Support for the future
The future of Bulgarian biotech - An article of the European Journal International Innovation, October, 76-78, 2010
Headed by Professor Ivan Minkov at the University of Plovdiv, the BIOSUPPORT project aims to strengthen the profile, output and infrastructure of plant systems biology and food technology research at the University's Genomics Research Centre, as Bulgaria looks to bolster its innovative research
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Overview of the project
Currently, the University of Plovdiv (UoP) and the Faculty of Biology (FoB) is covering a wide field of research activities which can be put under the area of plant systems biology, food testing and biotechnology. It is one of the best performing research organizations in Bulgaria in its field. It hosts very well trained core staff, with researchers that have been serving different trainings and work periods in high level European universities and have good quality publications in peer review international journals.
Nevertheless UoP-FoB urgently needs to keep-up with the contemporary science in the field and to strengthen its human resources capacity and research infrastructure. The main opportunities would be more and better trained staff, better connections and dissemination of results, leading to the upgrading to a larger, better organized and much stronger research infrastructure with significant regional impact on the industry and strong partnership with leading EU research institutions. The objective of this project would be also to further consolidate the full research capacities of the UoP-FoB with the support from affiliated scientists from two other Faculties by supporting its action plan for future development in one general field which has been under development for the last 15 years by different research groups.
Strong cooperation with regional SMEs and food industry as a whole would be another important objective, achieved both by inclusion of SMEs in the project team and external support from the major industry players in the country in the field of Plant and Food Biotechnology. This will be achieved by acquiring of new equipment, series of mobility of the scientists in different high quality European research institutions, secondment periods of prominent European researchers in UoP, organizing conference and workshops in key topics for the UoP, and visiting international scientific events.
Theme "capacities" – research potential
•Activity 4.1. Unlocking and developing the research potential in the EU's convergence and outermost regions
•Project acronym: BioSUPPORT
•Project full title: Strengthening the University of Plovdiv Research Potential in Plant Systems Biology and Food Biotechnology
•Grant agreement no.: 245588
•Beneficiary: University of Plovdiv (UoP)
Concept and project objectives
The BioSUPPORT proposal aims at supporting the development and increasing the visibility of the research excellence of UoP-FoB in the area of plant systems biology, food testing and biotechnology.
Weaknesses and needs
Additional staff to reach a critical mass of researchers on the level of other research groups, as many positions are currently are filled by postgraduate students;
Additional training of young researcher;
Substantial improvements to the research infrastructure;
The development of wider links cooperation with the European research structure, especially in the field of bioinformatics;
More active participation of researchers in international events, which is currently limited by the shortage of sufficient resources;
Organization of more research events at UoP.
Aim of the project
Indeed, the main BioSUPPORT objective is to further consolidate the full research capacities of the University of Plovdiv's Faculty of Biology with the support of affiliated scientists from two other faculties by supporting its action plan for future development in one common field.
This reinforcement should lead to the establishment of a larger, stronger and more efficient research structure in the field of Systems Biology and Biotechnology.
The project will help make full use of the University's research and human capacities, turning UoP-FoB into a structure with a strong regional significance in R&D. The ambition is for the university to also become a national reference research centre in the field of genomics and bioinformatics and in some areas of Food Biotechnology in Bulgaria, as well as to become an important research actor in Europe.
Thus, the overall goal of the project is to foster the integration of the University into the wider stage of European Research and to contribute to the competitiveness and growth of South-Eastern Europe as a whole. Strong cooperation with SMEs and food industry as a whole is another important objective, achieved both by including SMEs in the project team and through external support from the major industry players in the field of Biotechnology in the country.
Overall strategy and general description
The objectives of the project will be achieved through the implementation of six work packages (WP) for an overall project duration of 36 months:
WP1. Enhancing research mobility,
WP2. Strengthening the human resources research potential,
WP3. Renewal of research equipment,
WP4. Organizing conferences and workshops,
WP5. Promotion of BioSupport activities and exploitation of results,
WP6. Overall management and support.
