BIODAQUA Meetings

BIODAQUA Partners Ancona Meeting

June 11-12, Ancona

The matters to be discussed in this joint EU/Canada partners meeting are :

To review briefly the situation with regard to the unilateral suspension of project and the inevitable changes to the timing and the deliverables of the project in order to respond to the EU decisions so that the project may achieve the contracted deliverables within the resulting unforeseen limitations (exchanges,joint curriculum, accreditation issues)
To update the list of student exchanges, both projected and completed
To prepare a list of courses taken in both EU and Canada, in order to draw up an authenticated joint project curriculum
To report on procedures used (if any) for accreditation of courses taken
To decide on feasibility of requesting an extension for the project
To plan the way forward, including evaluation and dissemination

Report of BIODAQUA Partners' Meeting

University of Ancona

Ancona, June 11-12 2004

Present: M.Eleftheriou (AUA); G.Burnell, University of Cork; A.Vanreusel, University of Ghent; R.Danovaro, University of Ancona; B.Forward, Huntsman Marine Science Centre, Canada; Phyllis Power, University of New Brunswick.

Preamble

The BIODAQUA partners’ meeting had been scheduled to take place much earlier in the life of the project but due to the suspension by the Canadian side for a period of almost 6 months, and the subsequent non-release of funds by the EU Commission, the meeting had to be postponed until June 2004. In addition, because of the HRDC very tight travel budgetary constraints, there were only two Canadian participants.

Project Progress

Student Exchanges

General comments

Lists of all student exchanges had previously been circulated by both European and Canadian coordinators and the information on these lists was verified and updated while each university gave a detailed report on the exchanges that had previously taken place, the exchanges presently taking place, and the exchanges which were projected to take place before the end of the project. The Coordinator emphasised that it was important to retain details of proposed exchanges that had not taken place, as these often took up a great deal more administration and staff time than the exchanges that were easily processed and approved. In addition, it did not give a true picture of the success of the recruitment scheme if those unsuccessful applicants (for whatever reason) were arbitrarily excluded from the overall picture.

A list of all applicants from Canadian partners, stating their level of study and whether application was accepted, is therefore appended to this report. ( Annex 4 )

Future of the project

There was also lively discussion as to the future of the project. All partners were very enthusiastic about the exchanges that had taken place, which had achieved very good results as shown above, and all were confident that the exchanges planned would also be successful. It was emphasised that the project had not been deflected from its aims and objectives, in spite of the serious external impediments (all described in the Interim Report) and that it would be a great pity if all the hard work and endeavour on both sides of the Atlantic were to cease at the precise moment when the momentum had been regained. Successes had been achieved in the numbers of exchanges, in the excellent results of the studies, in the offer of a funded Ph.D. degree, in other job employment offers, and in the personal and professional benefits to the students and host faculty as a result of the exchanges. All students had enjoyed the “protected experience of study abroad”. The vicissitudes endured during the course should be seen as features typical of a pilot project, which in effect is what the project BIODAQUA had been, as none of the partners had participated previously in such a formalised transatlantic cooperation. It was therefore decided that efforts should be made to continue with the project for at least one year, while attempts should be made to find continued or alternative funding. One way of ensuring the continuance of the project would be the continuation of the website and its facilities, which had been well used by student applicants. Mrs Eleftheriou gave assurances that the present website (www.biodaqua.org), which was hosted and maintained by IMBC as part of its BIODAQUA contribution, would not be axed at the end of the project. Every effort should be made by each partner institution to find grant money for at least one and probably two student exchanges to take place in 2005. Towards this end, it was clear that further bilateral agreements would have to be formulated for future exc hanges to take place once the BIODAQUA project had officially ended. ERASMUS MUNDUS was mentioned as one possible source of future funding (Action 4-enhanced attractiveness) and the latest published call was examined by the partners in detail.

Themes suggested for future programmes, bearing in mind the topics of the best research projects, were: future common perspectives in marine research reserves resources; open sea sanctuary for deep-sea mammals and deep-sea management; coastal zone management –marine management (new biological indicators, new molecular tools, GIS, Law of the Sea, etc).

Recommendations

The partners agreed that the following recommendations should be made as a result of the discussions at the Ancona Meeting of the BIODAQUA project.

Request for extension of European contract until Dec. 31, to coincide with ending of Canadian contract.
Another meeting should be held to wrap up some of the administrative and management issues. This could coincide with the European Aquaculture Society (EAS) meeting in Barcelona in October to reduce expenditure.
Every effort should be made to maintain individual bi-lateral agreements between institutions in order to allow the cooperation to continue on a formal basis, in order to ensure sustainability.
Further development of website to maintain sustainability of project including:
1. A list of relevant projects from each partner institution should be drawn up and published on the website, to allow more choice for future exchanges.
2. Development of language module on website – text to be translated into Italian, French and Dutch.
Search for ways to sustain, prolong, and expand the BIODAQUA network.
Remaining EU funds should be re-allocated to allow, for instance, extra exchanges, or curriculum development.
Organisation of an international course such as the AQUATT AQUALABS courses.
Presentation by Dr. Burnell at Vancouver Directors Meeting of BIODAQUA project- suggested title “Millstones and Milestones”.

Report from Canadian Coordinator – Dr Ben Forward

The BIODAQUA team joined by Dr Ben Forward, on the left and Dr Debbie McLatchy on the right. This past year has seen a number of difficulties, not the least of which was the near cancellation of the project. For myself, it has been a steep learning curve coming on board the project at such a late date but I think we have made significant progress despite the challenges faced.
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The BIODAQUA team joined by Dr Ben Forward, on the left and Dr Debbie McLatchy on the right.

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