Management structure

The Coordinator

The Coordinator of the project is INRA, represented by Dr Sylvie Issanchou. Her primary role is to represent the Consortium towards the EC as well as to be the promoter and supervisor of the overall technical and scientific progress of HabEat.
The Coordinator will be responsible for:
- Chairing the Executive Committee and taking all actions to enable proper decision making by this decision body
- Ensuring smooth operation of the project: work plan maintenance, monitoring project progress, analysing result, identification of trouble and consequences for future research;
- Writing periodic reports on progress of the project, partner activity
- Submitting all required progress reports, deliverables and financial statements to the EC
- Communicating all information in connection with the Project to the Commission
- Transferring the advance payments and further payments to the participants as per the provisional budget and the actual expenses approved by the Executive Committee.

The Executive Committee

The Executive Committee is the decision-making body and implementing body of the project. It is made up of one representative per partner. The Executive committee will be chaired by the Coordinator, Dr Sylvie Issanchou. In terms of decision making each represented partner will have 1 vote.

The Executive Committee will be in charge of:

1. The strategic and political orientation of the project: overall direction of all activities / research, outreach and management / and re-orientation whenever necessary, budget revision, measures towards defaulting partners.

To ensure the relevance of the project implementation plan with respect to the advancement of the project as well as external changes, the Executive Committee will:

• Analyse performance indicators, activities balanced scorecards and all other relevant information
• Take into account analysis on the evolution of the context in which the project is carried out, notably, scientific, legal, societal, economic aspects, etc

2. The operational management of all the activities of HabEat. It will ensure that decisions are properly implemented, integrate recommendations from the Stakeholder Advisory Board and survey ethical and gender issues.

The Executive Committee will also be in charge of financial management of workpackages. The Executive Committee will supervise the work of the Administrative Team including quality control and preparing meetings with the EC, including preparation and transmission of deliverables.
Chaired by the coordinator, the Executive Committee is composed of a representative of each partner organisation:

Dr. S. Issanchou, INRA, WP4 leader and Project Coordinator
Dr. M-A. Charles INSERM and WP1 leader
Dr. M. Hetherington, ULeeds and WP2 leader
Dr. G. Zeinstra, DLO-FBR and WP3 leader
Dr. P. Moller, UCPH
Dr. L. Cooke, UCL
Dr. K. de Graaf, WUR
Dr. C. Lopes, FMUP
Dr Y. Manios, HUA
Dr. P. Emmett, UNIBRIS and ethical issues contact
Ms. C. Sautot, IT and WP5 Leader

Meetings of the Executive Committee will be held twice a year, unless in the interest of the project more meetings are required. Any member unable to attend a meeting of the committee may be replaced by a person of the same partner if prior approval is sought. The Executive Committee makes decisions upon simple majority with casting vote for the coordinator, Dr. S. Issanchou, in case of equality of votes.

This Executive Committee will work interactively, communicating every day through an internet forum.
The secretariat of the Executive Committee is ensured by the Administrative Team

The Stakeholder Advisory Board

The objective of the Stakeholder Advisory Board will both external points of view on the way to conduct the project so it brings maximum outcomes to the stakeholders and society at large as well as to advise the consortium to where and how the recommendations will be best transferred and adopted.

- Baby Food Industry members

• Nestlé (Switzerland) represented by Dr A. Maier
• Danone (France) represented by Dr Berg Kildemark
• Vitagora – a Taste-Nutrition-Health competitive cluster (France) represented by Christophe Breuillet
• Heinz (UK) represented by Claire Baseley
• Arla Foods amba represented by Merete Myrup Christensen
• Clarelia –specialised in food suitable for allergies (France)
• Alliance 7 (France)
• HiPP (Germany)
• Plum Baby (UK)
• Bonduelle Nutrition (France) represented by Laurence DEPEZAY
• Lactalis represented by François Morgan
• Other industry members that will be identified during the course of the project

- Policy makers and International associations

• EU Platform for Action on Diet, Physical Activity and Health
• World Health Organisation – nutrition dpt (Switzerland)
• The European Food Information Council (EUFIC) represented by Dr Josephine Wills
• European Child Obesity Group (ECOG)
• International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN)
• European Public Health Alliance (EPHA)
• European Association for the study of Obesity (EASO)

  - Professional organisations

• European society of Paediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition (ESPGAN)
• French Society of paediatricians represented by Pr P. Tounian
• Dutch Society of paediatricians represented by Lucy Arntzenius-Smit

 

 

The Administrative Team

Daily administrative management work and handling of the project logistics is to be handled by the Administrative Team at INRA Transfert. The Administrative Team will be made up of an experienced project manager assisted by a project administrator.
The Administrative Team is in particular responsible for:

- Project administration (including planning, preparation and follow-up - meeting minutes…)
- Consolidation of the annual project reports
- Financial administration (monitoring of expenses against budget allocations, consolidation of financial summary sheets, etc.)
- Consolidation and control of the annual cost claims according to the contractual requirements, their conformance with the work done and the audit  certificate to be produced by the partners
- Assistance to individual project partners on specific administrative issues
- Communication facilities and coordination (web based collaborative tool).
It is also the responsibility of the Executive Committee in general and the scientific management in particular, as well as of the work-package leaders to  identify and assess risks and provide contingency plans for the same.