Vince Smith, NHM, London

EC Horizon 2020 Research Infrastructures Information Day, 18 June 2014

FP7 Funded RI Project experiences some overly honest tips from a project coordinator

My research background

Circa 5,000 spp. Mammals & birds

12,000 associations 15,000 potential hosts

Enabling research via (small) digital infrastructures

Circa 5,000 spp. Mammals & birds

12,000 associations 15,000 potential hosts

http://darwin.zoology.gla.ac.uk/~rpage/LouseBase/2/

LouseBASE

Specimens Images

(SID)

http://darwin.zoology.gla.ac.uk/~SID/

Literature

PHPBib

http://myphpbib.sourceforge.net/

Lab Notebook

http://www2.flmnh.ufl.edu/pdb/

Host-Parasite Checklists

http://www2.flmnh.ufl.edu/adb/

EC funding opportunities, a question of scale

• Became involved with (and frustrated by) EC projects

• Fixing these issues required getting involved

• Invited as a FP6 proposal reviewer

• Started writing FP6/7 proposals

FP6/7 eInfrastructure Projects

European Distributed Institute of Taxonomy (EDIT)27 EU taxonomic institutions, 5-yrs, FP6 funded NoE 2006-11, €11.5 mTowards a European Museum of Natural History by functionally federating existing facilities

Synthesis of Systematic Resources (SYNTHESYS) [1,2 & 3]18+2 partners, 4-years,FP7 funded eInfrastructure 2013-17, €8.9 mImproving physical and digital access to European natural history collections collections

Virtual Biodiversity Research and Access Network for Taxonomy (ViBRANT)17 partners, 3-years, FP7 funded eInfrastructure 2010-13, €4.75 mSupported the development of virtual research communities involved in biodiversity science

Experiences developing, running & sustaining projects

• Project planning and design

• Management

• Sustainability

• Reviews & outputs

Mostly common sense?(Caveat: my judgment derived from experience rather than study)

Project Planning & Design Issues

• Set "Goldilocks goals" (suitably ambitious but realistic)

• Embed your users in every aspect (and ideally be a user)

• Build in agility (reassess and redefine milestones)

• Identify realistic partners (with a track record)

• Avoid silos (for both partners & activities)

• Submit it to the right call!

Open source & modular

Open source & modular

Infrastructure maintenanceInfrastructure maintenance

Technical maintenance

Technical maintenance User supportUser support

Crowd-sourcing support

activities

Crowd-sourcing support

activities

Maximising support

efficiency

Maximising support

efficiency

Management Issues

• Teamwork (a day-to-day project manager is critical)

• Devolve as much responsibility as possible

• Communication is key

• Use the Web as much as possible

• Keep a healthy travel budget (and use it)

• Measure and monitor progress (KPI dashboard)

• Advisory boards (mixed views)

SYNTHESYS Project Management & Access

Websites

Sustainability Issues

• The sustainability plan starts now!

• Embed sustainability activities at every level

– For infrastructure (align with institutional strategy)

– For content (an active user community)

– For training and development (e.g. “ambassadors”)

– For marketing

– For strategy

• Think programme, not project!

23 ambassadors 23 ambassadors in 19 countries; in 19 countries;

600 communities, 600 communities, 7,100 active users 7,100 active users

23 ambassadors 23 ambassadors in 19 countries; in 19 countries;

600 communities, 600 communities, 7,100 active users 7,100 active users

Project Reviews & Outputs

• Link to external community events where possible

• Ideally, use reviews as an opportunity to do something useful

– e.g. Public launch activities, workshops or training events

– Strategy development

• Have tangible outputs (not just reports for reviewers)

• Or have a plan to build upon (use) project reports

• Invest in marketing and outreach