WP1 Project Management

The administration team is composed of individuals with experience in project management. The Coordinator will be responsible for the ongoing management of the scientific and technical activities, including maintaining communication with WP Leaders and project partners and ensuring the delivery of high-quality work in accordance with the work plan. For this purpose, the Coordinator will be supported by a Research Manager, a Technical Manager, an Innovation Manager, and an Administrative Manager. Together they will form the Project Executive Board (PEB), which will be responsible for: the strategic and scientific leadership of the EcoScope project (see Section 3.2). WP and Task leaders will be responsible for the coordination of their WP and tasks respectively. The Coordinator will chair the General Assembly (GA) and the Project Executive Board. The Administrative Manager will be responsible for the daily financial and administrative management of the project. The Coordinator and Administrative Manager are also responsible for monitoring the progress of WPs, tasks, milestones and deliverables and providing this information to the PEB and the GA.

The project will commence with a three-day kick-off meeting to discuss the foundations throughout its implementation, to provide a common language and terminology among the participants, to discuss the methodologies for analysing legislation, operation and human resources, time scheduling and requirements for the implementation of WPs. All the partners and members of the International Advisory Board (IAB; see Section 3.2) will participate in this meeting held within six weeks of the official start date of the project. The governance structure will be confirmed as explained in the structure, as well as the roles, responsibilities and activities of the different committees and boards and other decision rules. The Consortium Agreement formulated by the Coordinator (AUTH) and signed before the start of the project describes in detail the rights and obligations of all partners of the EcoScope project and considers handling of intellectual property rights and managing of innovation issues. Different groups, committees and boards will operate with specific scope and will submit their ideas to the management team and the General Assembly. These include: An Innovation Board (Section 3.2.5) to discuss and push forward new ideas and innovative actions, a technical team for the implementation of the project, a communication team for the dissemination, communication and visibility, and an academy board for the online course material and webinars.

Communication will flow from the bottom-up and from the top-down through typical communication methods such as: in-person and remote meetings, e-mail, phone, etc. In particular, a cooperative working method using the EcoScope website will be established. The system will be structured in a way that all participants can upload and download information to and from the WPs and tasks according to their role and responsibilities. Passwords will be distributed to all partners as well as to the EC officials. The Coordinator will act as the sole communication point between the EcoScope Project and the EC; the Project Officer will be invited to attend annual meetings and activities. The Coordinator assisted by the Administrative Manager will provide periodic and final reporting to the EC in accordance with the work plan and the Grant Agreement.

A data management plan will be developed for the entire project and specifically for the WPs that are dealing with data. This will require the participants of these WPs to document: (i) the precise nature of the data to be gathered, (ii) the ethical issues associated with these data and their storage, i.e. compliant to General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679 and taking into consideration issues related to the transfer of data from and to the EU, and (iii) the procedures that will be adopted to ensure that the data are recorded in a systematic and safe manner. Discussions on these issues will not only take place within each WP but will also involve the Research Manager (see Section 3.2) who will ensure that the deposition of data to the website archive complies with best practices in data management. These materials will then be uploaded to a secure website (WP10) where each WP will maintain its own page. Access to the EcoScope website will be strictly limited and controlled for confidentiality purposes.

The Coordinator will address all potential conflicts related to contractual obligations of the partners and delivery of scientific output. Conflicts will be addressed by the Coordinator immediately on a bilateral basis and if any conflict persist, it will be dealt with by the Project Executive Board (PEB; see Section 3.2). The PEB will be responsible for continuous risk management (i.e. technical, financial and administrative risk) and for an effective implementation of the contingency plan, which will be periodically reviewed. After each major stage of the project, the PEB will conduct a risk assessment of the achieved results and determine in advance if a correction action should be carried out in the next stages. This includes: (i) reporting any minor deviations from the project plan to the General Assembly (GA)(ii) implementing the GA recommendations in the contingency plan associated with the specific work package in questioniii) drafting additional or alternative contingency plans, if needed, together with other relevant persons (e.g. the WP Leader in question) (iv) communicating the conclusions from the GA, regarding the revised strategies, to all project members, and include them in the project plan(v) In the event of more serious problems, convene with the GA the best route forward; the Coordinator will then advise the Project Officer of the problem and seek the EC’s approval for the proposed solution.

Establishment of the governance structure for running the project based on the Grant Agreement

Final Annual General Assembly meeting, with stakeholders, WP meetings and final workshop/closing event - Completion of meeting, attendance list, , photos distribution of minutes, meeting and workshop report

Kick-off meeting and First Annual General Assembly meeting, with cluster/ WP parallel meetings - Completion of meeting, attendance list, photos, distribution of minutes and meeting report