Location General Assembly 2015 Minutes Almeida Garrett Municipal Library / Jardins do Palácio de Cristal, Rua D. Manuel II, Porto, Portugal Date DAY 1-6th of February 2015 from 10:00 to 18:00 DAY 2-7th of February 2015 from 10:00 to 15:00 Participants 75 Alumni attended or were represented in the conference. The full list of attendees is available on Annex 1. Chair of the Meeting: Snezana Krstic, Chair of the Executive Committee. Rapporteur: Joana Santos, INOVAMAIS. Agenda DAY 1 1. Opening Speech 2. Approval of the Minutes of the General Assembly 2013 3. MCAA From the beginning to today 4. Approval of annual accounts 2014 5. Appointment of the Chairs of Working Groups and Chapters 6. Working Groups and Chapters Presentation of Activities & Future Plans 7. FAMELab Talking Science 8. H2020 Funding Opportunities DAY 2 9. ESF Career Tracking Pilot Project 10. MCAA What s next! Presentation of Plan of Activities 11. Poster Session 12. Recommendations for MSCA Giving voice to members! 13. MCAA Award Ceremony
DAY 1 1. Opening speech Snezana Krstic, Chair of the Executive Committee and of this meeting, welcomed the Alumni and thanked them for coming to the General Assembly (GA) of the Association, highlighting the event as a good opportunity to discuss achievements and plans for the future. Then, the main points of the agenda were listed and introduced. Odissefs Panopoulos, Policy Officer DG EAC.C3 from the European Commission, thanked the MCAA Board and the MCAA Members for being present and briefly described the role of the European Commission in the project of creation and development of the MCAA. 2. Approval of the Minutes of the General Assembly Maria-Antonietta Buccheri, Secretary of Executive Committee, presented the Minutes of the First General Assembly held in November 2013 in Brussels for approval, where she pointed out the project behind the association, the results of the survey held in 2013 and the election of the MCAA Board. After, her presentation, the Minutes, which were circulated prior to this meeting were unanimously approved by the General Assembly. (Annex 2 presentation used by the Secretary of Executive Committee) 3. MCAA From the Beginning to Today Maria-Antonietta Buccheri presented the report on activities of the MCAA held in 2014, where she referred that the path to promote the MCAA potential was through the development of the web portal, collaborations and participation in conferences/events. She also highlighted the milestone related to the legal registration of the MCAA as an AISBL association internationale sans but lucratif, under the Belgium law. (Annex 3 presentation used by the Secretary of Executive Committee) 4. Approval of annual accounts 2014 The 2014 financial report describing the annual accounts of the MCAA were circulated prior to this meeting and presented at this event by Roy Someshwar, Treasurer of Executive Committee. He highlighted that the distribution of the annual budget was as follows: Micro Grants (72%), Chapters (16%) and Working Groups (12%). After, his presentation, the 2014 financial report was unanimously approved by the General Assembly (Annex 4 presentation used by Treasurer of Executive Committee)
5. Appointment of the Chairs of Working Groups and Chapters Francesco Grassi, Vice-chair of the Executive Committee, presented briefly the process and objectives related with the creation of Working Groups and Chapters. At this stage, seven Working Groups and seventeen Chapters are available within the MCAA. Following, he proceeded with the appointment of the Chair of each Working Group and Chapter, who are, according to the articles of the association, ex-officio members of the Board. (Annex 5 presentation used by the Vice-chair of the Executive Committee) 6. Working Groups and Chapters Presentation of Activities & Future Plans This session included a brief introduction to the activities and plans of the existing working groups and chapters (the later presented by the chair of the Internal Governance & Chapter Management Team Working Group). Presentations were made according to the following order: 1. Communication WG - Wuraola Akande 2. Events & Networking WG - Francesco Sanna 3. Information & Data Access WG - Mauricio Manfrini 4. Policy on Successful Researchers WG - Marco Masia 5. Grants & Awards WG - Anett Kiss 6. Gender Equality for Mobile Researchers in Science