1st Management Committee meeting in Brussels

The 1st Management Committee (MC) meeting of our Action CA17126 was held at the COST Headquarters in Brussels, on the 12th September 2018. The COST Officers assigned for this Action, Ralph Stuebner (Science Officer) and Rose Cruz Santos (Administrative Officer), hosted this opening meeting. Over 25 MC members from 18 countries attended the presentations on COST given by the hosting team and also participated in the different dicussions held throughout the day.

MC members discussed the objectives of this COST Action and formulated a Work and Budget Plan (WBP) for the next Grant Period, taking place from 1st October 2018 to 30th April 2019.

The work will be organised through 5 Working Groups and will involve networking tools such as meetings and Short-Time Scientific Missions (STSMs). Moreover, the creation of a website was agreed as an important dissemination and communication tool. Training Schools and ITC Grant were not budgeted for the First Grant Period but they could be included in the WBP for the following Grant Periods.

Another important moment was the election of the core group. Antonio Rivera (ES) was elected Chair, while Jorge Kohanoff (UK) was elected Vice-Chair. Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (ES) was assigned as the Grant Holder Institution, represented at the MC by Eduardo Oliva as Scientific Representative. Other key positions such as STSM Coordinators, Summer School Coordinators, Science Communication Manager and Working Groups leaders were also voted and agreed.

Also during the meeting the MC approved the participation of the Near Neighbour Country (NNC) institution Lebedev Physical Institute, Moscow, Russia.

This first meeting was a great success with fruitful exchange of ideas and plans going forward.

The location and approximate date for the next meeting was also discussed and agreed: the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (ES) will host the 1st General Meeting and the 2nd MC Meeting on November 2018.