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The consortium is composed by 14 partners from 6 European Union countries and 3 partners from third countries where rich resources of saffron and Crocus relatives are found. All of them have long experience in research on complementary aspects of the saffron and/or Crocus biology, agronomy, and biotechnological applications. The consortium try to joint all the effort carry out currently at international level and the partner's geographical distribution comprise the saffron producing areas as well as the main habitats of the Crocus species. |
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All scientific, financial and administrative aspects of CROCUSBANK will be co-ordinated by Prof. Jose-Antonio Fernandez, UCLM, Spain , who will represent the consortium in the European Commission. The coordinator will be responsible for monitoring the expenses and allocation of the budget, organization of meetings, adjustments on the implementation of the project and preparation of annual progress reports. The co-ordinator will relay and collect all relevant information to and from each partner via the responsible persons, who will be in charge of work carried out by their groups. Partners are in charge of one or more work packages, relevant to their expertise. Decision making structure will be reinforced by a Project Management Committee (PMC) consisting of the five Group Coordinators (partners 1, 2, 4, 10 and 11 ; see coordination between partners) will support the Project Coordinator in all the aspects of its development, for example, in preparation of meetings and annual reports, and in monitoring the progress.
The Project Management Committee functions being leaded to assure the expected quality with methodological provisions for solution and consensus agreement in the case of unexpected conflicts. Eventually, external experts will be consulted. Partners will do their utmost to avoid any errors or omissions to ensure the quality of the research. The Coordination tasks together with the management of the generated information and the exploitation and dissemination of results make up the programmed Work package 07. |
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A kick off meeting will be held at the coordinator institution once the contract is signed, and prior to the start of the research. This meeting will be attended by the persons responsible from each partner institution Further meetings will be scheduled at approximately a year intervals. Four workshops are planned as tools for project management and assessment of progress: one at the end of 2006 that happened to meet at the 2nd ISSBT in Mashhad (Iran), one in the second year (Athens, Greece, for autumn 2007), one in the third year (Kastamonu, Turkey, for spring 2008), and one in the four year (Cuenca, Spain, spring 2010). ISHS (Working Group M04), ECP/GR, and EUCARPIA will be invited as observers. Furthermore a meeting with potential end-users will be organized during the fourth year to take place coinciding with the last project meeting. Prior to each scheduled meeting, the coordinator will send the agenda to all partners, and each partner will submit a summary of their results to date and an outline of future activities. At the meetings, each partner will present their data and after joint evaluation of the results, future plans will be adjusted accordingly. The progress of the project will be monitored during these meetings according to the quantified milestones and deliverables indicated in this proposal. After each meeting, summary reports will be prepared by the responsible in charge and put together by the coordinator, who will prepare the annual report. This report, together with the individual partner's reports, will be submitted to the EC within a month. A final report and copies of any relevant manuscripts and recommendations will be delivered to the EC at the end of the project. |
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Due to the highly interactive nature of CROCUSBANK , the experts involved will be in frequent communication, exchanging expertise for the development of various methodologies. In addition to the scheduled meetings, participants will exchange short visits in order to learn specific techniques or carry out joint activities. These exchanges will also allow further discussions of the project, and are particularly important for furthering the expertise of the young personnel involved. |
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Mobilizing resources and focusing on key targets defined in the Work package planning, require a fine monitoring of the operative chart with reaction capacity to overcome any setback that can appear during the project. Collaboration, coordination and complementarities have been fostered within and between Work packages, whereas actions to avoid duplication have been foreseen. |
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Results obtained in CROCUSBANK will be disseminated at regional and at international level. The organization of results for presentation and publication will be co-ordinated by the scientist responsible for each work package. Issues regarding co-authorship, writing responsibilities and journal selection will be agreed upon by the scientists involved in the work. All other outputs, such as articles or web-sites will be agreed upon by the responsible scientists. |
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