COST on the go: the experience of an Italian COST Actions’ representative Piermaria Corona

Steering Committee and Management Committee of FP1206 Action European mixed forests. Integrating Scientific Knowledge in Sustainable Forest Management ( ) Steering Committee and Management Committee of FP0701 Action Post fire management in Southern Europe ( ) FP0603 Action Forest Models ( ) E43 Action Harmonisation of National Forest Inventories in Europe: Techniques for Common Reporting ( )

strengthening and building up S&T international communities sharing knowledge & fostering the emerging of new ideas (new frontiers, new applications) hands-on experience of international environments (distinctively useful for ECI), even with respect to EU incoming Countries helping to support the international science / policy interface: COST Actions open not only to researchers from universities and other public or private research institutions, but also to NGOs, industry, SMEs, regulators and policy makers

Short-Term Scientific Missions Training Courses Meetings networking tools

DISSEMINATION website material for display or distribution (flyers, posters, etc.) multimedia content conferences and workshops publications (peer reviewed journal papers, book of abstracts, handbooks, guidelines etc.)

workshop & conferences

peer-reviewed scientific articles (especially, reviews & meta-analyses)

book e-book reports

 increasing the visibility of the considered topic and attracts other scientists interested in it, allowing the research community in question to grow and achieve a critical mass of competences, skills, experiences, and built consensus necessary to apply for further R&I funds ( … new projects)

Scientific project outcome FP7 project IP ENV FUME: Forest fires under climate, social and economic changes in Europe, the Mediterranean and other fire-affected areas of the world Tender JRC Tender No IES/H/2008/01/154000/OC MASSIFF - Development of a methodology for the analysis of socioeconomic impact of forest fires and economic efficiency of fire management H2020 proposals Coordination and support actions W-CoP - Wildfire Communication on Prevention by Community of Practices Improved forest management models ISIB-04b-2015 LINKFORMOD - Linking models for an innovative and integrated forest management in EU

from networking to excellence advancing scientific, technological or social knowledge through the international coordination: added value of networking (number of Countries involved, North- South/West-East issues; inclusiviness) scientific, technological and/or socio-economic impact need to be very specific on how to address the listed demands quality and efficiency of the implementation (coherence and effectiveness of the workplan)

 S&T EXCELLENCE & IMPACT & IMPLEMENTATION soundness of the challenge, multi-disciplinarity progress beyond the state-of the-art and innovation potential measures to maximise impact appropriateness of management structures and procedures level of risk and level of potential innovation/breakthroughs

the former science organisation which was structured into nine science and technology domains has been replaced by a new organisation aiming at guaranteeing a fully open and bottom-up approach through the establishment of a single Scientific Committee this also includes a renewed evaluation and selection procedure aiming at identifying breakthrough ideas and favoring interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary projects

Scientific Committee: purpose and responsibilities the Scientific Committee (SC) is composed of 36 high-level experts (one from each COST Member Country and 1 from Cooperating State) SC gives advice to the Committee of Senior Officials on scientific and technological orientation of COST

The SC will fulfill the following tasks: 1- Selection of proposals to be approved by the Committee of Senior Officials  During the selection of proposals for COST Actions: Identification, among the list of proposals presented by the Review Panels, of those that respond best to the COST mission and policies and the needs of the different research communities  Establishment of the short list of proposals that will be submitted for approval to the CSO

2- Overall supervision and quality control of procedures before the evaluation of proposals for COST Actions  Examination and validation of the list of names and corresponding expertise of the independent External Experts to be assigned to each proposal  Examination and validation of the membership of the ad-hoc Review Panels constituted for each Collection Date (number and composition) after the evaluation Ex-post analysis of the performance and the quality of work provided by Independent External Experts and Review Panel members with recommendations on their future engagement

3- monitoring and the final assessment of COST Actions the SC will fulfill the following tasks: before SC Plenary meeting, validation of a summary of Progress Reports and Final Assessment Reports covering the Actions monitored or ended within the period between two SC Plenary meetings; analysis of the outcomes and impact of the ended Actions 4- recommendations to the development of the COST Science and Technology strategy giving advice to the CSO on the matters of its remit

we cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them ( A. Einstein ) A. Einstein