MCAA Structural Profiling Task Force Team

Transcription

1 MCAA Structural Profiling Task Force Team Zoran Andjelić Mauricio Manfrini March,

2 Contents Introduction... 3 Current MCAA Structure... 3 Pros... 4 Cons... 4 Future MCAA Structure... 5 Working Groups... 6 Task Force... 6 MCAA Professional Branches / Chapters... 6 How the new MCAA Structure should be realized?... 7 MCAA Profile Card... 7 IT Support... 8 Expected Benefits... 8 References

3 Introduction One of the conclusions of the MCAA Board Meeting, held on in Brussels, was to initialize the re-thinking process on the possible new structure of the Marie-Curie Alumni Association (MCAA). This document contains a very first draft proposal on the possible future structural profiling of MCAA with the main aim to increase the MCAA networking potential. The document elaborates two main points: Current MCAA Structure Future MCAA Structure Current MCAA Structure Current MCAA structure is established in the first, consolidation year of the MCAA. Figure 1 shows the existing structure. Beside the managing units (MCAA Board and its Executive Committee, chaired by the elected Chair), the operational activities are grouped into two main groups: 1. Working Groups and 2. Chapters ( Figure 1: Existing MCAA structure Two years later, following and analyzing a two-year flow of the MCAA activities, we present here the results of some observed pros and cons of the existing structure. These parameters are based on the: 1. Discussion at MCAA Board Meeting held on March 19, 2015 (with on-line participation of several WGs and Chapters Chairs), 2. Survey [1], 3. Inputs from EU representatives that took part at the Board Meeting. 3

4 Pros Existing structure has been established at the initial stage of the MCAA forming, beginning Two years later, general accepted facts are that current structure: 1. Has enabled successful launching of the MCAA, as a new association of the MC fellows. 2. Has more than 5000 registered members. 3. Has initialized and supported the creation of the number of Working Groups and Chapters. 4. Has led to the increased cross-disciplinary, multi-cultural synergies among the members. 5. Has, as association, achieved a significant visibility through: a. MCAA web-portal, b. Active networking of the established Chapters. 6. Has organized first General Assembly which has been marked as a big success. Cons Analyzing the entire evaluation time of the MCAA throughout this initial year, following cons have been observed: 1. Although the whole MC research community is estimated at more than researchers, only a small part of this community has shown interest to join MCAA. Currently this number is around 5000 (10%), 2. Most of these 5000 members are just the formal members, without any direct contribution or interaction within MCAA, 3. The Survey [1], done in October 2013, has indicated the number of preferences that the surveyed members are expecting from the MCAA, Figure 2. Figure 2: Output from the Survey [1] Comparing the key outputs from the Survey with the nowadays status, we can state that MCAA is still featured by: 1. Missing closer profiling of the Members according to their professional relationships and interest, (great majority of the fellows put it as the priority No. 1, Figure 2). 2. Missing information about the profession, (second priority according to the Survey, Figure 2). 3. Missing clear and transparent visibility what differs this association from many other similar associations. 4

5 Future MCAA Structure In order to bridge the observed Cons, with this document we propose the vision of the new MCAA Structural Profiling (SP). The main features of the proposed MCAA structural profiling can be summarized as: 1. The fundaments of the old structure are preserved also in the new structure (Managing bodies like MCAA Board and its Executive Committee, Working Groups and Chapters). 2. The key change in the layout of the new structure is the introduction of the Professional Branches (PB), Figure Professional Branches should: a. Enable vertical profiling of the MCAA structure, b. This new, vertical profiling should bridge the observed gap due to missing possibility for closer interaction among the MC fellows sharing the same processional interest. Main postulates of the new structure are: 1. The main MCA association is governed by the elected MCAA Board, Executive Committee, and elected Chair. 2. The MCAA operational units are classified into: Working Groups Task Forces MCA Professional Branches & Working Chapters. Figure 3: Proposed MCAA Structure 5

