minutes - marie curie alumni association...marie curie alumni association executive committee...

MARIE CURIE ALUMNI ASSOCIATION Executive Committee Meeting – 15th December 2016

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Executive Committee Meeting - Minutes

Summary

This Executive Committee (ExCom) meeting was the agreed regular monthly meeting for December

2016. The key points discussed included:

Rules for the use of the ‘internal governance’ budget

Organisation details for the 2017 GA / conference

Applications for new Chapters and Working Groups, and also the new Guidelines documents

for these

Arrangements for assessing applications for 2016 MCAA Awards

External partnerships and alliances

Location

GoToMeeting (on-line meeting) Date 15th December 2016 – from 14:00 to 16:00 CET

Participants

Brian CAHILL Chair of Executive Committee

Marco MASIA Vice-Chair of Executive Committee

Amit ZODGE Vice-Chair of Executive Committee

Kiran Kumar CHEREDDY Treasurer of Executive Committee

Maria-Antonietta BUCCHERI Secretary of Executive Committee

Odissefs Panopoulos European Commission

Ana LEAL Contractor Team

Simon ROBINSON

Proxies

Marco Masia had to leave the meeting early, and gave a proxy to Brian Cahill (Annex

1).

Amit Zodge had to leave the meeting early and gave a proxy to Brian Cahill (Annex

2).


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Agenda

Time Topic

14:00 Meeting Opening

14:05 Rules for use of the Internal Governance budget for expenses incurred by Board members

- Time Limit for Requests - Pro-diem expenses - Treatment of original documents - Non-Euro transaction fees

14:15 Details of GA - Agenda - Visit to Salamanca - Hotels

14:30 Chapter Applications

14:45 WG applications

15:00 Awards applications/process

15:15 External Partnerships/Relations - GA/Conference sponsors (David?) - ITNs - ISAAACS - Successor for Net4Mobility Project - Other partners (David?)

15:30 Chapter and WG Guidelines

15:45 Membership of Various External Organisations - Initiative for Science in Europe - European Platform of Women Scientists - Scholars at Risk

15:55 Date of Next ExCom Meeting

16:00 End of Meeting


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Action Summary of the last ExCom Meeting (20th October 2016)

# Type1 Topic Outcome Proposed by Next step

responsible Status

1 I

Annual Work Programme of

the MCAA

Description of the activities to be

performed by the Association in the next

12 months

Mandatory (as

foreseen in the

new Contract)

Contractor with

validation of the

Board

2 A

Creation of a new e-mail alias E-mail alias to be shared by all members

of the contractor team

Contractor Contractor

3 A

Contact the ECM to define a

specific date for the ExCom

on-line meetings

For example: every first Friday of each

month

Brian Cahill Brian Cahill

4 A

Sending the Key Question

Form to the Contractor

Provide input about the priorities within

each type of activity

Deadline: 24th October

Contractor All Board

Members

Not started/completed

Partially completed/slight delay

On track/completed


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responsible Status

5 I

Compilation of suggestions of

improvements for the web-

portal.

A document with all suggestions

discussed so far.

Deadline: Next Board Meeting – 18th

November 2016

Contractor Marco Masia

and Notis

PIKROS

6 D/A

The ECM decided to create a

new Heading: “Internal

Governance”

The EC needs to validate this decision;

Ana Leal contacted Odissefs Panopoulos

to see if this is possible. Reply was

positive, but strict rules must be

established and adhered to.

Brian Cahill Contractor

A=Action, I=Information, D=Decision


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1. Meeting opening

Brian Cahill, Chair of the Executive Committee (ExCom), opened the meeting at 14:00, when

four members of the Executive Committee (ECM) were present and introduced the Agenda

topics. Maria Antonietta Buccheri joined the meeting at 14:39.

2. Rules for use of the Internal Governance budget for expenses incurred by Board members

Per-diem expenses

Brian Cahill believes per diem expenses are a good idea, because the documents for travel

and accommodation could be provided on the same day as the event/meeting, thus making

the process easier.

Treatment of original documents

Odissefs Panopoulos considers the original receipts must be kept for five years and presented

by the members, if requested, during that period. Brian Cahill showed some concern regarding

this request, since there is a big probability of some members not keeping the original receipts

for such a long time. Odissefs Panopoulos strongly suggested the ExCom to keep that

information official (that a member must keep the original receipts for five years) on the rules,

and not to worry if a member will actually keeps them or not.

Odissefs Panopoulos also requested the Contractor to check with a lawyer if it’s possible to

state that “the MCAA is under no circumstances responsible for the health or material damage

of any of its members resulting from the attendance to events on behalf of the association”.

3. Details of the GA

Ana Leal reminded the ExCom that the Call for Venues for the next GA in 2018 is still open

until the end of the year, and that the decision does not have to take place during a meeting; it

could be taken through Doodle by the Board.


