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SCSS Standing Committee Meeting - MERIL 09 November 2010, Copenhagen

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1. Introductory Remarks and Background of MERIL Project

2. Identification of Stakeholders’ Needs

3. Terms of Reference of MERIL Steering Committee

4. Proposed Strategy and Scope

Mr Diego de la Hoz del HoyoVisiting Junior Science Officer European Science Foundation Humanities and Social Sciences Unit

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1. Introductory Remarks and Background of MERIL Project

Background of MERIL Project

-EUROHORCs ESF Road Map 10 Actions to strengthen ERA among which Action N°8 aims ‘to develop shared funding and exploitation of Research Infrastructure’ mandated to DFG

- Member Organisation Forum on Research Infrastructures (launched 11-12 January 2010) chaired by Dr. Johannes Janssen made of 4 Working Groups

- EC RI Portal (2006) 30% of RIs of pan-European relevance (www.riportal.eu). ESF Standing Committees took part in the validation

- EC call launched July 2009 DL 3 December 2009

- MERIL Preparatory Meeting November 2009

- End of Negotiations August 2010

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1. Introductory Remarks and Background of MERIL Project

WG1 Access and Standards Christian Renner, DFG 1st meeting May 2010, Vienna

WG2 Funding and Evaluation John Womersley, STFC

WG3 Mobility and Networks Nicoletta Palazzo, CNR

WG4 Mapping Christian Rolando, CNRS

Establish the list of all platforms having a “national label” or “european label”

Under-representation of the Humanities and the Social Sciences

More at: http://www.esf.org/activities/mo-fora/research-infrastructures.html

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1. Introductory Remarks and Background of MERIL Project

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SCH Standing Committee Meeting - MERIL 28 October 2010, Strasbourg

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1. Introductory Remarks and Background of MERIL Project

2. Identification of Stakeholders’ Needs

3. Terms of Reference of MERIL Steering Committee

4. Proposed Strategy and Scope

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2 - Identification of Stakeholders’ Needs

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Prerequisite = Quality of the database• Exhaustivity & User friendly• Transparent and clear criteria for entry in database• Quality and frequent up-dating of data• Sustainable endeavour (not a ‘one shot’ exercise)• Adapt database to users’ needs and be able to cope with multidisciplinarity

For scientists• Open access to information (« the minimum data set »)• Transparency of access rules• Visibility of all services offered by each research infrastructure• Identification of existing networks and possibility for facilities to initiate networking• Reliance on already organised scientific communities

For policy makers• Queries per RI category, country, regions and city, services, equipment (and more to be identified)• Knowledge about the gaps in the RI landscape• Enabling political prioritisation• Impact assessment• Valid cross-referencing and exploitation of RI annual reports

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SCH Standing Committee Meeting - MERIL 28 October 2010, Strasbourg

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1. Introductory Remarks and Background of MERIL Project

2. Identification of Stakeholders’ Needs

3. Terms of Reference of MERIL Steering Committee

4. Proposed Strategy and Scope

www.esf.org

3. Terms of Reference of MERIL Steering Committee

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Management Structure – Composition and Role of Steering Committee MERIL is a project coordinated and managed by a single participant, the European Science Foundation, although involving important key stakeholder groups. 

The Steering Committee will provide the MERIL project with expert advice, decision-making and approval of the quality of the deliverables at strategic points in the project

CompositionA first circle of stakeholders has already expressed its support to the project:• Scientific Community• EUROHORCs/ESF• European Commission• ESFRI – European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures• ERF - European Association of National Research Facilities open to International Access • EIROforum - • Ministries At a second stage other stakeholders will be invited to join:  EUA/LERU, EIT, Industry, Philanthropy, Society, OECD-GSF, International partners (e.g., NSF-US) 

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• MERIL Steering Committee

Representation Member OrganisationScientific Community Professor Liselotte Højgaard, Chair ESF

Standing Committee of the European Medical Research Councils (EMRC)

Professor Dr. Karin Lochte, EuropeanPolar Board Executive Committee Member

Professor Eva Olsson, MatSEEC Working Group on Research Tools and Infrastructures

Professor Günther Rosner, Chair of ESF Nuclear Physics European Collaboration Committee (NuPECC)

Professor Milena Žic-Fuchs, Chair of ESF Standing Committee for the Humanities (SCH)

University of Copenhagen and Technical University of Denmark

Alfred Wegener Institute

Chalmers University of Technology

University of Glasgow

University of Zagreb

European Commission (EC) Dr. Christian Kurrer

CC: Dr. Hervé Pero

DG Research - Directorate B - European Research Area: research programmes and capacity

EUROHORCs & ESF MO Forum Dr. Johannes Janssen, Chair of ESF MO Forum on Research InfrastructuresCC: Christian Renner

Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)

EUROHORCs & ESF MO Forum Dr. Christian Rolando, Chair of WG4 Mapping of ESF MO Forum on Research InfrastructuresCC: Benoît Dardelet Julia Chamot-Rooke

Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) 

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• MERIL Steering Committee

Representation Member OrganisationEuropean Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI)

