The EUPRIM-Net Project

Project Structure

 

Consortium Management
EUPRIM-Net is headed by a coordinator and a vice-coordinator. The coordinator and vice-coordinator are supported by a Central Management Team that comprises the Administrative and Financial Management, Information Service Management and secretarial support. As in the first term the Management Team is located at the DPZ. The existing Management Team for project coordination.

Work Package 1 ("EUPRIM-Net II Management") is characterised by continuous activities (administrative management, dissemination of information) and by periodical activities (meetings) during the term of the project. The management team supports the exchange and dissemination of results obtained by the network and research activities.

The Management Team offers central services for the financial, legal and other administrative issues of the project. It is responsible for the organisation of the meetings, the compilation and distribution of information to relevant parties. It provides the External Advisory Board and the Scientific and Governmental Board and Animal Welfare Committee with all information needed for the supervision of the Network. The organisational structure and decision-making mechanisms of the project are depicted in the Figure above.

External Advisory Board (EAB)
The EAB comprises one expert for the network activities, one for the access activities and three for the research activities covered by EUPRIM-Net. In order to represent the associated industrial and international partner one member comes from the Industry and one member from outside Europe. The board especially includes qualified experts in animal housing and breeding. The EAB supervises the progress of EUPRIM-Net and gives guidance, recommendation and support to the consortium in all critical scientific and policy aspects. Further, the EAB will evaluate the results with regard to the interests of stakeholders (other research institutes, industry, European Commission).

The EAB receives the annual report of the network and meet concomitantly with the consortium of the network during mid-term and long-term development meetings. Based on the annual reports and the results of the meeting the EAB gives comments and recommendations regarding the scientific progress of the network. The EUPRIM-Net Ethics Adviser will have access to all documentation, such as meeting minutes of the EAB and will be able to give advice, e.g. regarding educational matters and on other issues as the project develops.

Scientific and Governmental Board (SGB)
Each EUPRIM-Net institute has appointed a representative to the SGB. The nine members of the SGB have
appointed a chair to lead the Board. The SGB supervise EUPRIM-Net, based on the annual report of the
network and the statement of the EAB and Animal Welfare Committee (AWC; see below). The SGB
coordinates decisions to avoid discrepancies in scientific, financial or coordination issues. The SGB
convenes during the meetings of the general assembly. In addition, at least every six months a video
conference will be held. Further video conferences take place as needed.

Animal Welfare Committee (AWC)
The AWC consisting of three independent experts advises the SGB on ethical issues including those related to the uses of the infrastructure provided. The members of the AWC are adept experts in the behaviour and welfare of primates. One member of the AWC has been appointed by the committee to join the EAB, in order to assure a good flow of information between the two groups. The members of the AWC will be invited to all meetings of EUPRIM-Net. The AWC will provide a written report to the European Commission that will be included in the annual reports. Besides advising the SGB the AWC is responsible for ensuring that the work carried out in the research projects comply with
FP7 ethical standards. The EUPRIM-Net Ethics Adviser, who does not specialise on animal welfare issues, will have access to all documentation, such as meeting minutes of the AWC and will be able to give advise from an ethical perspective outside animal welfare issues.

EUPRIM-Net Ethics Adviser
Prof. H.-P. Schreiber has been appointed as Ethics Adviser for EUPRIM-Net II. He gives advice to the Central Management and the EAB on ethical issues regarding educational matters and on other issues as the project develops. Furthermore, as he does not specialise on animal welfare issues, he advises the AWC on ethics issues outside animal welfare.

User Selection Panel (USP)
To ensure high ethical standards in the access activities of experimental work with living animals the
scientific and experimental quality of proposals for such work will be reviewed by an international USP
of experts covering the research items of the access activities. Criteria for selection of proposals will be
defined at the first USP meeting; however, will be built upon the criteria of the first term of EUPRIMNet,
namely the

i) scientific quality of the preceding work in vitro
ii) the rationale to perform the study in primates
iii) the feasibility for future application in patients, in case of new therapies
iv) the degree of inconvenience to the animals
v) the willingness of the submitting research group to spend the person days required for training and
execution of the project at the facility
vi) the nationality of the research group, taking into account that groups from eligible countries have
equal opportunities for access
vii) whether the proposer is a new user to the facility, new users having a higher priority for access