Governing Bodies

Governing Bodies

The internal management structure of the partner community consists of the following bodies:

  • The General Assembly (GA) acts as the representative body and as the final body responsible for decision-making.
  • The Management ensures the optimisation of processes and acts as an intermediary for the coordination between the partners of the initiative. It consists of the Management Board and the Secretariat.
  • The Steering Committee provides the basic orientation of the initiative. It is composed of one representative of the partners and is convened by the GA.
  • The Synergy Team coordinates the work of the Working Groups (WGs). The WGs develop the content of EOSC topics.
  • The EOSC Café is an Open Forum providing external stimulus.

General Assembly

The General Assembly (GA) acts as the representative body and as the final body responsible for decision-making.

       >> 1st General Assembly (2021)

       >> 2nd General Asssembly (2022)

       >> 3rd General Asssembly (2023)

Role of the General Assembly

The General Assembly (GA) acts as the representative body and as the final body responsible for decision-making.

Governing structure of GA

The General Assembly is composed of one representative of each partner. The General Assembly elects a chairperson and a deputy from among its members. The term of office of the chairperson and the deputy is limited to two years. They can be re-elected after this period of office. The first term of office begins with the first General Assembly and ends after 2 years. Upon acceptance of office, the chairperson and the deputy can no longer represent the partner to whom they belong. The partners concerned appoint new representatives and the chairperson and the deputy have no voting rights. The General Assembly sends its chairperson and vice-chairperson to the Steering Committee. The inaugural meeting shall be convened by the Management Representative, all subsequent meetings are to be convened by the Chairperson of the General Assembly after consultation with the Chairperson of the Management. The General Assembly is open to the public.

Management Board

The Management Board  consists of a total of 4 representatives from the regular partners of the Austrian EOSC Mandated Organization initiative.

The partners who send representatives to the Management Board are elected by the General Assembly.

Role of the Management Board

The main task of the Management Board of the initiative is the establishment, operation and administration of the EOSC Support Office Austria. This includes the following tasks:

  • Processing of financial management (including cost and resource planning)
  • Coordination of the development of the structure and services of the initiative in the technical and non-technical fields
  • Coordination of the measures, methods and instruments for the implementation of the initiative
  • Definition and monitoring of specifications and processes of the initiative (including evaluation processes)
  • General planning of the initiative (including definition of development phases)
  • Reporting
  • Initiation and termination of processes, including acceptance of the final theses and results
  • Liaison and support of the Working Groups (WGs)
  • Assistance in clarifying legal issues
  • Maintenance of partner contacts and support for partners and their reference points (e.g. definition rules for partner management; assistance with content / organisational questions)
  • Communication and engagement
  • Liaison with EOSC nodes in an international context.
Election of the Management Board

The chair rotates annually between the partners. Each elected and represented partner has the right to take over the chairmanship for one year at a time, there is no obligation for the elected partners to take over the chairmanship. The order in which the partners take over the chairmanship is determined with the first election, after which the order results from the time of admission of a partner to the board – newly admitted partners move to the end. One year after exercising the chairmanship, the respective partners automatically leave the Management Board. A premature resignation of the partners is possible after a term of office of 2 years. With the departure of a partner, a new partner is elected from the regular partner of the initiative. Re-election is possible. The chair represents the management.

Secretariat

The Secretariat supports the Management Board. It is based at the TU Wien with further members at TU Graz and Uni Wien.

Role of the Secretariat
  • Back office functions
  • Organization of and participation in meetings and events
  • Keeping of the minutes/protocols
  • Comprehensive documentation of the activities (processes, discussions, results, etc.) in the shared wiki
  • Establishing and maintaining contacts with partners and other stakeholders
  • Support of the EOSC Austria Zenodo Community
  • Establishing and visualizing workflows
  • Website development
  • Support of marketing and PR measures
  • Development of communication strategies
  • Dissemination of news and newsletters
Team Members
  • Meghan Bohardt, University of Vienna [Member]
  • Marie Czuray, TU Wien [Member]
  • Katharina Flicker, TU Wien [Coordinator]
  • Bernd Saurugger, TU Wien [Member]

Steering Commitee

The Steering Committee provides the basic orientation of the initiative. It is composed of one representative of the partners and is convened by the General Assembly (GA).

Role of the Steering Committee

The Steering Committee gives impulses for the basic orientation of the joint initiative on the basis of the decisions of the General Assembly. It comments on, reviews and recommends the drafts submitted to it by the Synergy Team or the Management.

Synergy Team

The members of the Synergy team consist of the coordinators of the Working Groups and the first Chair of the Management Board.

Role of the Synergy Team

The Synergy team coordinates the work of the WGs and thus ensures meetings, exchange and networking in the joint initiative on a regular basis. The Synergy team reports to: the Steering Committee, the General Assembly and the Management Board.

Spokespersons of the Synergy Team

The Synergy team elects a spokesperson and two deputies, who are sent to the Steering Committee to act as 1st, 2nd and 3rd spokespersons for the Synergy team.

 

  • Barbara Sánchez Solís (TU Wien)
  • Susanne Blumesberger (University of Vienna)
  • Claire Jean-Quartier (TU Graz)

Working Groups (WGs)

The aim of the Working Groups is to advance EOSC-relevant topics. To this end, they may organise events and workshops, launch surveys or write recommendations on specific topics. There currently are eight WGs: Austrian Country Report, Collections, Data Stewardship, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), Researcher Engagement in Austria, Stakeholder Eagement, Technical Infrastructure and Training.

Role of the Working Groups

The WGs deal with substantive issues, which may include scientific analysis or the development of guidelines for operational standards. They report to the Management Board and the General Assembly and publish the results according to the criteria of good scientific practice. If the results of the work are to be transferred into binding guidelines for the EOSC Support Office Austria, a resolution of the General Assembly is required.

The WGs are convened and confirmed by the General Assembly. Proposals for the creation of new WGs can come from the entire community. WGs are limited in time and work on specific topics. Accordingly, they can be very diverse in composition and correspond more to the specific competence profile of the members than to a general representation. They are set up in a comprehensible way. If necessary, external experts can be invited.

WGs Coordinators

EOSC Café

The EOSC Café is an open forum consisting of experts from inside and outside the initiative. Their backgrounds are in different disciplines of science and research, research policy, society and economy. The experts provide the EOSC Support Office with impulses from “outside”. EOSC Café participants meet up at least three times per year.

Coordinator

Stefan Hanslik (BMBWF)

Austrian EOSC Mandated Organisation

The ACONET Verein Association has been appointed by the Austrian institutions, members of EOSC Association, to act as its Mandated Organisation, to represent national interests.

Our counterparts in ACONET Verein