The OZCAR IR days, which took place in Fréjus from 3 to 5 April 2018, gathered around sixty participants. This second meeting of the OZCAR RI had three ambitions: allow the participants to get to know each other better, initiate cross-cutting projects and also structure the internal governance.
These days were organised around workshops focusing on the development of the different activities (« Work Packages » – WPs) of the OZCAR RI. Each workshop was introduced with a presentation to shed light on the issues addressed within the workshops.
As an introduction, Isabelle Braud presented an overview of the actions carried out since the kick-off meeting in February 2017.
A presentation on the European infrastructure project eLTER was also given by Nicolas Arnaud, Head of “INSU” institute.
Within Workshop WP1, ” Building the Theia/OZCAR Data/Metadata Portal “, presented the status of the portal was presented and groups of discussions allowed to identify the expected functionality of the data portal.
The WP2 workshop, ” Model-Data Interface “, allowed to brainstorm on a shared representation of the functioning of the Critical Zone and on the required observation and modelling.
The WP3 workshop, Instrumentation, was an opportunity to review the projects received at the CRITEX internal call for tenders and to initiate a brainstorm on the essential variables on the Critical Zone.
Workshop WP4, ” Structuring, facilitation and governance ” of OZCAR RI, addressed the issue of internal structuring and governance of the OZCAR infrastructure.
Main conclusions of the annual meeting
Considering the development of OZCAR RI, it was necessary to work on getting to know each other better and to organise the scientific life in order to optimise the added value of the RI. Everyone has to participate. The OZCAR RI has to acquire a geographically and scientifically structuring matrix. Cross-cutting scientific themes have been approved for their important role in the the development of OZCAR RI. The themes’ implementation will constitute one of the RI’s work packages. The scientific themes will be subject to an internal call for tender. The OZCAR RI is a group of observatories, themselves made up of a set of sites. The observatories, labelled by the research organisations, are the basic building blocks of OZCAR RI. The OZCAR RI annual budget (a budget dedicate to run the infrastructure) will be elaborated by taking into account the former SOEREs stakes but with a need to develop the ” Works Packages “.
The need to acquire a set of common parameters is validated. The list of these common parameters has still to be refined. A physical diagram of representation of the topics of study has to be developed before the summer. The governance has been modified to be more representative for the observatories and not only for the former SOEREs. The executive committee has been completely modified to include one full member (and his or her alternate) per observatory representing a pro-rata on FTEs (Full Time Equivalent). The smaller observatories are divided into three groups. Considering the meetings, Executive Committee meetings are scheduled monthly and virtually. The OZCAR RI days are scheduled on an annual basis and open to all participants. The steering committee (committee for the supervisory bodies/inter-organism committee) will meet twice a year. In addition, an international scientific council has to be set up. A scientific colloquium will also be planned every three years.
Detailed information on the annual meeting (programme, presentations) click here.