In order to ensure a smooth and effective coordination of the GEH consortium the partners agreed to apply a simple governance system which has been proven to work reliably in many ERA-Net and ERA-Net Cofunds. The central components of Governance are work packages (WPs), their work package leaders and the task leaders working together in the Executive Team (ET). The coordinator is part of that team as the WP-leader of WP1 “Management”. The final decision-making body of the GEH is the Consortium Board (CB) which is composed of representatives from each partner organisation. In order to be able to take decisions concerning joint research calls, in particular decisions concerning budget issues, the partners who conduct a joint call will form a temporarily active funders’ board, in which only the funding parties of the respective call are represented.
However, because of the unique structure of the GEH, a well-proven structure needs to be elaborated in some instances:
1. Regarding the concerning research projects, a distinction is required between research projects funded by the involved initiatives and the research projects resulting from GEH’s own joint calls. This is particularly relevant for project follow-up and for contractual reasons.
2. New parties interested in GEH joining because of activities in WP6 “Widening and Outreach” will be linked HORIZON-WIDERA-2021-ERA-01-09 Support for policymakers–Part B - Page 7 of 30 Programme level collaboration between national R&I programmes to GEH as a Network of interested incoming partners, depending on their commitment.
3. As an initiative in the thematic remit of Agri-food and biotechnology, GEH is embedded in a lively landscape of other activities, committees and coordination bodies. The governance of the Green ERA-Hub is taking this into consideration with an External Expert group, which consists of representatives from other relevant EU initiatives. Green-ERA-Hub intends to initiate an exchange of best practices, closer cooperation, and alignment of activities with these initiatives via the External Expert Group.
The individual components of GEH’s governance have the following functionalities:
• Coordinator: The coordinator of the project is FZJ, as WP-Leader of WP 1 “Management”. The primary role of the coordinator is to represent the GEH Consortium towards the European Commission and to promote and control the overall progress of the GEH.
• Executive Team (ET): The Executive Team is the central workforce of GEH. It is composed of the work package and task leaders, chaired by the coordinator. The role of the Executive Team is to ensure the efficient and timely implementation of the whole work plan. It meets at least quarterly.
• Consortium Board (CB): The Consortium Board will be composed of at least one representative per partner and will be the decision-making body which meets at least twice per year. Decisions will be based on consensus if possible and based on a majority vote in other cases.
• Funders Boards: The Funders Boards have a variable geometry. For each of the joint calls conducted under GEH, a Funders Board will be formed. It will be composed of one representative per partner participating in the respective joint call. Thus, each call will have its dedicated Funders Board.
• External Expert Group: The Agri-food and biotechnology sector is characterised by a number of very active initiatives and committees. Although many of the consortia partners in GEH are also engaged in these bodies an effective alignment between GEH and these initiatives is indispensable. GEH accounts for this with an External Expert Group to which all relevant initiatives will be invited28. The External Expert Group will meet twice a year.
• Network of interested incoming partners: As a result of WP-6 “Widening and Outreach” it is expected that several new organisations will be interested in joining the Green-ERA-Hub. These new parties will be linked to GEH in the Network of interested incoming partners, with the further role of these new organisations depending on their commitment. To minimise administrational burden, it is not foreseen to add them as full partners, although this might be beneficial in individual cases. Also, it will be mandatory that a new party, which contributes to a joint call will become also member of the respective Funders Board.