Milestone name
- Detailed staff exchange set up
- Candidate for recruitment identified
- Availability of new equipment
- Increased networking and partnership creation
- Successful promotion on project activities
- Elaboration of future partnership and research strategy
B2. Implementation of the project
B 2.1 Management structure and procedures
2.1.1 Management structure
The management structure involves:
A Steering Committee
An Advisory Board
A Project coordinator
A Project manager
A Financial manager
Work Package (WP) leaders
Steering Committee
The Steering Committee (SC) is composed by representatives of the regional/national authorities, who will develop midterm agenda/policy for the institute that will provide the sustainability of the project, as well as further funding possibilities within the region: Prof. George Andreev - Deputy Rector of Sciences, University of Plovdiv, Gancho Kolaksazov, Deputy to the Mayor of Plovdiv on RND and Structural Funds; Ivanka Darajanska - General Secretary of the Governor of Plovdiv Region, Dr. Albena Vutsova - Ministry os Education and Sciences, Science Directorate; Prof. Ivan Ivanov, - Bulgarian Academy os Sciences; Dr. Angel Angelov (Food Technology University, Faculty of Biotechnology, Plovdiv); Mr. Angel Jeliazkov (Biovet JSC). The SC will meet once a year.
International Advisory Board (IAB)
The Advisory Board (AB) is composed of selected senior representatives from the European partner institutions: Dr. Ruud deMaagd, Prof. Jacques Hille (The Netherlands), Dr. George Lomonossoff and Prof. Brent Murey (U.K.), Prof. Pablo Vera and Prof. Antonio Canals (Spain); Prof. Hartwig Schulz (Germany), Prof. Frank Van Breusegem (Belgium), Prof. Antonio Guerrero (Portugal). The Advisory Board will oversee the proper execution of the project. Its role is to ensure that the project meets its initial objective. To that end, Advisory Board will:
- Control, and, if necessary, revise the strategy of the project,
- Monitor the secondment and the recruitment of researchers
- Follow-up the purchase of equipments
- Monitor and evaluate the results,
- The AB will meet once a year.
2.1.2 Management procedures
Periodic activity reports will be prepared by the Project Manager with inputs from the WPL. These reports will inform AB, SC and the EC on progress of the project.
Three types of activity reports will be produced:
Advance report: every two months. The objective is to get a snapshot of the project progress;
Six monthly reports. These reports will contain detailed technical and financial information. They will be used to compare costs against the budget and to detect discrepancies in the project planning;
Yearly reports. These reports will be transmitted to the Commission. They will provide exhaustive information as to the outcomes of the project, the resources consumed and any major issues (if applicable).
Risk management tools
In order to maximize risk management, the BioSUPPORT management team has planned risk management matrices for risk follow-up.
Risks will be evaluated and then classified by WP Leaders.
Each risk will be assessed according to its probability of :
1 - very unlikely to occur to 5 – very likely to occur,
and its severity:
1 – very low potential impact to 5 – very high potential impact.
The most serious risks will first be reported to the PC, then to management meetings and if necessary to the International Advisory Board.
Risks with the highest occurrence combined with severity rate will be exposed and developed. The IAB will take a measure on each of the riskiest open lines.
Sub-contracting
A total amount of 16 800 euro (0,73% of the final budget of the project) will be sub-contracted in the scope of the project. Sub-contracting will concern a minor part of the work plan and only tasks that could not be performed internally by UoP-FoB and will comply with EU standards of transparency. Subcontracting will be done in a transparent bidding procedure ensuring best quality/price ratio. Such tasks will concern the fee for external audit that would validate the successful implementation of the BioSupport project (WP6). Within WP1 is planned to be organized seminars with invited external experts. In WP2 the subcontracting will include supporting services for organising the participations to the conferences. Finally, within WP5 subcontracting includes the finalizing and printing of information brochures and support for interactive We-portal establishment and managing.
