WP4 Management

WP4 Management

Gerrit van Meer (P1)

T4.1	Ratification of Work Plans	2
T4.2	On-line Management Tools available	5
T4.3	Semi-annual project plan update (on-line)	0;6;12;18
T4.4	Project presentation	3-6
T4.5	Annual Meetings plus Reports	12;24
T4.6	Final plan for using and disseminating knowledge	0-24
T4.7	Report on raising public participation and awareness	22-24

The Work Package Management covers the tasks necessary to run the Project smoothly and to fulfil our contractual obligations. The objectives are to:

• facilitate communication
• to record progress within the project
• redirect the projects tasks and resources
• monitor the impact of the entire project

Communication

Communication between the partners within the consortium and with actors beyond the consortium is of vital importance for the success of the project. Key to communication is personal contact between the partners. This will be provided through the Kick-off meeting, the general meeting and the teleconferences. Meetings between smaller task groups (such as the organizers of one event within a Work Package) will mostly be held as satellite meetings to other venues. This in order to reduce costs and time spend travelling and thus maximize the impact of gatherings. At the Kick-Off meeting the first break-out sessions will be organised for task groups to get together and draw their plans for the remainder of the project.

The Executive Board will confer whenever a need arises and at least twice per year. When appropriate (budget and time-wise) the Executive Board will hold teleconference meetings. Part of the communication at the management level will be handled through the website. The website will not only provide a forum for scientific discussion and dissemination, but it will also be a management tool employed in exchanging ideas for the organisation of events and in preparation of reports. On-line tools will be provided for preparing the Annual Report and managing the expenditures on the project. These tools are developed right from the start of the project by in-house (P1) experts. The tools are made available in the form of a prototype management program no later than one month before the semi-annual project plan update is due. After finishing the first Annual Report the Management Tools will be evaluated by a survey amongst the Partners. Changes will be made when such are generally desired by the Consortium. The Management Tools will be made available to any consortium beyond the ELIfe Consortium whenever an interest is expressed.

Record progress within the project

At the start of the project, the Project Presentation (Appendix B) will be prepared to be used as the starting point for any presentation by the Consortium, notably on the Elife website. In parallel, the consortium will prepare a project presentation early on in the form of a leaflet that will be distributed in all relevant symposia and workshops to increase the visibility of the project objectives. The Annual Reports will form the formal publication in which progress of the Project is documented. The first Annual Report (m12) will have a Midterm Review attached and the second Annual Report will have a Final Report in the form of a set of recommendations for the future of the Metabolomics and Lipidomics field attached. Progress will be measured in terms of a follow-up of the Deliverables and Milestones set out in this proposal and against updates of the project plan as described in the semi-annual project updates.

Redirect the projects tasks and resources

Project resources can be redirected upon request of the Work Package Coordinators. Redirection can never exceed the budgets set for the project as a total and may cause other tasks to suffer. In order for a redirection of funds to be ratified by the Council, an updated Work Plan with a budget justification is requested. The updates are made at least semi-annually and whenever a redirection of resources is requested. The final version of the Work Plan updates will be made available on-line to the Consortium, the Advisory Board and the Scientific Officer. A Calendar of events will be extracted from the Work Plan and made publicly available.

Final Plan for using and disseminating knowledge

The results from the activity will be disseminated in open workshops, at four European meetings on lipids and life sciences, and in position papers in leading journals. An interactive website will be available and for the most part accessible to the general public. It is our aim to assure that the strategic outcome of this project is made public as efficiently as possible (for details see 6.2)

Monitor the impact of the entire project

The success of WP4 will be measured through scoring Deliverables 4.1-4.5. However, the impact of the project extends beyond the success of its individual tasks. The impact of the project as a whole will be evaluated at three quarters into the project and at three-monthly intervals thereafter until one year after the finishing of the Project. Impact is measured by scoring the following:

• Attendance to events
  • number of attendants
  • gender balance at events
  • early-stage researchers versus experienced researchers at events
  • percent attendance from outside the consortium
  • geographical background of attendants
• Collaboration beyond the project
  • scientific collaborations between Partners
  • joint proposals with more than 2 partners from the ELIfe consortium
  • joint events beyond the ELIfe project
• Publicity
  • number of publications arising from the Project
  • mention of the European Lipidomics Initiative in the press (national and international)
  • impact will be reported in the Annual Reports and on-line.

Summary

The responsible Work Package Coordinator is Gerrit van Meer (P1), who is closely assisted by the other members of the Executive Board (P2,P3,P12). The other Partners are expected to deliver contributions to the Annual Report and Project Plan update and to attend the Annual Meetings. The activities will run from the start of the Project to beyond the end of the Project. The Work Package will generate 7 deliverables and 2 milestones. An overview of this Work Package is provided on the next page.

Work Package number 4

Starting date or starting event:  0

Activity Type

Management activities

Participant id	P1	P2	P3	P12	P4-11 + 13-14
Person-months per participant	6(0)*	3(0)	3(0)	3(0)	1(0)

*person months are a total expected for the tasks, for the person months in brackets EU-funding is requested 

Objectives The Work Package Management covers the tasks necessary to run the Project smoothly and to fulfil the contractual obligations. The objectives are to facilitate communication within the consortium and with actors beyond the consortium, to record progress within the project in an efficient manner and to redirect the projects tasks and resources when circumstances so require. Under WP4 the impact of the entire project will be monitored.

Description of work The Executive Board will confer least twice per year, once by teleconference. Part of the communication at the management level will be handled through the website. The website will be a forum for scientific discussion and dissemination, but also a management tool employed in exchanging ideas for the organisation of events and in preparation of reports. On-line tools will be provided for preparing the Annual Report and managing the expenditures on the project. These tools are developed at the start of the project by in-house (P1) experts, and are made available as a prototype management program one month before the semi-annual project plan update is due. After the first Annual Report the Management Tools will be evaluated by a Partner survey and adapted.. They will be made available to any consortium beyond ELIfe upon request.     Progress of the Project is documented in the Annual Reports and success will be measured in terms of a follow-up of the Deliverables and Milestones set out in this proposal and against updates of the project plan as described in the semi-annual project updates. The impact of the project as a whole will be evaluated at three quarters into the project and at three-monthly intervals thereafter until one year after the finishing of the Project.     Project resources can be redirected upon request of the Work Package Coordinators, and requires an updated Work Plan with a budget justification. For any modification of the Annex I the EC will be informed well in advance and it has to be reflected by an amendment after sufficient justification by the consortium. An up to date version of the Work Plan will be available on-line to the Consortium, the Advisory Board and the Scientific Officer. A Calendar of events will be extracted from the Work Plan and made publicly available. Finally, the final plan for using and disseminating knowledge will be continuously refined.

Deliverables D4.1     Individual Work Plans ratified by all partners (m2) D4.2    On-line Management Tools available (m5) D4.3    Semi-annual Work Plan update reports (m0, m6, m12, m18) D4.4    Project presentation (m3-m6) D4.5    Annual meetings of the ELIfe council and Annual Reports (m12, m24) D4.6    Final plan for using and disseminating knowledge (m0-m24) D4.7    Report on raising public participation and awareness (m24)

Milestones and expected result M4.1    Evaluation of the on-line Management Tools (m14) M4.2    Evaluation of the impact of the Project (m18)