6 Working Groups Working Groups (WG) are the groups of the researchers that are created by the MCAA Board for the duration of the Board s mandate (usually two years). Working Groups are headed by the elected WG Chair. Each WG has a specific task defined by the MCAA Board (more at Task Force Task Force (TF) are on-the-fly created groups with the aim to resolve some specific dedicated tasks. TF can be launched either by ExCom, or in some specific cases, by WGs. In the second case this launching should be communicated with ExCom. MCAA Professional Branches / Chapters MCAA Professional Branches, together with the Chapters, should present the key matrix of MCAA activities. While the Chapters ( provide the opportunity for horizontal networking using the synergies between the cross-discipline, multicultural activities, the vertical MCA Branching enriches the whole matrix by fulfilling the missing needs for more interaction between the MC fellows sharing the same professional orientation. The branching of the fellows should be done according to the following recommendations: 1. Currently proposed Professional Branch (PB) categories are: A. PB1: Social Sciences and Humanities B. PB2: Physical Sciences and Engineering C. PB3: Life Sciences Table 1 gives a very first classification of the professional disciplines within the PBs 1. Table 1: Professional Branches 1 This classification has a preliminary character and can be extended or changed. 6

7 2. The members should select the corresponding Professional Branch(s) following their professional orientation (their research area, their job profile/interest, etc.). 3. One member can apply to more than one Branch. Important Note: It should be noted that introduction of the Branching Profiling does not assume introduction of the new formal bodes (like WGs, Chapters) in the MCAA structure! It is rather an introduction of new categorization (classification) of the MC fellows within MCAA, in order to enable enhanced networking among the MCAA members, i.e. to make the whole association more attractive, more effective and livelier. How the new MCAA Structure should be realized? As we intend to keep the main fundaments of the previous MCAA structure, implementation of the new structure should be accompanied with the changes that do not violate, but significantly improve the existing structure: 1. Introduction of the MCAA Profile Card, 2. Profound IT Support, MCAA Profile Card To each new (but also to the old one!) member will be offered the possibility to complete her/his own Profile Card at the MCAA portal. For the new members this opportunity will be offered once they first time apply for the membership. Old members can (optionally) upgrade their existing Profile Card in order to provide full set of information. It could look like this: 1. Which primary PB (Professional Branch) is of her/his main interest -> (offered the list of the existing of PBs- to be selected by clicking) 2. Which other PBs are within her/his professional sphere of interest -> (offered for selection the list of PBs) 3. Optional list of keywords related to the her/his active field of interest 4. In which Chapter(s) she/he would like to be active -> (offered list of Chapters) Such new member s Profile Card should serve as a main source of information for MCAA IT Support to structure the complete set of information for each member. One of the main goals should be to enable the creation of an advanced search engine. After configuring such an engine, each member should have a possibility to establish and share a fast and reliable communication among the targeted members: 1. Searching for other MCAA members being active in the specific PB(s), 2. Search for other MCAA members via key words (for example, to work on a common project or similar) 3. Search for other MCAA members interested in organizing the dedicated event (conference, workshop, ) 4. Search for other MCAA members working in the same or similar field (to exchange some opinions, questions, suggestions ) 7

8 5. Search among the members of own Chapter to share/ask some professionally dedicated information 6. More IT Support Important contribution in the realization of new MCAA structure should be done by MCAA IT Support. IT support should modify the current layout of the MCAA database in order to: 1. Accept the information offered with each Profile Card, 2. Establish the internal data structure to support the new profiling structure of MCAA, 3. Create a new, powerful search engine to enable the fast, reliable and interactive data flow among the MCAA members After having these in place, it should be straightforward in the future to pass the arbitrary form of information to each member in a selective and focused form! Selective form enables that, for example, information specific only for the members in one specific PB, should not be delivered (and spammed!) to other members. This way of focusing the information should for the members be more acceptable and attractive, as it is always related to their zone of interest.. Expected Benefits The benefits expected, after the new MCAA structure is rolled-on, are: 1. Observed gaps, due to missing possibilities to have closer interaction between the MC fellows sharing the same professional interest [1], should be removed. 2. The newly structured MCAA matrix, enabling horizontal (Chapters) and vertical (Branching) profiling, should offer much richer interaction opportunities among the MCAA members. For example, it can be expected that, after the Chapters have introduced this Branch profiling, each Chapter s Workshop or Assembly will have an opportunity to organize the presentation on the top of the event given by one of the Branches that are actively contributing in that Chapter. 3. New IT facilities based on the information behind the Profile Card of each member, like search engine and more, should enable the researchers fast and focused communication and exchange of information on dedicated topics (new project, new partners, new info etc.) 4. The new structure should also facilitate organization of macro events like, for example, General Assembly or similar. They can be then organized in much more attractive way, including for example: Branch-oriented panels, Branch-oriented poster session, Invited speakers for dedicated Branch auditorium, Etc The information flow between the Managing Authorities (MCAA Chair, ExCom, WG Chairs, Chapter chairs) and the MC fellows should be more facilitated and more focused. References [1] Report on the results of the first MCF survey, EAC , Oct