Consortium meeting 18 Feb 2012

Minutes of the Consortium meeting held at Prague on Saturday 18 Feb. 2012 from 9:30 to 15:45. The meeting had a focus on management issues.

Participants: Koenraad De Smedt and Annhild Fetveit (UiB), Detmar Meurers (UTU), Aivars Bērziņš (Tilde), Bolette Pedersen (UCPH), Núria Bel (UPF), Krister Lindén (UHEL), Jan Hajič, Markéta Lopatková and Kateřina Štuparičová (CUNI), Gisle Andersen (NHH), Przemek Lenkiewicz (MPI).

  1. Follow-up of Mid-Term Review meeting and project status after Periodic Report 1.
    • The feedback on the Mid-Term Review has been largely positive.
    • Secondments should be carried out as planned and all fellows should be given the opportunity for secondments when this is useful. It is pointed out that long secondments may require substantial spending in Cat. D.
    • Associate partners can be added for the purpose their participation in training, including the hosting of secondments. Adding associated partners is a simple procedure, but the consortium must describe why the new partner is needed. After agreement on the cooperation has been reached, the new partner should declare in writing its willingness to contribute to specific training tasks. U of Vienna has been added as an associate partner.
  2. Remaining vacancy and use of any remaining researcher months.
    • The coordinator will apply for an extension of the project for at least one month due to maternity leave at UTU.
    • The final vacancy at Tilde is announced; if filled from May 1, two unused months in this vacancy will be reallocated internally to extend other positions at Tilde.
    • There is likely one unused VS month at NHH which it intends to reallocate for extending its existing ESR position.
    • Current positions at UIB extending beyond the end of the project will not use six months. UIB will from its own funds finance the fellows’ completion of their projects.  Furthermore, UIB intends to reallocate one unused month for a VS, while it allows five months to be transfered to other partners. It was decided that partners interested in extending their ESR positions by a transfer of months send a motivation and plan to the coordinator.
  3. Budget (tables are distributed).
    • There has been less spending in Cat. G than budgeted.  The partners should aim to claim eligible costs under Cat. G to this category, including expenses for meetings addressing management issues.
    • The distribution of eligible expenses for the Joint Training Programme related to their income in Cat. E-F shows considerable differences between partners. The consortium’s aim to balance joint training programme spending by partners in relation to their income is discussed.
  4. Planning of additional CLARA dissemination and outreach in 2013.
    • The REA representative has recommended additional dissemination and outreach during the final year of the project e.g. in the form of a final conference presenting all major research results in CLARA.  An appropriate time may be the spring of 2013, when several fellows are finishing their fellowship. Possible cooperation with CLARIN or others could be considered. The WP leaders are encouraged to start a discussion with the involved partners on planning WP sessions with a well tuned presentation of achieved results and their significance for the field and applications.
    • In addition, it is agreed that the publication of an overview of all major research results in CLARA would be desirable.
    • Depending on need, further local training actions and joint actions between two or more partners may be undertaken, also for purposes of scientific planning, coordination and dissemination.

No date was set for the next meeting. Remark from the coordinator: a meeting is probably desirable before the end of 2012.

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