CARLETON UNIVERSITY

Their core work

Carleton University is a comprehensive Canadian research university in Ottawa that has engaged with European research through Marie Skłodowska-Curie staff exchange and fellowship programmes. Their H2020 involvement spans remarkably diverse fields — from combinatorial algorithms and IoT networks to diaspora economics, open science, and experimental music archiving. This breadth reflects multiple independent research groups using MSCA mobility schemes to build international collaborations rather than a single institutional research strategy. As a third-party participant, they provide complementary non-EU expertise to European consortia.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

Carleton's early H2020 involvement (2015-2016) centred on social sciences and economics — diaspora entrepreneurship, international trade — alongside theoretical physics. From 2017 onward, the focus shifted decisively toward computational and digital topics: network algorithms, UAV applications, open science infrastructure, and digital music archiving. This evolution suggests growing institutional strength in computer science and digital humanities, with newer projects reflecting broader trends in data openness and cultural heritage digitization.

Carleton is moving toward computational research and digital culture, making them a potential partner for projects combining algorithms with cultural heritage or open science.

How they like to work

Carleton participates exclusively as a third party — they have never coordinated or been a direct partner in any H2020 project. This is typical for non-EU universities that join through MSCA mobility arrangements, contributing specific researcher expertise without taking on project management responsibilities. Despite this limited formal role, they have connected with 54 unique partners across 27 countries, indicating that individual researchers maintain broad international networks that funnel through the university's MSCA participation.

Despite only 6 projects, Carleton has touched 54 unique consortium partners across 27 countries — an unusually wide geographic spread driven by the multi-partner nature of MSCA-RISE staff exchange networks. This makes them well-connected across Europe despite being a non-EU institution.

What sets them apart

Carleton's value lies in providing a North American academic bridge for European consortia that need non-EU research partners, particularly through MSCA mobility schemes. Their unusually diverse portfolio — spanning algorithms, physics, economics, open science, and music — means they can connect European teams to Canadian expertise across multiple disciplines. For consortium builders, they offer a proven track record of third-country participation with minimal administrative friction.

Highlights from their portfolio

• CONNECT
  Longest-running project (2017-2022) combining combinatorics, geometric graphs, UAV applications, and musical information retrieval — an unusual interdisciplinary mix.
• ARPOEXMUS
  Most recent project (2021-2024) addressing a niche but growing field: archiving and creating ontologies for post-1960s experimental and electronic music.
• OPTIMISE
  Directly addresses the EU's open science agenda — improving transparency, reproducibility, and data sharing in research.