Achieving excellence in research in Romania The FORTHEM Alliance of seven European Universities invited Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu (LBUS - CO) to join in 2021. However, LBUS – CO needed a series of institutional reforms, organised mobilities and training. The EU-funded ELABCHROM project will promote a long-term partnership, in the form of a university consortium that covers all branches of academic life between LBUS – CO and the Universities of Jyvaskyla and of Burgundy. The project will also exploit the advantages of the regional ecosystem by establishing, with the support of the universities from the FORTHEM Alliance, a laboratory of cultural heritage within LBUS. ELABCHROM will increase capacity to achieve excellence in research and connect citizens with academia.