establish and maintain excellent relations with relevant departments of the EU as well as Dutch agencies dealing with EU affairs and other relevant networks (e.g RVO, Water Europe, EARMA);
• Maintain a solid and organised information system concerning individual project as well as general administration of EU funding;
• Assist to develop project management frameworks, processes and tools for different phases in project preparation and implementation;
• Other support to Liaison Office activities as requested (e.g. ad hoc support to other programmes, support in giving workshops on funding opportunities and grant writing).

Qualifications and Skills

• University degree (bachelor or master) in a field relevant to the work of IHE Delft;
• Familiarity with various donor programmes, especially those of the European Commission, is essential;
• Experience with European Commission funding mechanisms, rules and requirements, with focus on developing procedures, workflows, templates, guidelines;
• Experience in coordinating applications to competitive grants.
• Knowledge about trends in the water sector (and related sectors) especially at EU policy level;
• Experience with / proven interest in international/European co-operation; experience in working with multilateral and-or bilateral organisations would be an asset;
• Experience with project management methodologies/frameworks and tools;
• Excellent proficiency of English and preferably Dutch. Any other UN language would be an asset;
• Computer software application skills at professional level (in particular MS Excel). Knowledge about other application like MS Project or database systems is a plus;
• Willingness to travel (typically for short term missions).

Competences

• Excellent communication, negotiation and networking skills;
• Excellent technical reporting and writing skills;
• Excellent team-worker who enjoys working in an international and multicultural environment;
• High degree of flexibility and ability to work under pressure, prioritise workload, keep deadlines, be able to work on different tasks in parallel;
• A proactive team player who can think strategically and focuses on solutions and drives (unsolicited) improvement actions;
• Excellent organizational skills with attention to detail and accuracy;
• Client-centred approach.

The employment contract is for 32 hours per week, 0.84 FTE.

The candidate will be stationed in Delft, the Netherlands, and needs to be eligible to work in the Netherlands. There is a possibility to work remotely 50% of your working hours, with necessary equipment provided to create a comfortable home-office working environment. 

The position is in accordance with scale 11 of the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities.

IHE Delft offers an attractive, multiple-choice employee benefits scheme, year-end bonus and generous pension scheme. The appointment implies entry into the Netherlands' Civil Service Pension Fund (ABP). We also offer 31 days’ leave based on 38 hours working week.

IHE Delft follows an open procedure of recruitment, which respects diversity and provides equal opportunity to applicants of all backgrounds.

Additional information about the vacancy can be obtained from Gaetano Casale, Manager Liaison Office. 

Applications (in English) should respond specifically to the requirements and can be sent before 22 September 2023 including curriculum vitae, motivation letter. 

Please use the application form via the ''apply'' button, applications via email will not be taken into consideration.