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Agenda

Odissefs Panopoulos suggested to invite Mats Rosengren from the Uppsala University as a

speaker for the Annual Conference in March, and needed an immediate decision from the

ExCom. According to the Project Officer, the subject of the speech would be the role of reason

(as in logic, mathematics, science and the methods of science and technology) in modern

society, culture and imagination, specifically how science and technology are revealed and

given a prime position in contemporary culture, thus giving to Humanity the impression of

omnipotence. The ECM agreed that it is important to also have a philosophical subject in the

Annual Conference, and agreed to give 30-45 minutes to this speaker on the 25th March early

in the morning. Odissefs Panopoulos will inform Mats Rosengren of this decision, and that

travel and accommodation costs will be covered. The possibility of paying a fee to the speaker

was also raised and Ana Leal informed the ExCom that there is € 1.500 available for two

speakers (€ 750 for each), and the Project Officer reminded the ExCom that there is the

possibility of moving the budget from one category to another.

As for the Photographer, Brian Cahill asked the Contractor to contact Matt Jaskulski (the

photographer in the last GA), and to ask if he would be interested in joining the GA this year.

Regarding the applications for MGAGs received so far, Ana Leal stated 217 were received and

the ExCom asked the Contractor to send a list of applications in the first week of January, since

the call closes on the 31st December. Since many people are expected to attend the GA, which

means big expenses, the option of charging € 25 for the social dinner was discussed and the

ExCom agreed with this option.

Kiran Kumar Chereddy asked the Contractor if there was the need to have some volunteers

from the Association to help in the organisation of the GA (e.g. support to registration, city

tours, poster session) and that it would also be a good way of involving the members in the

Association. This issue will be discussed later, when the Contractor knows exactly what will be

needed for the GA.

Visit to Salamanca

Ana Ribeiro was going to Salamanca the Monday after this meeting, and Ana Leal will share

the check-list with issues to address regarding the GA with Brian Cahill, so he can include his

input.


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Hotels

Brian Cahill asked the Contractor to send a reminder to the Board members who have not

booked a room yet, and stated he would also send an e-mail to Chairs of Chapters and WGs

to check if they were also interested in booking the rooms available.

4. Chapter applications

Brian Cahill briefly presented the applications received and the decisions were as follows:

Romanian Chapter: Approved with a budget of € 2.000.

Hungarian Chapter: Approved with a budget of € 2.000. The contractor will inform the

Chapter that, as Adam Molnar and Nadja Dokter are not MCCA members, they cannot be

considered as founders of the Chapter.

Polish Chapter: Approved with a budget of € 2000.

Chinese Chapter: Rejected. The contractor will ask for a re-submission complying with the

Guidelines. Dongling Geng, Lanxin Lv and Tao Xiong are not MCAA members, so they cannot

be considered as founders of the Chapter, and two of the activities presented will take place

outside the eligible period (in November 2017).

Cyprus Chapter: Approved with a budget of € 1000. The person who submitted the

application is the coordinator of an ITN, and the ExCom fears he might support other

activities through the MCAA budget.

Kiran Kumar Chereddy reminded the Contractor to inform the applicants of the existence

of a reservoir, through which they can ask for more money for their activities, if needed.

5. WG applications

Kiran Kumar Chereddy briefly presented the applications received for the Career

Development WG and the decisions were as follows:


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1st Application: Rejected. The main reasons for the rejection were the fact that one of the

founding members is not an MCAA member (Pierpaolo Vivo), and that the impact of the

activities on MCAA, and on its members’ careers, is not clear.

2nd Application: Approved with a budget of € 5.000.

The ExCom was expecting a submission for the Chapter Management WG from Matthew

DiFranco, but no application was received. Brian Cahill will contact Matthew DiFranco to

understand what happened.

6. Awards applications/process

Brian Cahill started by informing the ExCom that five MCAA members had applied for the

Outstanding Contributor Award and 39 for the Career Award. Also, four people had already

confirmed their participation in the Award Committee (Anett Kiss, Chair of the Award

Committee of MCAA, Apiyo Okwiri, President of the Erasmus Mundus Association, Alexandra

Cuffel, Ruhr-Universität Bochum and Salome Cisnal de Ugarte, Fullbright Alumni Network –

Belgium). The MCAA still needs one or two more members from the Academic sector, whose

names should be suggested by the Award Committee of the MCAA.

As for Anett Kiss’ suggestion of postponing the decision of the Award Committee to the third

week of January, meaning the approval by the Board should take place on the last days of

January, Brian Cahill considered this can happen, because an ExCom meeting will be held in

January, and this decision can be taken during that meeting.

