Monday 23 November 2009

CRU emails no 16 - Even these guys are sick of the European Union...

Even these guys are sick of the European Union and the waste and bureaucracy.

As for the Commission's performance it is not my impression they are living up to their own standards that they have set up for the quality of proposals requested. In particular the proposal evaluation process is ridiculous and lacks any degree of substance. For instance, the reviews that I did receive in response to my RTN proposal (submitted last year) are mediocre at best, meaningless and useless in detail, beyond anything I would consider expert insight, simply a waste of time and tax payers' money. They are an insult to anybody who did contribute to and put work and effort into that proposal. As for the Impront proposal we now are faced with the prospect that the only IP proposal, Millennium, that is competing with Imprint from the outset was received more favourably than our own proposal. With this I could live were it not for the fact that in Millennium everything is named as a strategy and work plan that we were being advised to not do. This speaks a language of its own and to me reflects a fundamental lack of enthusiasm, professionalism and competence with those who give advice and organize the evaluation process. Obviously, the vision set out by our programme manager(s) never made it to the reviewers who seemed to follow quite different guidelines, if any.

Lastly, from what I can see around me, particularly in the Mediterranean club, it appears more important and beneficial to spend time in Brussels wiping door handles and leaving a professorial - directorial impression rather than composing upbeat cutting edge science proposals. It is ever so disheartening that within the FWP our success seems to depend more on who we know than the quality we present. Last time when programme managerial posts in the commission were reshuffled the primary concern around here was that "we now lose our contacts". This is wrong, a disgrace to our community.

As for the Commission's performance it is not my impression they are living up to their own standards that they have set up for the quality of roposals requested. In particular the proposal evaluation process is ridiculous and lacks any degree of substance. For instance, the reviews that I did receive in response to my RTN proposal (submitted last year) are mediocre at best, meaningless and useless in detail, beyond anything I would consider expert insight, simply a waste of time and tax payers' money. They are an insult to anybody who did contribute to and put work and effort into that proposal.

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