cc: martin.miles@geol.uib.no, Beatriz Balino <beatriz.balino@bjerknes.uib.no>
date: Thu Jun 27 11:36:16 2002
from: Keith Briffa <k.briffa@uea.ac.uk>
subject: Re: 6th framework : some additional information
to: Chappellaz Jerome <jerome@lgge.obs.ujf-grenoble.fr>, Eystein Jansen <eystein.jansen@geol.uib.no>, Laurent Labeyrie <Laurent.Labeyrie@lsce.cnrs-gif.fr>, Keith Alverson <keith.alverson@pages.unibe.ch>, Rick Battarbee <r.battarbee@geog.ucl.ac.uk>, didier.paillard@lsce.cnrs-gif.fr, Dominique Raynaud <domraynaud@lgge.obs.ujf-grenoble.fr>, jean jouzel <jouzel@lsce.saclay.cea.fr>, Chappellaz Jerome <jerome@lgge.obs.ujf-grenoble.fr>, Gerald Ganssen <gang@geo.vu.nl>, Jean Marc Barnola <barnola@lgge.obs.ujf-grenoble.fr>, Ralph Schneider <rschneid@uni-bremen.de>, Wolff Eric <wolff.eric_s@domec.pnra.it>, "jkipfstuhl@awi-bremerhaven.de" <jkipfstuhl@AWI-Bremerhaven.DE>, "hoerter@awi-bremerhaven.de" <hoerter@AWI-Bremerhaven.DE>, "j.oerlemans@fys.ruu.nl" <j.oerlemans@fys.ruu.nl>, "winther@npolar.no" <winther@npolar.no>, "margareta.hansson@natgeo.su.se" <margareta.hansson@natgeo.su.se>, "jouzel@lsce.saclay.cea.fr" <jouzel@lsce.saclay.cea.fr>, "hwjacobi@awi-bremerhaven.de" <hwjacobi@AWI-Bremerhaven.DE>, "hufischer@awi-bremerhaven.de" <hufischer@AWI-Bremerhaven.DE>, "jerome@glaciog.ujf-grenoble.fr" <jerome@lgge.obs.ujf-grenoble.fr>, "domraynaud@glaciog.ujf-grenoble.fr"  <domraynaud@lgge.obs.ujf-grenoble.fr>, "delmas@glaciog.ujf-grenoble.fr" <delmas@lgge.obs.ujf-grenoble.fr>, "jps@gfy.ku.dk" <jps@gfy.ku.dk>, "stauffer@climate.unibe.ch" <stauffer@climate.unibe.ch>, "ewwo@bas.ac.uk" <ewwo@bas.ac.uk>, heinz miller <miller@AWI-Bremerhaven.DE>, rlorrain@ulb.ac.be, jtison@ulb.ac.be, hdecleir <hdecleir@vub.ac.be>, frank pattyn <fpattyn@vub.ac.be>, "fichefet@astr.ucl.ac.be" <fichefet@astr.ucl.ac.be>, "m.king@kcl.ac.uk" <m.king@kcl.ac.uk>, "armin.hansel@uibk.ac.at" <armin.hansel@uibk.ac.at>, "harry108@mail.lasvegas.net" <harry108@mail.lasvegas.net>, "frederique.remy@cnes.fr" <frederique.remy@cnes.fr>, "frode.stordal@nilu.no" <frode.stordal@nilu.no>, "valter.maggi@unimib.it" <valter.maggi@unimib.it>, "frezotti@casaccia.enea.it" <frezotti@casaccia.enea.it>, "barbante@unive.it" <barbante@unive.it>, "stenni@univ.trieste.it" <stenni@univ.trieste.it>, "john.moore@urova.fi" <john.moore@urova.fi>, "lina@misu.su.se" <lina@misu.su.se>, "fily@glaciog.ujf-grenoble.fr" <fily@lgge.obs.ujf-grenoble.fr>, "dietmat.wagenbach@iup.uni-heidelberg.de"  <dietmat.wagenbach@iup.uni-heidelberg.de>, "m.r.vandenbroeke@phys.uu.nl" <m.r.vandenbroeke@phys.uu.nl>, "dhandorf@awi-potsdam.de" <dhandorf@awi-potsdam.de>, "thor@os.is" <thor@os.is>, mario zucchelli <direzione@casaccia.enea.it>, gerard jugie <gerard.jugie@ifremer.fr>, Carlo Alberto Ricci <riccica@unisi.it>

