COST Office News and Managing the end of Your COST Action up to March 2009

1. COST Office News and Managing the end of Your COST Action up to March 2009 Presented by Dr Lucia Forzi Science Officer Natural Sciences On behalf of Dr Carine Petit ESSEM Science Officer Brussels, May 2008

2. News from the COST Office News from ESSEM Status of the Action Final evaluation New rules on Publications New procedure for Non-COST Countries To be done at this MC meeting Outline

3. CSO approved 25 new COST Actions in November 2007 Open Call of September 30 2007: 4 ESSEM full proposals were successful over 25 Final approval by the CSO (18 June 2008) Open Call of March 28, 2008 Trans-Domain Proposal (TDP) TDP will be examined by a Standing Assessment Body 31 ESSEM and 65 TD pre-proposals over 385 Next Collecting Date: September 26, 2008 New rules for publications, for Non-COST Country applications and new measures for Early Stage Researchers News from the COST Office (1/3)

4. Early Stage Researchers (i.e. PhD + <10 years) Open Call participation and WG leading Increased duration of STSMs beyond 3 months 3 ESSEM Conference Grants per year of 3000 € for attending International Conference (abstract for an oral presentation must be accepted) More Training schools At least once a year, an Action workshop should foster the participation of ESR Actions are encouraged To meet in COST premises, Brussels To organize training schools To conform to their timetable. Prolongation/Extension will be consider only without additional budget and on basis of strong scientific justification News from the COST Office (2/3)

5. The preparation of the web application for the COST Grant System (CGS) is still under development New annual contract with EC was signed end of March Your budget was refunded to cover activities until June 2009 to ensure a smooth transition to the CGS When the migration will start, two ESSEM Actions will migrate per month A new “one-year” budget will be allocated to the migrating Actions when the CGS contract will be prepared (e.g. from July 2008 to July 2009) As you will end in March 2009, I do hope that you will escape it ! News from the COST Office (3/3)

6. ESSEM Monitoring Event: 25-26 June 2008, Helsinki All the Actions Chairs (presentation of 20 minutes) will be invited as well as Rapporteurs (10 minutes for reporting + discussion) The ESSEM Chair, Vice-Chair and SO will meet the Actions Chairs for an informal meeting and open discussions Annual Progress Report is expected for you by 23 May 2008 If less than 4 STSMs, justification needed New reporting item: non-COST participations’ contributions Was there any substantial non-COST contribution in 2007? What are the mutual benefits of those contributions? Not only factual but also qualitative reporting News from ESSEM

7. LAST DC meeting (10-11 March): The Vice-Chair, Mr John Ingram, resigned A rotation between the Chair and the Vice-Chair was expected for June 2008 according to the decision of the first DC meeting. No candidature for chairing the domain was received The Chair, Prof. Sylvain Joffre, was elected ESSEM Chair until 2010 Dr Ipek Erzi from Turkey was elected Vice-Chair of the Domain Open Call of March 2007 led to 2 new ESSEM Actions: ES0701 Improved constraints on models of glacial isostatic adjustment (29 April 2008) ES0702 EG-CLIMET European Ground-based observations of essential variables for CLImate and operational METeorology (14-15 May 2008) News from ESSEM

8. Open Call of September 2007 will probably lead to 4 new ESSEM Actions: OC-2007-2-1816: Developing space weather products and services in Europe OC-2007-2-1528: The ocean chemistry of bioactive trace elements and paleoclimate proxies OC-2007-2-1603: Unmanned aerial systems (UAS) in atmospheric research OC-2007-2-1832: Advancing the integrated monitoring of trace gas exchange between biosphere and atmosphere News from ESSEM

9. End Date 28/03/2009 Signatories to MoU 21 COST countries + Israel Rapporteur Mr Dick Blaauboer Budget 2007-2008 85 000 € Final Event Final Report Final Evaluation COST Action 732: Quality Assurance and Improvement of Micro-Scale Meteorological Models

10. Budget : 85 000 € => 356 €not committed yet; Well done! MC9+WGs - Lecce (20 p.) 18 449 € + 2 400 € (paid) WG - Vienna (15 p.) 10 207 € + 1 500 € (paid) MC10+WGs - Prague (23 p.) 15 485 € + 2 000 € (paid) MC11 - Thessaloniki (42 p.) 26 880 € + 2 990 € (approved) 3 STSMs 2 732 € (approved) GASG 2 000 € (paid) TOTAL OF EXPENSES 84 644 € COST 732: 2 June 2007 – 31 May 2008 and beyond

