Since 2021, there have been significant changes in the methodological, service, and management roles of the CU Rectorate in the project agenda of European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF), Ministry of Education subsidy programmes, EU programmes, and recently the national Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF). Strategic priorities for CU in these areas have been identified, and the necessity of these resources and the areas they should be directed to have been carefully considered, even in subsidy calls where individual faculties submit applications.

Within Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe we have focused primarily on increasing the number of applications and the success rate in international grant schemes, particularly emphasizing grants from the European Research Council (ERC) and MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships. Proposers of high-quality ERC grants were financially supported after submitting their grants. If needed, external consultants from abroad were secured for the projects and workshops for applicants are held regularly. We have managed to increase the number of high-quality applications submitted and the overall success rate. From 2021 to 2023, university applicants success fully obtained eight ERC grants, with 13 applications supported in the national ERC CZ programme. Furthermore, CU secured 10 Marie SkłodowskaCurie Actions Postdoctoral fellowships, bringing top postdoctoral researchers from abroad, with many others supported through MSCA PF CZ. Several CU applicants also obtained fellowships at universities abroad through this scheme.