The NORFACE Network Board is responsible for the strategy and direction of NORFACE, and represents the highest authority in decision making. The NORFACE NB is supported by the NORFACE Management Team to advice on the daily implementation of its strategy and activities, composed of representatives from the involved funding agencies. The NORFACE Coordination Office had as one of its main tasks the programme coordination on behalf of the network. The role NORFACE Coordination Office has been transferred from The Dutch Research Council (NWO) to Agence National de la Recherche (ANR). ANR will focus on the NORFACE Network coordination only, NWO will remain responsible for the coordination of the Governance programme. Over the last reporting period, NWO has been responsible that all relevant deliverables and milestones were achieved.
Preparations in drafting this call for proposals started in 2017, relying on expertise from the writing group and working group to draft a comprehensive thematic focus and funding model. Finally, the call was published in December 2018. The final call for proposals was made available as D2 Final call for proposals.
The deadline for the Outline Proposals was set for 19 February 2019. Only applications which met the requirements as defined in the Call for Proposals and were compliant with the national or regional eligibility rules for applications, were considered for assessment. A total of 197 applications was assessed by the assessment committee of the OP stage during a two-day assessment meeting on 6-7 May 2019. More details are available in D3 Report of the OP evaluation process, which includes a report from an independent observer to the proceedings as well.
A total of 46 applicants were invited to submit a full proposal, which were assessed by an assessment committee during a two-day meeting on 10-11 February 2020. More details are available in D4 Evaluation of the FP evaluation process, which includes a report from an independent observer to the proceedings as well. Applicants were informed of the results of the assessment and funding decisions in March 2020, after which administrative actions were completed. For more details, see also D5 Report on grant negotiations with the projects and D6 Model of the contract between PL and CO. In April 2020, the first external communication on the selected projects was published on the NORFACE website.
For the foreseen impact of this programme, communication and knowledge exchange activities are crucial, therefore a Scientific Programme Coordinator has been appointed. She will be responsible to achieve the impact objectives set for the programme. The SPC receives extra support it comes to impact and valorisation.
The Scientific Programme Coordinator started her work 1 January 2021.
The Scientific Programme Coordinator is supported by a Knowledge Exchange Advisory Committee (KEAC), consisting of both academic and non-academic experts who will provide input and efforts to realize relevant dissemination activities. The KEAC was appointed per 30 November 2021.
The first of the yearly project reports will be submitted by 1 January 2022. These will be assessed by the NORFACE NB, and feedback on the progress will be communicated to the projects. Aside from these yearly reports, the Coordinator of the programme is in constant communication with the projects.
