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Guide-lines for GNV Projects 2005-2006
The Agreement between INGV - Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, and DPC - Dipartimento per la Protezione Civile, for 2004-2006, and the Decree INGV N. 387 of 26/11/2004 which defines the scheme for the accomplishment of the INGV duties related to the research themes in the INGV-DPC Agreement, establish a series of projects and project responsibles, as well as the general project objectives which must be aimed at providing clear answers to the major issues of interest for DPC. For the research in volcanology, these issues are essentially represented by the assessment of the hazard associated with the various types of volcanic phenomena and with diffuse degassing, by the definition of the criticality levels, or the association of signs which indicate significant changes in the state of the volcano or volcanic area, and by the development of innovative techniques with the potential to add substantially to the above issues. Hazard and criticality levels are therefore the general objectives of GNV projects (with the addition of risk assessment, limited to project V5). Accordingly, each project will include a substantial part devoted to hazard assessment and definition of criticality levels. These issues will not be simply a consequence of the research in the project, rather, they will be the subject of specific research, and will be represented by clearly identified research products.
Guide-lines for project responsibles
The project responsibles are the scientific responsibles of the research within the project, and the project referents in front of the GNV Committee. In addition to the duties established by the INGV decree 387, project responsibles call the project meetings, establish the project Control Points, compile the project reports with the support of the RU responsibles and the entire project consortium. Project responsibles ensure that each single project objective is achieved according to the approved project plan, and that sharing and exchange of information and results between project participants is the highest. Project responsibles are also participants, and must submit their proposals and respect the project duties as any other participant in the project.
The scientific community is invited by project responsibles to express a proposition of participation to the GNV projects. Researchers and research groups who wish to participate will submit their proposal with reference to specified Tasks provided by the project responsibles (assisted by sub-project responsibles for project V3). The description of these Tasks by the project responsibles will be simple and synthetic, comprehensive essentially of 1) a Task reference number and title, 2) a series of Work-packages, which can also be organised in questions for which an answer is required, 3) a clear definition of the requested research Deliverables, which represent the object around which the project participants will organize their research activity. In defining the project Tasks, the project responsibles will as much as possible rest on the expected products defined by the INGV-DPC Agreement, and on the themes identified by the GNV-DPC Report, which is taken as a reference basis for the research developed within the projects. Within each project (or sub-project for project V3) the description of Tasks will be preceded by a synthetic description of the state of the art and most relevant aspects of the research to be developed.
The activities related to volcano degassing aimed at defining the state of the volcano or volcanic area, the associated hazard, and the criticality levels, will be developed within the project dedicated to the specific volcano. The activities related to the diffuse degassing in non-volcanic areas will be developed within project V5. The activities related to the diffuse degassing in volcanic areas will be predominantly developed within project V5. For the latter case the overlapping between different projects will be evaluated by the project responsibles and by the GNV Management Committee, who will optimize the distribution of the research and associated funds, and will possibly re-address specific RU's within the most appropriate project and eliminate useless duplications. In any case, the project responsibles and GNV Management Committee will guarantee the share of information and results among the RU's and projects involved in similar or partially overlapping research.
The research propositions by the RU's, and the final projects which will be submitted to the Evaluation Committee, must be written in English. The approved projects will be translated in Italian by the project responsibles.
Each project (or sub-project for project V3) must be interdisciplinary and strongly coordinated, and ensure a continuous and fruitful exchange of results between the participants at any level. Strong integration of all the project activities is required. Isolated research activities are not encouraged. Research activities well focused on the general objectives of the GNV projects defined by the INGV-DPC Agreement, well integrated in the general project activities, and aimed at the achievement of the project Deliverables listed by the project responsibles, must be encouraged. The participation of researchers and research groups actively involved in volcano monitoring operations, as well as the research activities aimed at correlating different physical and chemical parameters or coupling the dynamics in different volcano domains, must be encouraged. Foreign researchers and research groups are welcome, provided it is clearly demonstrated the added value on the quality of the research and on the achievement of the project objectives. Exchange of young researchers between Italian and foreign research groups is encouraged.
The following 10 points suggested by Paolo Gasparini, GNV Director for the 2000-2003 Frame Program, during the Final GNV Assembly in Naples, December 20-22, 2004, are reported as a lesson from the last Program which is thought to be useful in the preparation and management of next GNV projects:
Guide-lines for participants
Participants to a GNV project must be willing to share their results (data, evaluations, estimates, graphics, maps, ideas, etc.) with all other project participants in order to guarantee maximum coordination of the research and the achievement of the general project objectives within the expected time. Participant must observe the duties imposed by the specific Control Points that will be established by the project responsibles during final project preparation and submission. Each project proposal will refer to one specific Task among those defined by the project responsibles, and guarantee the production of one or more deliverables among those listed within that Task. The proposals will be prepared according to the GNV application form, and must include reference to the results from other Tasks of the same project necessary for the development of the proposed research. It must be clearly demonstrated how any aspect of the proposed research contributes to the achievement of the project Deliverables listed by project responsibles.
Each participant (including project and sub-project responsibles) can be responsible of a maximum of one RU. RU's and Tasks do not in general coincide: more than just one RU can apply to the same Task, same Workpackage, and same Deliverables if this can be of help for the best achievement of the project objectives. Each RU can apply to a maximum of two Tasks within the same project, and to a maximum of two different projects (or sub-projects). Each project proposal must refer to one single Task, and include a list of other Tasks and Work-packages the RU is also applying to. If the same RU requests financial support for the acquisition of resources (instruments, personnel, or other) which are also useful for the accomplishment of the research proposed in another Task within the same or different project, the related financial request must be included in the proposal pertaining to only one of these Tasks. The proposals pertaining to the other Tasks (even if within a different project) will be formulated assuming that these resources are available, will include a reference to such resources, and will indicate the Project number and Task number under which the financial request for such resources has been formulated.
Costs for durable material can include laboratory and field instruments, provided that it is demonstrated that these instruments are necessary for the achievement of the project deliverables listed by the project responsibles, and that similar instruments are not already accessible. The set up and implementation of permanent network systems is not included in the GNV activities.
Different RU's applying to the same Task, or to different Tasks of the same or different projects, are encouraged to set up pre-coordination relationships to improve the efficiency of the researches and the optimization of the resource requests. Established relationships which will be functional for the development of the proposed research can be mentioned in the GNV application form,, within the section devoted to the description of the research methods.
The scientific community can suggest Tasks, Work-Packages, and Deliverables additional to those identified by the project responsibles. The project responsibles can include new suggested research themes within their project, provided that this ensures a better achievement of the general project objectives.
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