WG - Giovanna Avellis 7. Internal Governance & Chapter Management Team WG - Kiran Kumar Chereddy This session continued during an extended coffee-break, where each working group had a specific table to meet and interact with the members of the association. (Annex 6 presentations used by the chair of the working groups) 7. FAMELab Talking Science José Vitor Malheiros, representative of FameLab, presented this contest on Science Communication which is aimed at communicating what researchers do to the general public and companies, promoting a better science and a better society. He highlighted this contest as a vehicle to achieve potential fame in and through the Lab. Next, Marta Santos, researcher and winner of the 2014 Portuguese FameLab contest, shared in detail how it works and how her participation in this initiative was a life changing experience. (Annex 7 presentation used in this session)
8. H2020 Funding Opportunities Odissefs Panopoulos explained Horizon 2020 in general lines and its three priorities: Excellence Science, Industrial Leadership and Societal Challenges. He stressed that one of the biggest goals of H2020 is to make research marketable and achieve international cooperation across European Borders. Then, he introduced the Participant s Portal and how it can be used by researchers in the search for funding opportunities. Then, Zoran Andjelic, Ordinary Board Member, shared his experience as Coordinator in research projects, by presenting each of the projects and describing the process from proposal writing to project realization. At the end of his presentation, he provided some advices to the members on how to be successful in research projects. (Annex 8 presentations used in this session) DAY 2 9. ESF Career Tracking Pilot Project Maria Manuela Nogueira, Senior Science Officer from the European Science Foundation presented the Career Tracking Pilot Project, which is an initiative that follows up researchers careers over a certain period of time in order to understand researchers career pathways. The purpose is to create a framework that will look for the first time at the neglected population of early career researchers, develop a career tracking instrument and process, produce data analysis and data reports and identify and communicate methodological and statistical steps. (Annex 9 presentation used in this session) 10. MCAA What s next! Presentation of Plan of Activities Francesco Grassi presented the Plan of Activities for 2015, in which the main goal is to exploit the value of the Marie Curie experience, which is a privileged community with a lot of services and networking opportunities. Next, Roy Someshwar presented a potential model for the sustainable development of the association and generating external revenues. (Annex 10 presentations used in this session) 11. Recommendations for MSCA Giving voice to members! Sébastien Huber, Senior Policy Officer from Science Europe, provided information about the role, remit and added value, as well as working groups of this organisation. In addition, he presented a recent survey on Intersectoral Mobility led by Science Europe, highlighting the
main conclusions. Then, Joana Soares, representative of the service provider, presented an activity that aims at providing recommendations on the Marie Curie Actions within Horizon 2020 and for which the collaboration of MCAA members is valuable and desirable. (Annex 11 presentations used in this session) 12. MCAA Award Ceremony Anett Kiss, Chair of the Grants & Awards Working Group, briefly presented the Award initiative of the MCAA and process for selection of awardees. Then, she introduced each type of award and respective winners, as follows: MCAA Alumni of the Year Award 2014 - Mostafa Moonir Shawrav from the Vienna University of Technology; MCAA Career Award 2014 - Dr Juan Blanco from the Public University of Navarre. Winners were announced and given the trophy by the Chair of the Executive Committee. As Mostafa Moonir Shawrav was prevented of attending the General Assembly, his trophy was received by Riccardo Biondi. (Annex 12 presentation used) 13. Closing Session Snezana Krstic thanked the MCAA members, the representatives of the European Commission and the representatives of the Service Provider for their attendance and hard work. There being no further business to discuss the meeting was adjourned.