   Dear Jerome
   thanks for taking the trouble to share this information and your thoughts with us. I agree
   that we should all cross post any new information and specific feedback we receive from our
   national representatives or contacts. It has always been clear that the competition for
   such NoE and IPs  was destined to be very fierce. The points you make about social
   relevance (which translates into political pressure) of the proposals is crucial and I
   agree that we may need to reconsider this aspect of how we present our project(s) very
   carefully.
   best wishes
   Keith
   At 12:28 PM 6/27/02 +0100, Chappellaz Jerome wrote:

     Dear Colleagues and friends,
     Yesterday I attended a meeting in Nancy organized by the french ministry of
     research about the 6th framework and the thematic 1.6.3 "Global change and
     ecosystems". Mr Pierre Valette, deputy director of the theme "environment"
     at the Research Division of the European Commission, was invited and gave
     some interesting thoughts that I forward here. Most probably other european
     nations have or will organize similar sessions and it will be important
     that we cross these information in order to build the most competitive
     projects next fall.
     The budget for the action 1.6 is 2.12 GEuros, and 700 MEuros are dedicated
     to 1.6.3. The sub-topic got wider than was the case for the 5th framework,
     and for instance the development of tools for sustainable agriculture and
     forestry management is now part of 1.6.3. Which means that we are more
     fighting for less...
     Among the 16,000 EoI received by Brussels, about 2000 concern our thematic
     1.6.3. They have read about 400 of them at this point. There is an equal
     distribution of EoI between integrated projects and networks of excellence.
     Often the size of the EoI is too small compared to Brussels' expectation
     and the effort of integration is not enough. Valette mentioned that
     socio-economical aspects of global change were not enough pointed out in
     the project objectives and means. This is important for us. Our polar and
     paleo projects cover mostly fundamental science with very limited
     interactions with socio-economy. There is a risk that we get bad evaluation
     if we don't argue strongly why such research cannot be articulated with
     parallel socio-economical research. We should keep in mind that the project
     evaluations will be conducted by panels of experts in fundamental sciences
     but also in sociology and economy.
     Valette said that the projects should insist on the benefit to integrate
     our laboratories, leading to better and more competitive research than by
     simple juxtaposition of our forces.
     The notion of sustainability is much important for Brussels. When we study
     global change, we should bear in mind the search for threshold effects,
     accompagnied by measurable criteria, allowing policy-makers to take
     decision with a cost/benefit approach.
     15% of the 6th framework budget is supposed to return to small companies.
     We are encouraged to associate whenever possible such companies in our
     projects.
     The projects should include a core group of participants, and associated
     partners. Brussels will not select participants for us, we must do it.
     Criteria which can apply for the selection are (1) the number of major
     publications within the thematic made by the partner, (2) the number of
     european contracts within the past 4 or 5 years which associated or were
     coordinated by this partner, (3) the number of PhD theses defended by the
     partner within the thematic over the past 4-5 years.
     Official support (label) from international programmes regarding a NoE or
     an IP will be a bonus.
     Overall, we should expect about 10 IP and 10 NoE funded by Brussels for the
     thematic 1.6.3 after the first call for proposals. This means that the
     selection will be very high. We have strong competitors. Yesterday was
     presented for instance a huge NoE (REXMARECO) focussing on marine
     ecosystems and resources, with a strong link between fundamental research
     and socio-economy, including 65 european agencies, more than 100
     laboratories and 500 researchers. Another on African monsoon, with about
     the same characteristics.
     The representatives of the french ministry of research plan to put on the
     web all EoI that they have heard about, with the objective to favor project
     integrations. We should already start to think inside our community about
     the possible integrations between the different EoI that we have launched
     so far.
     This is all for now. Looking forward to reading other comments and
     information coming from other european nations. All the best,

   Professor Keith Briffa,
   Climatic Research Unit
   University of East Anglia
   Norwich, NR4 7TJ, U.K.

   Phone: +44-1603-593909
   Fax: +44-1603-507784