Regarding the Honorary Recognition, some people were already suggested as possible

applicants (a coordinator from KU Leuven, Dario Pelizzon from Venice University, and a

EURAXESS coordinator from Brazil), but no decision was made, so it was decided that the

ECM would make a list of the potential individuals to later decide on this recognition.

7. External Partnerships/Relations

GA/Conference sponsors

David Anciaux was not at the meeting, so any details on this issue will be discussed later.


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ITNs

Brian Cahill was contacted, and the letters of commitment shall be signed and sent to the

promotors.

ISAAACS

Luis Sanz Andreu is involved in ISAAACS, and they want to set up an institution in Salamanca

related to IoT and to involve the MCAA in it. Brian Cahill mentioned the possibility of involving

the BSB-WG, and will send a document to see if they are interested. According to the Chair of

the Association, ISAAACS is looking for engineers, scientists and technologists, and the MCAA

has lots of members with these skills.

Successor for Net4Mobility Project

This project is a network project for MSC NCPs throughout Europe to build knowledge and

networking. The Irish NCP suggested to Brian Cahill that the MCAA should be a partner in the

new proposal they will submit, and the Chair of the Association believes this is a good

opportunity for the MCAA.

8. Chapter and WG Guidelines

Ana Leal stated that the ExCom needed to agree on the final version of the Guidelines so they

could be sent to the Chairs of Chapters and WGs. The Contractor also believes that the year

of activities should be the same for all Chapters and WGs (1st October – 30th September) to

make it easier in 2020 when the contract finishes. The ExCom agreed with the suggestion,

thus meaning the four new Chapters approved will have their first year of activities ending in

nine months. Simon Robinson will send the latest version of the Guidelines for a final

confirmation.


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9. Membership of Various External Organisations

Initiative for Science in Europe

Brian Cahill was expecting a formal invitation from Science in Europe so that the MCAA could

become a member but, for various reasons, this did not happen, so at this stage the

Association will continue with Science in Europe as an observer only.

European Platform of Women Scientists

Brian Cahill was approached by Christine Herrman, from the GEMS-WG, asking if the MCAA

was interested in becoming a member of European Platform of Women Scientists. The

membership would cost € 120; the ExCom agreed to join this Platform using the budget of the

GEMS-WG. Brian Cahill will ask Giovanna Avellis to complete the process for membership.

Scholars at Risk

Brian Cahill stated Scholars at Risk requests around $800 for the MCAA to become a member,

and believes this association is of great value for Turkish members wanting to find a research

position and/or funding. This decision was postponed for the next meeting when there will be

more details on this possible membership. If the ExCom decides the MCAA should become a

member of Scholars at Risk, the membership will be paid through the Policy-WG.

10. Date of next ExCom Meeting

The next ExCom meeting will be held between 23rd and 28th of January and Brian Cahill will

set up a Doodle for a final decision.

11. End of Meeting

There being no further business to discuss, the meeting was adjourned.


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Action Summary


responsible Status

1 I

Check with a lawyer if it is

possible to state that “the

MCAA is under no

circumstances responsible

for the health or material

damage of any of its

members resulting from the

attendance to events on

behalf of the association”.

Odissefs

Panopoulos

Contractor

2 A

Mats Rosengren will be

informed that he is invited as

a speaker to the next GA.

Odissefs

Panopoulos

Odissefs

Panopoulos

Not started

Partially completed/slight delay

On track/completed


12


responsible Status

3 A

Contact Matt Jaskulski and

ask if he would be interested

in joining the GA this year.


4 A

The Contractor has to send a

list of applications for

MGAGs in the first week of

January to the ExCom.


5 A

The checklist with issues to

address during the visit to

Salamanca will be shared

with Brian Cahill.

Brian Cahill can include his inputs.

Ana Leal Ana Leal

6 A

Send a reminder to the Board

members who have not

booked a room yet and to

Chairs of Chapters and WGs

to check if they were also

Brian Cahill Brian

Cahill/Contractor


13


responsible Status

interested in booking the

rooms available.

7 A

A document will be sent to

BSB-WG to check if they are

interested in being involved

with ISAAACS.


8 A

The latest version of the

Guidelines for Chapters and

WGs will be sent to the

ExCom for decision.

A final version has to be sent to the

Chairs of Chapters and WGs.

Contractor Simon Robinson

9 A

Giovanna Avellis will be

asked to complete the

process for membership to

the European Platform of

Women Scientists.



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responsible Status

10 A

Brian Cahill will set a Doodle

for a final decision on the date

to hold the next ExCom

meeting.


11 A

Brian Cahill will contact

Matthew DiFranco to

understand why a submission

for the creation of the Chapter

Management WG was not

submitted.


A=Action, I=Information, D=Decision


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Annex 1 – Proxy from Marco Masia to Brian Cahill


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Annex 2 – Proxy from Amit Zodge to Brian Cahill

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