SAPIENS: Launch of the EU-funded project in Sustainable Public Procurement

Published on May 25, 2021

The official launch of the EU funded project in the field of Sustainable Public Procurement

The huge public resources spent on public procurement can be harnessed to achieve the SDGs.

The Sustainability and Procurement in International, European and National Systems - SAPIENS Network, is an Innovative Training Network (ITN) financed by the EU's Horizon 2020 Marie Curie Sklodowska Programme. It is the most extensive PhD programme on sustainability and procurement worldwide. It will add value to our understanding of using public procurement as an instrument to foster sustainability and advance the field of public procurement law, economics, and policy and its application in practice.

The 15 PhD different projects will be eminently interdisciplinary, covering the economic, management and legal aspects (including a Human Rights angle) of SPP. The research projects are coordinated to cover both the actors – such as international organisations, MDBs, central purchasing bodies – and the most relevant topics for SPP such as the circular economy, IT and gender aspects. Three projects will further provide a 360° analysis of works, textiles and food procurements. The SDGs – and how public procurement may be deployed to achieve them – will be the compass guiding the overall research.

The PhD programme facilitates completing its objectives through competitive salaries and uniquely generous funds for training and networking across Europe for 15 Marie Curie fellows - Early Stage Researches (ESRs).

The employability of these 15 ESRs will be enhanced by a secondment programme which will expose them to work experience in international organisations, contracting authorities, lobbying bodies, and think tanks. The ESRs will also benefit from a unique SAPIENS PhD training programme provided by partners inside and outside academia. Finally, the impact of the research findings of SAPIENS will be promoted by the network's outreach and dissemination programme.

Coordinated by Professor Roberto Caranta from the University of Turin, SAPIENS assembles a distinguished group of leading academics who will supervise an outstanding cohort of ESRs working on doctoral projects in Birmingham, Budapest, Cluj Napoca, Copenhagen, Gaevle, Greenwich, Hasselt, Lodz, Rome and Turin.

More information can be found on www.sapiensnetwork.eu, where you can subscribe to e.g. the newsletter with all relevant research and events, Twitter: @SAPIENS_Network and LinkedIn SAPIENS Network.