Annex 1 List of Participants 1. AGGARWAL Shikhar, 2. AHLERS Dirk; 3. AIRES NETO DA SILVA Ana Rosa; 4. AKANDE Wuraola; 5. ALAM Mohammad Meraj; 6. ANDJELIC Zoran; 7. ATTILI Bala; 8. AVELLIS Giovanna; 9. BALCAZAR NAVARRO Natalia; 10. BANKS Robert; 11. BARTOLACELLI Alessio; 12. BASLER Georg; 13. BAUMAN Ewa; 14. BENTZ Wolfram; 15. BIONDI Riccardo; 16. BLANCO Juan; 17. BOBYLEV Nikolai; 18. BUCCHERI Maria- Antonietta; 19. CAHILL Brian; 20. CARANTI Luigi; 21. CASA Raffaele; 22. CENGIZ Ibrahim Fatih; 23. CHEREDDY Kiran Kumar; 24. CIMINO Maura; 25. COLOZZA Roberto; 26. CORREIA Carlos; 27. DAVILA Diana; 28. DE GENNARO Michele; 29. DUARTE Afonso; 30. EVENDEN Elizabeth; 31. GAASCHT François; 32. GAJEWSKA Agnieska; 33. GAJEWSKI Piotr; 34. GONZALEZ TRONCOSO Xoana; 35. GRASSI Francesco; 36. GUIMARÃES Rui; 37. HANCILAR Ufuk; 38. IRIE Yasuhiko; 39. KIERKOWICZ Magdalena; 40. KISS Anett; 41. KOSTADINOV Atanas; 42. KRISTON-VIZI Janos; 43. KRSTIC Snezana; 44. LAKKUNDI Vishwas; 45. LAPICCIRELLA Giovanni; 46. LOPEZ-FERNANDEZ Olatz; 47. MADDALO Danilo; 48. MANFRINI Mauricio; 49. MARTINCIC Markus; 50. MASIA Marco; 51. MEDINA-VAYA Angel; 52. MOKHBERDORAN Ataollah; 53. MOTAMEDI SHAD Neda; 54. MUGGIOLU Giovanna; 55. MYLONA Kalliopi; 56. NENISKYTE Urte; 57. NOGUEIRA Maria Manuela; 58. PALERMO Antonio; 59. RIBEIRO SANTOS Ana Sofia; 60. SANNA Francesco; 61. SANTOS António; 62. SHUBHRA Quazi Tanminul Haque; 63. SNITZAM Sharon; 64. SOMESHWAR Roy; 65. STUKENKEMPER Timo; 66. TAN Liling; 67. TRAPAGA MONCHET Koldo; 68. TRINDADE Ana; 69. UNAL Evrim Besray; 70. VELEZ Fernando José Proxies: 71. SHAWRAV Mostafa Moonir 72. DIDENKULOVA Ira 73. BENLLOCH Reyes 74. VIRE Axelle 75. BOSTENARU DAN Maria
Annex 2 Presentation: Approval of the Minutes of the General Assembly
Annex 3 Presentation: MCAA From the beginning to today
Annex 4 Presentation: Approval of annual accounts 2014
Annex 5 Presentation: Appointment of the Chairs of Working Groups and Chapters
Annex 6 Presentations: Working Gourps and Chapters 1. Communication WG
2. Events & Networking WG
3. Information & Data Access WG
4. Policy on Successful Researchers WG
5. Grants & Awards WG
6. Gender Equality for Mobile Researchers in Science WG
7. Internal Governance & Chapter Management Team WG
Annex 7 Presentation: FAMELab Talking Science
Annex 8 Presentation: H2020 Funding Opportunities 1. H2020 Funding Opportunities
2. MC Research Projects - Experiences from a Coordinator
Annex 9 Presentation: ESF Career Tracking Pilot Project
Annex 10 Presentation: MCAA What s next Presentation of Plan of Activities
Annex 11 Presentations: Recommendations for MSCA Giving voice to members! 1. What European research organisations are doing to cater for inter-sectoral careers.
2. What European research organisations are doing to cater for inter-sectoral careers.
Annex 12 Presentation: MCAA Award Ceremony