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PASCAL is a Network of Excellence with 57 partners and a consortium agreement regulating the sharing of IPR and expertise among the partners. It is governed by an Assembly with one representative from each partner with the management handled by a Steering Committee comprising approximately 20 researchers who are either core site managers or programme managers.
There have been a significant number of expressions of interest from researchers interested in joining the PASCAL consortium but in view of the large number of partners there has not been very much enthusiasm for expansion either from the current consortium or the EU. At the Steering Committee meeting in June 2005 it was agreed that we should investigate introducing an Associate Membership status that would enable individual researchers outside PASCAL to take part in some of the PASCAL activities and have access to parts of the web site.
After discussions with lawyers we reached the conclusion that it would be too complicated to try to get agreement from 57 partners to allow Associate Members access to data not already freely accessible to non PASCAL members.
For this reason the Associate Member status will not confer any additional access rights to confidential information held on the PASCAL website (including minutes of meetings, publications held in the eprints buffer, internal summary information for researchers and sites, etc.). What the Associate Member will be allowed to do is submit their publications to the PASCAL repository as well as signing up to an Associate Agreement (see link) requiring them to acknowledge their association with PASCAL in any publications involving work arising out of collaboration with PASCAL. Hence, we are granting them a platform for their work, while drawing them into collaborations with PASCAL researchers.
In order to ensure that the reputation and quality of PASCAL output is not compromised prospective Associate Members will need to be sponsored by an existing PASCAL member and will need to be approved by the Steering Committee (either at a meeting or via email exchanges). There will be a form on the web site that they should complete indicating their interest in the Network, what they aim to contribute and naming their sponsor (whom they should have contacted prior to making the submission the web page will suggest that those not already in contact with a site should first contact the coordinating site). The sponsor will then be asked to submit a review/recommendation through the website. The information will then be made available to the Steering Committee for consideration.
Once approved by the Steering Committee the Associate Member will be asked to sign the Association Agreement (see link) between themselves and the coordinating site.
Initially the Associate Members will not receive any base-line funding. The only way in which they will be able to receive funds is through the sponsoring site. Should they wish to attend a workshop, organise a workshop, etc. they can submit an application through the website, but the funds will be funnelled through the sponsoring organisation. Naturally they should verify that the organisation is prepared to act in this way before making any applications. Note that the organisation should not pay them as a subcontractor, but should consider giving them a status such as Visiting Researcher in order to render such payments legal and auditable. The applications for funding will be marked as Associate so that referees can balance the benefit to PASCAL with the corresponding dissipation of funds from the current members of the Network. The researcher will be listed under the sponsoring site but clearly marked as Associate Member. It is anticipated that they may be considered as site members in the third year funding review, so that active Associate Members may indirectly be allocated base line funding in year 4.
The proposal outlined in this document was approved at the December 2005 Steering Committee Meeting.
 | PASCAL is the European Commission's IST-funded Network of Excellence for Multimodal Interfaces. The project is supported by the Cognition Unit and coordinated by the University of Southampton. | Website Support |