By Cathrin Stöver – EOSC Executive Board Co-Chair
Celebrating the Symposium
It’s EOSC Symposium Week! And we have amazing numbers, there are over 800 registered participants – we really are testing the online event and VC capacities!
My thanks go to the EOSCsecretariat for organising the event and its logistics, as well as to the colleagues in the EOSC Governance Board and Executive Board for coming together to make this event happen. A big thank you, as always, also of course to the EC for their ongoing support, engagement and dialogue.
The EOSC Symposium 2020 focuses on the current governance work and transitioning to the next governance – after two years from the official launch in Vienna in November 2018.
I would like to take this opportunity to give an update on the EOSC Association – where we stand and what the next steps are.
First, the EOSC Association received the Royal Decree on 11 September, meaning that legally, the Association is now established.
The deadline for applications to become an EOSC Association Member or Observer (and being invited to the GA on 17 December) of 15 October has now passed. We have received a total of 184 applications of which 130 are applications for Membership and 41 are for Observer status. Of the 130 applications for membership, there are 15 mandated members. The have been nominated by Belgium, Denmark, Hungary, Ireland, Luxembourg, Moldova, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Switzerland, Ukraine, as well as Spain and Italy.
Another way of looking at these numbers is by category: the majority (114) of applicants come from research performing organisations, 54 are service providing organisations, 13 are research funding organisations and there are 3 organisation in the “others” category.
Some Frequently Asked Questions
A question that has come up regularly is: what is the deadline to mandate organisations, considering that only 13 countries so far have mandated? The answer here is: the absolute latest date for this is 27 November, as that is the deadline for getting paperwork in place to prepare the first GA on 17 December. BUT – the deadline of 15 October counts. Meaning that the 27 November is an additional deadline to mandate ONLY if the membership application for the respective entity had already been received by 15 October.
Another question is – who will be invited to the meeting on 28 October: This is a board meeting of the four founding members only, where the applicants will be provisionally accepted in preparation for the GA on 17 December. This will allow us to proceed with the preparation for the 17 December and specifically, it will allow us to prepare the election process.
Why is the GA so late in the year is another question that has been asked. The reason for that is that we need to have the bylaws in shape for the GA. The consultation in the EOSC Association Bylaws is now ongoing among those organisations, who have posted their paperwork in to become a Member or an Observer of the EOSC Association before the deadline of 15 October. These organisations have been contacted directly and can give their input by 30 October. The bylaws working group then has another three weeks to finalise the bylaws, so that again, all paperwork is ready by 27 November which is the statutory requirement for any documentation ready to go to the EOSC GA.
And another important question: Will you continue to accept applications for membership in EOSC? Yes, absolutely, we see EOSC as an organisation growing in membership over many years. However, any applications received from now on, ie after 15 October, will only be handled after the first GA, ie in 2021. Apply here.
If you have any questions, let us know, we are always available: eoscassociation(at)eoscsecretariat.eu
See the EOSC Governance Symposium 2020 Programme!
Article originally published on EOSCsecretariat.eu: https://www.eoscsecretariat.eu/news-opinion/eosc-association-numbers