Dr. Jean Moulin

CC: Dr. Beatrix Vierkorn-Rudolph, Chair Beate Warneck

Belgian Federal Science Policy Office

German Federal Ministry of Education and Research

European Research Facilities Association (ERF)

Dr. Jean-Pierre Caminade

CC: Professor Michel Van der Rest, Chair

Synchrotron Soleil

Synchrotron Soleil

EIROforum Dr. Claus Madsen

CC: Professor Francesco Romanelli, Director General

ESO

EFDA-Jet

Ministries tbc French Ministry of Higher Education and Research

Research Infrastructure Programme Committee

Dr. Peter Fletcher Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC)

European Research Infrastructures Network of National Contact Points

tbc

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SCH Standing Committee Meeting - MERIL 28 October 2010, Strasbourg

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1. Introductory Remarks and Background of MERIL Project

2. Identification of Stakeholders’ Needs

3. Terms of Reference of MERIL Steering Committee

4. Proposed Strategy and Scope

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4 - Proposed Strategy and Scope

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• Definition of pan-European RIs

• Criteria for Assessing pan-European RIs

• Categorisation per Scientific Domains and Types of Research Infrastructures

• « Minimum Data Set » for each of the entries

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Legal framework for a European Research Infrastructure Consortium – ERIC Practical Guidelines (April 2010)

“Research Infrastructure” means facilities, resources and related services that areused by the scientific community to conduct top-level research in their respectivefields and covers major scientific equipment or sets of instruments; knowledge-based resources such as collections, archives or structures for scientific information; enabling Information and Communications Technology-based infrastructures such as Grid, computing, software and communication, or any other entity of a unique nature essential to achieve excellence in research.

Such infrastructures may be “single-sited” or “distributed” (an organised network of resources)*

(*) The definition of “research infrastructure” corresponds to the one used for the research infrastructure action within the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Community for research, technological development and demonstration activities (2007-13).

• Definition of pan-European RIs

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• Criteria of pan-European RIs

1. Scientific & technological excellenceleadership2. Open access to all interested

researchers3. Management/Governance4. Quality Assurance5. Technological up-dating and watch6. Education and training7. Capacity to generate impacts8. Labelling through regular evaluation

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1. Biomedical and Life Sciences (BMLS) 25

2. Informatics and Data Treatment (CDT) 63. Energy (ENE) 84. Environmental, Marine and Earth Sciences (EMES) 195. Engineering (ENG) 86. Social sciences and Humanities(SSH) 18

7. Materials sciences (MS) 158. Nuclear and Particle Physics, Astronomy and

Astrophysics (NPPAA) 6Total = 105

Categories of RIs by Scientific Domains

(according to EC RI Portal 2006)

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1. Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH)2. Environmental Sciences (ENV)3. Energy (ENE)4. Biological and Medical Sciences (BMS)5. Physical Sciences & Engineering (PSE)6. Materials and Analytical Facilities7. e-Infrastructures (horizontal)

Scientific Domains (according to ESFRI)

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• Categories of RIs (RI Portal) per Scientific Domain (with mention of ESFRI RIs)

1. Social sciences and Humanities (SSH)1. Data Storage & Data Archives for Economic and Social Data (CESSDA)2. Social Surveys and Methods for Social Sciences (ESS, SHARE)3. Unique Research Libraries4. Unique Research Archives5. Digital Collections/Repositories6. Large Scale Research Bibliographies7. Education Databases/Collections/Repositories8. Arts & Art History Databases/Collections/Repositories (DARIAH)9. Archaeology and Anthropology Databases/Collections/Repositories10. Digitised Manuscript Databases/Collections/Repositories11. History Archives/Databases12. Linguistics (CLARIN)13. Literature and Text Archives14. Music and Instrument Collections15. Analytical Facilities for cultural Heritage objects16. Cognitive Sciences17. Other social sciences and Humanities Research Infrastructures

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7. e-Infrastructures1. Supercomputers (PRACE)2. Software Development Centers of Competence3. GRID Computing Facilities4. Communication Networks5. Mathematics Center of Competence6. Other CDT Research Infrastructures

• Categories of RIs (RI Portal) per Scientific Domain (with mention of ESFRI RIs)

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• Minimum Data Set per RI (RI Portal)

Name of RIWeb siteLocation (city, region, country) and host institution and clusterScientific domain and category (and subcategory?)Name of person responsible, position, e-mailResearch services provided, descriptionEquipmentLabelling Process

Staff operating the RI: engineers, technicians, researchersaverage number of users per year:

internal usersexternal usersexternal users from other countriesusers from industry

Training: number of trainees per year (technicians, engineers, students)Finance: yearly operational costs and sources of fundingScientific outputs: publications, conference proceedings, international research

projectsManagement

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Mr Diego de la Hoz del HoyoVisiting Junior Science Officer

 European Science Foundation

Humanities and Social Sciences Unit1 quai Lezay Marnésia

BP 90015F-67080 Strasbourg

France 

Email: ddelahozdelhoyo@esf.orgTel: +33 (0) 388767123

 

Thank you