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Guidelines to register as expert in the European Commission’s database

(Horizon 2020)

The European Commission appoints independent experts to assist with research and

innovation assignments including the evaluation of proposals, monitoring of projects,

evaluation of programs, and design of policy.

If you are interested in advising the European Commission as independent expert

you can create your profile as expert in the database as follows:

1) For the registration as expert you need a so called EU Login account (former

ECAS account). It allows users to access a wide range of Commission

information systems, using a single username and password. Once you log in,

EU Login will remember you as long as you keep your browser open. During

that time, you won’t have to identify yourself again, no matter how many online

services of the Commission you will access. If you already have an EU Login

account, you can directly start at step 2). If you don’t have an EU Login

account, you can easily create it following this link.

After creating your EU Login account you will receive an email with a link to validate

your registration. You don’t need to change any settings in the account to complete

the further steps for the expert registration.

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2) After having logged in to EU Login, open the Participant Portal for experts in

another tab of your browser to start the registration as an expert.

Important: You shouldn’t register twice on this platform! Both accounts would be

considered as duplicates and they would be blocked.

After the registration you will receive an email (see image below) with the

confirmation and instruction for the next steps.

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That means that you have to fill in the profile. The form consists of 6 sections. It is

important to fill in as much as possible because in the further process only

complete profiles will be considered by the European Commission.

You are asked to create your expert profile and to keep it up-to-date,

subsequently.

The link in the email leads you to the expert area of the participant portal. There

you have to log in via your EU Login account. Before filling in your profile you have

to agree to the terms and conditions of the participant portal.

3) Afterwards you will be redirected to the participant portal. Top left, you will find

the tab “My Area” which drops down to the item “My Expert Area”. Click there

and afterwards at the bottom on the right, on the button “Edit Profile”. A

second window will open where you can fill in your expert profile step by step.

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4) You have 6 sections of the expert profile which can be seen in the upmost

line.

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a. First of all you have to select the programs for which you wish to be

considered for the selection as an expert (see image above). At the end

you will be asked to set the preferences for data privacy where you can

select who should be able to access your information.

b. In the second section, you fill in your “Personal Details”.

c. In the third section “Languages“, you indicate your language skills.

d. In the fourth section “Education“, you fill in the information concerning

your educational background. The European Commission has a

peculiar interest in master’s degrees and PhDs.

e. In the fifth section “Area of Expertise“, you indicate in which fields you

have expert knowledge. There are three subsections which you have to

specify.

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i. In subsection “A Specialist Field“, you select the appropriate

fields which are relevant for the chosen research and innovation

program from a tree structure (see image above).

ii. In subsection “B Pre-defined Themes“, you also choose from a

tree structure. Here you must indicate at least 2 themes which

are relevant for the chosen research and innovation program.

iii. In subsection “C Open Keywords“, you name at least 3 keywords

or phrases which describe your expert knowledge.

f. In the sixth and last section of the expert profile, you indicate your

professional experience and your current occupation. The European

Commission also asks if you have worked as independent expert for

them before and if you have any other experience in peer review or

evaluation.

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i. The first tab concerns „A Employment History“. Here you indicate

your professional career. It is advisable to indicate all of your

previous occupations as well as your current position. Via the

button “Add Employer“ you can add a new occupation.

ii. In the tab “B Experience in Field“, the European Commission

asks you about your previous experience as an expert in one of

the EU research programs. It also has to be named if you have

any experience in peer review or evaluation within other

organizations.

iii. In the tab “C Publications & Achievements“, you find space to list

your publications. If you haven’t published anything yet, you can

briefly describer your achievements.

iv. The tab “D Additional Info“ provides the opportunity to establish

a link to your CV. Furthermore, you have the possibility to type in

free text (up to 10.000 characters).

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5) As soon as you filled in all sections, click the “Save“ button. Then the status of

your profile will change to “Valid”. You will receive an email with the

confirmation of your successful registration and creation of your expert profile.

In this email you will also find your “expert candidature number” as well as a

link to log in as an expert. Furthermore, it is pointed out that the European

Commission will contact you if it interested in your expert knowledge. Hence,

your registration as expert in the database of the European Commission is

completed.

VDE Representative Office Brussels Rue d’Arlon 25 1050 Brussels Belgium +32 2 234 61 25 brussels@vde.com