Domain Committee "Forests, their Products and Services (fps)"

COST

Domain Committee "Forests, their Products and Services (FPS)"

COST Action FP0901

Start Date 15/10/2009
Analytical Techniques for Biorefineries
MONITORING

PROGRESS REPORT
Reporting Period: from 1 January 2010 – 31 December 2010

This Report is presented to the relevant Domain Committee.

It contains three parts:
I. Management Report prepared by the COST Office/Grant Holder

II. Scientific Report prepared by the Chair of the Management Committee of the Action

III. Previous versions of the Scientific Report; i.e., part II of past reporting periods
The report is a “cumulative” report, i.e. it is updated annually and covers the entire period of the Action.
Confidentiality: the documents will be made available to the public via the COST Action web page except for chapter II.D. Self evaluation.
Based on the monitoring results, the COST Office will decide on the following year’s budget allocation.

Executive summary (max.250 words):

FP0901 has now been running for 14 months altogether and the start up face has been quite successful. The number of COST countries participating is currently 26, with one country pending a DC decision. We also have three active non-COST members (two reciprocal agreements) and one more pending a DC decision. The number of registered participants is about 120, of which about 80 have been actively participating. The number of female participants is very good, being about 50% and the number of ESRs is also growing. Notable is that the Chair is an ESR. The number of publications by the partners involved in FP0901 in the field of the Action was 205. The industry has also shown appreciable interest in the Action and the next task is to involve them also on a practical plane, not only as watchers. From scientific and networking aspects, the main success stories have definitely been the successful STSM visits. The start-up of the Round Robin type activities have also been important and will allow the Action to develop and get closer to reaching the goals. It is also nice to see that especially ESR’s and also young female researchers (e.g. 3 out of 7 STSMs) seem to have found activities within the Action. The Chair, Steering Group, and some MC members have actively been promoting the Action at conferences and meetings, as well as in direct contacts with the industry. Plans have also been made for interaction with other Actions and EU initiatives.