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This chapter gives an overview of how the profession has been evolving in Italy and reports its milestones. After explaining the transformation of the national research ecosystem, which in the last decades undertook the transition from a direct state funding model towards a competitive base funding model, the chapter shows the fragmented landscape of associations in the profession and focuses on the features of the current research management and administration (RMA) community. The circumstances that led to the development of the national community are then described.

Finally, it gives some policy recommendations towards the acceleration of the professionalisation of research management in the country.

This chapter compares research management and administration (RMA) associations worldwide and the existing professional development frameworks (PDFs) for RMAs. The comparison is based on a study of 22 national, European Union (EU), and international RMA associations/networks which was carried out between April and June 2020 and revised in 2022; it aims at providing a comprehensive overview of skills and competences of RMAs as a profession to enable worldwide benchmarking and analysis.

The benchmarking analysis could provide useful information for those working on the development of professional frameworks training targeted at RMAs, or the recognition of RMA as a profession.