Suggestions for points of action towards FP7 and its 4th call

This reflects my (LH) personal understanding of how to work towards having Calls for Proposals,suitable for PanCare (Pan-European Network for care of survivors after childhood and adolescent cancer), to be included in the European Unions Seventh Framework Programme.

Third call deadline autumn, 2008. No cancer topics in 3rd call. The meeting in May this year concerned the 3rd call.

I have come to understand that we first of all mustwork towards atopic, not our own project. It is also better to “give input” rather than to lobby. It is important to give a good “justification of topics”.We should formulate a long-term strategy towards having childhood and adolescent cancer survivorship included in the Work Programme, highlighting our strengths, our excellence and our priorities. We should emphasise the strong potential for excellent research, the need for competitiveness and for European Policy Objectives. We should try to explain that thePanCaremeeting in Lund 27-28 March, 2008, identified problemsand areas that need to be looked at on a European level. We should probably mention ESLCCC2007, and that the North Americans have the meeting in Niagara-on-the-Lake ongoing every other year, this year for the tenth time. We should also point out that North Americahas done a great deal(e.g. CCSS),however we in Europe can be even bettergiven our larger sizewith the propersupport.We should point out humanitarian, as well as resource issues, sincethere is a need for additional public funding and intervention on a European level.

The timing for us is such that we will be working towards a proposal in the 2010 Work Programme, meaning that we should start giving input this autumn 2008.

The EU has an annual budget cycle as follows (to the best of my knowledge):

  • In the autumn, stretching into February, there is the Annual Policy Strategy (APS), which is very high-level and all encompassing. There are both external and internal consultations going on at this time. This is the best time to give input as work is on-going both inside and outside the Commission. For the 2010 Work Programme a“consultation phase” lasts from September to November 2008. There is often a “Reflection Paper”preceding the first Draft. For our part it would be the time to approach the Advisory Groups (AG) and try to identify the Project Officer(s) in charge whowill produce the Draft Work Programme, as well as the National Contact Points for the Programme Committee for Health.We could try to arrange a seminar/meeting/work shop in Brussels to which we invite various Project Officers. The possibility to give input drops significantly when the first Draft exists.
  • In January hearings start with DG BUDG (Directorate-General Budget).
  • In April there is a Preliminary Draft Budget (PDB). This is the time when the Inter Service Consultations (ISC) takes place between different Directorates-General. The process now moves into an “adoption phase”. It is now very much more difficult to influence the draft other than changing specific wordings (adding key-words), which may be very important in itself. In this phase, the Programme Committee members become more important since no more external input is allowed.
  • In May/June the PDB is sent to the European Parliament (EP) and the Council and the budget can now be mentioned in the Work Programme (WP). In July the Commission adopts the Work Programme and the Calls for Proposals are sent out immediately afterwards.
  • By the end of the year the EPadopts the WP.

So, in summary, fourth call lobbying starts autumn 2008.We should first go for research issues (Directorate-General Research (see link #1 below), that’s where all the money is apparently) since awarenessmight fall under a different Directorate.If awareness does fall under another Directorate, we should write to the relevant Director General that we will come back to them later. We put together several different two page letters within PanCare, highlighting the topic and the needs connected to it.We might ask for clarification about the issue of awareness in our letters. We could possibly send all letters to Gavin Thomson (Helix Advisory Services, a company that LundUniversity uses in these cases) for comments.

There are several roads that we might work in parallel, acting as individuals within Europe who wish to give attention to an issue worth covering in the next Work Programme(according to what I learned from Gavin Thomson when he visited Lund):

  • Go straight to Dr Manuel Hallen, Directorate F - Health, after writing the initial letter. Dr Hallen holds the position previously held byDr Octavi Quintana Trias.Perhaps try to arrange a meeting with Dr Hallenand our steering group in Brussels, where we can present/give input to the topic.
  • We can go to the Advisory Group for Health in FP7(see link #2 below), Chairperson Dr Genevieve Berger fromParis.We can write letters to her and others in the Advisory Group.I could, for instance,write and also ask to see Julio Celis in Copenhagen. Other PanCare members can approach members of the group relevant to their country.We should tell the members of the Advisory Group that we are also writing toDr Hallen.
  • We can go to the National Contact Points for the Programme Committee for Health(see link #3 below). These individuals are usually civil servants and not researchers. We could again put together several different letters; two pages each, highlighting the problem from various angles, sending them during a period of a few months to different members of the Programme Committee. We should point out the fact that it concerns children and young adults.
  • We should try to get other organisations to lobby/give inputfor our cause, e.g. SIOP-Europe, FECS or others. Different letters should be prepared for different groups. These letters should be sent to the Chairperson of the Advisory Groups as well as to Dr Hallen.

There is also the connection to DIRECT project that Riccardo Haupt wrote about, which we could mention when giving input.

Practically we should prepare a unique letter from each country and start sending them to the above mentioned people/groups in August/September 2008.

Links:

(to the Directorate-General for Research)

(to the members of the FP7 Advisory Group for Health)

(to the National Contact Points for each country responsible for the Programme Committee for Health)

Source:

A “rough guide” to the FP7 Work Programmes. Dan Andrée, Special Advisor, Ministry of Education and Research, Stockholm-Brussels. March 2008.

Lund26thJune, 2008

For PanCare: Lars Hjorth