Project Management

The relationships between the various partners in ELIfe and their obligations and rights with respect to each other and the project will be regulated in the Consortium Agreement for the project (ELIfe-CA), which will be based on the small projects version of the Earto-Unite Consortium Agreement for Integrated Projects (EU-CA), version 2.0 of 7 August 2003, adapted to the SSA requirements. These agreements will be signed before the actual start of the project.

Coordinator

The Coordinator (P1, prof. Gerrit van Meer) of ELIfe acts as the director of the consortium and is responsible for the project reporting and accounting. The duties of the Coordinator are described in the ELIfe-CA. A part-time Project Manager (P1) is responsible for all management, financial accounting and organizational aspects, and will be responsible for setting up and maintaining the web-based activities and for the networking activities.

ELife Council

The major decision making body in the ELIfe project is the ELIfe Council. The ELIfe Council is composed of one duly authorised representative of each of the partners. In order to assure the continuity of the representation of the partners, each representative has a deputy. The ELIfe Council, chaired by the Coordinator, shall be responsible for the overall direction of the Project. To that end, the ELIfe Council is responsible among others for:

1. Deciding upon changes to the roadmap of activities necessary to achieve the objectives of the Project.
2. Deciding upon the allocation of the Project’s budget in accordance with the EU Contract, and reviewing and proposing budget reallocations;
3. Making proposals for the review and or amendment of the EU Contract;
4. Updating and refining the plan for using and disseminating knowledge arising from the Project;
5. Deciding upon the change and exchange of work packages between the partners and propose respective amendments in Annex I of the EU Contract;
6. Deciding upon measures in the framework of controls and audit procedures to ensure effective day-to day co-ordination and monitoring of the work affecting the Project;

The ELIfe Council, whose full obligations and responsibilities are outlined in the ELIfe-CA, will meet at the start and end of the project, and will hold annual meetings at mid-term and at the final general meeting.

Executive Board

For day-to-day management and for preparation of decisions to be taken by the ELIfe council an Executive Board will be established. The Executive Board will consist of the Coordinator, and professors Gerd Schmitz (P2), Kai Simons (P3), and Fritz Spener (P12). The Executive Board is assisted by the Project Manager, who will assist the Board with information necessary to execute their tasks.
The Coordinator, the Project Manager, the Executive Board and the ELIfe Council together constitute the ELIfe management. In order to assist in the management tasks, the website of the virtual Interest Group will contain a Project Management System.

Advisory Board

The ELIfe Council shall establish an external Advisory Board, in which the European research community, health care community and industry are represented:
    Prof. Raoul Hennekam, clinical geneticist, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam
    Prof. Matthias Mann, proteomics expert, University of South Denmark, Odense, Denmark
    Dr. Ron Potman, Unilever, Vlaardingen, The Netherlands
    Prof. Clara Sá Miranda, storage disease specialist, Porto, Portugal

The role of the Advisory Board will be to advise the ELIfe Council on initiatives, priorities and follow-up regarding the roadmap to the formation of a virtual European Lipidomics Interest Group. The advisory board will be invited to attend the kick-off meeting, the annual meeting and the final symposium in combination with the second annual meeting. They will be provided with the necessary documents at least one month before the meeting, after which they will make an agenda amongst themselves. Dr. Potman will be asked to chair the Advisory Board. A representative of the European Commission will be asked to join the Advisory Board Meetings.

The ELIfe partnership functions as a virtual European Interest Group in the sense that the partners strive for the realization of joint objectives regarding the field of Lipidomics. At this stage the partnership will explore its strengths and employ those towards the organization of joint venues (workshops and a joint conference for a broader audience). These workshops have the purpose of drawing attention to the field of Metabolomics and Lipidomics and to organize stakeholders. No actual research will be performed and thus it is not likely that intellectual property right (IPR) protection would be an issue within the time span of this SSA project. There may be a need to explore the role of IPR protection for future activities following the ELIfe Project. Upon involving stakeholders and surveying the strengths represented within the research field of Lipidomics, particular care will be taken to involve experts on IPR and exploitation for establishing a future knowledge base. Practically all partners are members of larger research organizations and universities that have built considerable experience with protecting IPR and the exploitation of knowledge. It should not be difficult to involve experts from within the partners' institutes.