date: Tue Jun 6 09:19:12 2000 from: Keith Briffa subject: Re: EU etc to: sandy.tudhope@ed.ac.uk Hi Sandy Truth to say I am still smarting at the failure of our proposal. Old and cynical as I am , I allowed myself to think that this was so obviously a cutting edge and excellent proposal that it would have to be funded. Having been to Brussels and participated in the reviewing process I now know how flawed the system is. There is likely absolutely nothing that can now be done , but it leaves a bitter taste in the mouth and the feeling that there ought to be some formal post-mortem of the whole round. My real concern is that we have virtually no funding for continuation of the practical, chronology building work , especially in Russia. The PRESCIENT science plan is waiting on Tom Wigley as far as I know. Simon sent him a draft weeks ago. There was a call for expressions of interest in the Science Co-ordinator job , and we suggested David Viner from here. It is not sufficient in terms of research potential for Tim. No acknowledgement has been heard since. Did I ever send you the official invitation to HIHOL in October? I suppose we intend to do something for PRESCIENT but I confess I have not given it proper thought. Some cut down version of INTEGRATE might do , but what to cut , I don't know. I still think our plan was a good one , either together or as separate and linked projects are possibilities. We have had no formal feedback from Brussels , but I expect nothing substantive - just a few bland phrases. When I do here I'll let you know. I suppose you heard that HOLSMEER got funded. Likely it was right on the borderline as I think it got a total score of 80 and that was the minimum mark to be funded. We (Phil and I) have some part in this project. I'll be in touch with the comments from Brussels when I hear. Hope you are well Keith At 04:31 PM 6/6/00 +1000, you wrote: Hi Keith, Did you get any formal feedback from the EU yet on why our proposal failed? Are there other EU avenues to go down to get some or all of this funded? .... if so, what are the deadlines? Let's discuss .... and I won't be upset if this means dropping the coral work for some more targetted project that would keep, for example, Tim funded! Any word on PRESCIENT?!!! ..... I've seen no sign of a SCIENCE PLAN. Any word on who applied for the Science Co-ordinator's job? .... did Tim put in an application. Drop me a note, no matter how brief!!! Cheers, Sandy __________________________________ ADDRESS (until ~March 2001): Dr Sandy Tudhope, Australian Institute of Marine Science, PMB No 3, Townsville MC, Queensland 4810, Australia. Tel: +61 7 4753 4275 (direct) +61 7 4753 4444 (reception) Fax: +61 7 4772 5852 ADDRESS FOR COURIER PACKAGES: A.I.M.S., c/o Jace's Service, 21 Echlin Street, West End, Townsville, Queensland 4810, Australia.