About 200 research managers from Europe and abroad attended the meetings, workshops, the fair, and the Annual General Assembly at the EARMA conference, which was held in Copenhagen in June 2009.

In addition to the plenary sessions, this conference incorporated the workshops concept more strongly than before. Experts in specific fields introduced workshops, after which discussions were held with the attendees. This concept resulted in lively exchanges between the attendees, and proved to be a perfect environment for gaining deeper knowledge about those subjects. Workshop titles were:

- Full costing principles
- Contract negotiation
- Managing your research community: supporting under-performing researchers
- Building a research base in young higher education institutes
- Marketing aspects of FP7 proposals
- Case studies of full costing: Finland and Spain
- Use of time-recording methodology
- Using online tools to develop and manage FP7 projects
- Cooperating after a project: legal entity or other permanent establishment
- Different models for research support offices
- Preparing a budget for an FP7 project
- European Research Council: two years later and the learning curve
- Women in science
- Auditing experiences
- Developing an external research funding strategy
– institutional, faculty or departmental level
- Professionalizing for long-term research funding
- Implementation of the EU Directive on Clinical Trials around Europe since 2004
- US federal research grants: administration and compliance

The hosting university, the Faculty of Life Sciences of the University of Copenhagen, prove to be an excellent location for the official program. Copenhagen was at its finest thanks to the good weather, and the entire city joined the latest crop of enthusiastic students celebrating their graduation. The boat trip to – and dinner at – the new Copenhagen Opera House was, in itself, a social event most won’t forget soon.