11. Next Budget Your work plan and budget plan can be prepared until March 2009 (MC+WG meetings, STSMs, GASG, Final event, Additional Publication (?)) Preliminary budget 1 June 2008 – 28 March 2009: 102 000 € The budget can be used within 3 months after the end for expenses related to the final event only. The final event can be organised between March and June 2009 The Publication of the Final Extended Scientific Report will be paid by the general COST budget COST 732: 2 June 2007 – 31 May 2008 and beyond

12. Who will evaluate the Action? What is the timeframe? • Evaluation Panel (EP)will beappointed by the COST Office 6 monthsbefore the end of the Action: - DC Rapporteur: Mr Dick Blaauboer - One or two experts (proposed by Dick Blaauboerto the Action Chair and submitted to the approval of the DC) - Science Officer as moderator/observer • Evaluation Report must be submitted by EP within 3 months after the end of the Action (end of June 2009) • It will be probably presented in September 2009 at the ESSEM DC meeting by the DC Rapporteur assisted by one of the experts • The Action Chair will be invited to this DC meeting, but is free to attend or not

13. What does the Evaluation consist of? (1/2) • What will be evaluated?Achievements of the objectives of the MoU and of the deliverables on basis of: • Final Management report (SO): delivered by 30 April 2009 (within one month of the end of the Action) • Final Scientific Report (Action): delivered by 30 April 2009; last updated version of the Yearly Progress Report covering the entire period of the Action • Extended scientific report– Final Publication (Action): ideally delivered by end of February 2009 (first draft) and by May 2009 (final draft); this publication can be paid by COST on the Action’s demand • Website • Deliverables • Dissemination and Publications (in peer-reviewed journals, financed by the Action and by COST) • End users of the final results (if applicable)

14. What does the Final Evaluation consist of? (2/2) • Thetemplate and criteriaof the final evaluation areavailable in the guidelines for assessment, monitoring, evaluation of an Action (Annex F) • Questionnairedrafted by the EP will be submitted to the Chair, Vice-Chair and the WG Leaders to clarify some unclear points • Participation of the EP in the final Eventof the Action+ a 1- or 2-days meetingof the EP with the Chair to finalize the Final Evaluation Report (if necessary) • Draft of the Final Evaluation Report by the EP (June 2009) • Final Statementof DC on the quality of the Action will be publishedon the COST websitein autumn 2009, as well as the Final Evaluation Report and the Extended Scientific Report.

15. Useful to know about Publications (1/2) • The COST Office will finance the costs of final publication • You will have to support the costs of any additional publication (special issue, proceedings) Steps to be followed: • MC decision needed for each publication with budget dedicated - Official request from Chair to SO with MC decision 2) Validation of request by COST PR Manager and COST reference number 3) Notification by SO to Chair and invitation to choose a publisher • OPOCE or other Publisher • If Private Publisher: 2 offers in case of price exceeding 3000 € (excl. VAT); COST needs 5 copies • Chair send offer(s) to SO, with strong justification if the most expensive solution is requested

16. Useful to know about Publications (2/2) Steps to be followed: 4) Preparation of documents and distribution list (logos, etc.) 5) Confirmation of order by SO with a purchase order 6) Print release and distribution 7) Payment Please refer to the official document “Pubblications” which is included in the COST Vademecum: http://www.cost.esf.org/index.php?id=38

17. Useful to know about non-COST Countries • New template for application of non-COST Countries • A better description of mutual benefits is requested and of the contribution of the non-COST Institution in the Working Groups • A motivation letter must be submitted by the non-COST Institution to the Chair and the Science Officer • The application must be approved by: • Management Committee • ESSEM Domain Committee • COST JAF Committee

18. Clear MC decisions for last activities on 2008-2009 budget Prepare and communicate to the SO your work plan and budget plan from June 2008 to March 2009 by end of June 2008 Start the organisation of the Extended Scientific Report and of the Final Event Continuous update of the website At this MC meeting

19. Sign the Attendance List (each day!) Complete and sign your Travel Reimbursement Form and submit it, together with receipts, to the local organizer or to the Chair Send additional receipts by scan/email or fax until 19 May2008 Save energy and money by using public transportation instead of taxis (prepare carefully your travels)! Max 40 € per participant and per meeting will be reimburse for taxi. Thanks for the planet! International Year of Planet Earth (2007-2009) http://yearofplanetearth.org/index.html At this MC meeting

20. ESSEM team Mrs Chandrasa Sjamsudin Administrative Officer csjamsudin@cost.esf.org Dr Lucia Forzi Science Officer Natural Sciences Cluster lforzi@cost.esf.org Dr Carine Petit Science Officer - ESSEM cpetit@cost.esf.org Tel: 32-2-533-3831