The implementation plan will be defined taking into account the different roles played by the participating Institutions in the project (see Network of Networks: Partner’s Colours, eligibility and role).
The centralised management structure was adopted due to the number and diversity of the participant Institutions.
Prof. Annamaria Silvana de Rosa – representing the coordinating Institution University of Rome “La Sapienza” – is the core creator, producer and owner of the copyrights for multi-media tools designed as outputs of the So.Re.Com. Thematic Network that will be developed with the scientific input of network partners. Its managerial role derives from her long experience in managing academic networks, mainly in the field of Social Representation theory and Communication. University of Rome “La Sapienza” is also the core of the active scientific community engaged in training new generations of doctoral and master students at the European level and confers a joint European doctoral diploma. As shown below in the So.Re.Com. THEmatic NETwork. project components table, doctoral students and the enlarged scientific community will play an important role as end users and will be involved in output development and in the validation of content and delivery.
The large number of institutions involved (universities, research centres, governmental institutions, private enterprises and public companies) will surely engender significant coordination costs in terms of money and/or time.
Therefore, the University of Rome “La Sapienza” – in agreement with the project proposal - has opted to centralize all administrative functions in it Euro PhD Multimedia Laboratory. Prof. Annamaria Silvana de Rosa, Director of the European PhD Research Centre and Multimedia Lab and Full Professor of Psychology of Attitude and Social Representations and Psychology of Communication and New Media, has long-standing experience in project management and European network coordination. In addition, continuously since 1993, she has been manager and scientific coordinator for EU funded projects.
The centralization of administration and coordination in Rome is intended to minimize costs and exploit existing expertise. It will also lower the financial risks involved in the project to the minimum possible level and, in our opinion, is the most effective way for such an extensive network to interrelate as a whole. (See option 3 on page 61 of the publication “A Survival Kit for European Project Management. Advice for Coordinators of Centralised Socrates Projects”, 2nd revised edition edited by H. Bienzle, 2001, Vienna)
Furthermore, centralizing these activities will lower to a minimum the amount of general costs .
To properly implement the aforementioned goals, the University of Rome “La Sapienza” intends to hire 4 full time employees (two “category 3” – a web-engineer and a webmaster; two “category 4” – a secretary and an administrative assistant). Staff salaries are calculated including tax, health and pension contributions.
Partner institutions will directly contribute at least one representative and relevant staff member for scientific contributions and dissemination.
When not eligible, institutions will fund the participation of their staff in the So.Re.Com. Thematic Network entirely.
Eligible institutions will receive funds allocated by the Commission according to expenditure reports and original receipts provided to the University of Rome “La Sapienza” with regards to specific tasks related to the project (like invited Magistrerial Conference: output 7). Both eligible and ineligible institutions will entirely fund the extra time devoted by their staff to this project. Please note that the only institution which will not directly contribute is ithe European Federation of Psychology Students’ Association.
Commercial institutions organizations like Marratech (Sweden) and EDF-France will provide a great contribution to the project. They will improve target groups and web-auditorium audio and video-conference to intensify and speed up communication among the large number of participant institutions and countries. (All the European countries represented plus ineligible countries on all the other continents).