Programme Organization
Year Zero (1998) :
Following the decision of the Executive Council of the E.S.F. to approve the recommendation of the S.C.H. that the proposal be granted a year zero, an exploratory workshop was held in Lisbon, on 23-24 January 1998. Fifteen scholars, including all the team leaders, attended the meeting and proposed significant improvements to the project, following the recommendations of the core group of the S.C.H., presented by Dr. Antonio Lamarra, Senior Scientific Secretary to the S.C.H.
Working Groups :
In order to secure active and efficient co-operation between European scholars from different areas and different generations, each of the four teams will have two leaders, a senior and a younger one, from different countries. A team will normally consist of 18-20 members, including a core of regular members and people invited to one or more meetings, particularly younger scholars receiving grants connected with the project, or admitted to its seminars.
The programme will begin with a core of ca. 30 senior scholars and ca. 30 younger scholars, both having either participated in some preliminary workshops or else being proposed by participants at the Year Zero meeting at Lisbon, aiming at a careful balance among Europes geo-cultural regions (see appendix IV for a provisional list of the programmes participants). The project will be circulated widely to the E.S.F. Members Organization during 1998, and scholars wishing to join it will be asked to send an application to the Steering Committee, which will meet with the team leaders at the end of 1998 to approve, reassign, or disapprove new applications, including proposals made at Lisbon. During the four years of the programme, about 30 scholars will join the four teams, selected for their disciplinary backgrounds and their ability to fit within the projects guidelines, as well as to decisions by Member Organizations to join the project.
Each group will meet at least once a year for two or three full days, normally at places associated with one of its core members
Junior Scholars, Grants and seminars :
Junior scholars will be invited to participate in the workshops and will receive travel grants to visit workshops and seminars related to the programmes major themes at various European universities. Both pre-and post-doctoral students are eligible; selection will be made by the Steering Committee, including the team leaders.
Chairman of the Programme : Robert Muchembled (France)
Secretary of the Programme : William Monter (USA)
Team Leaders :
- Team 1 :
Heinz Schilling (Germany)
Istvan Toth (Hungary) - Team 2 :
Peter Clark (U.K.)
Stephen Christensen (Denmark) - Team 3 :
Francisco Bethencourt (Portugal)
Florike Egmond (The Netherlands) - Team 4 :
Bernd Roeck (Germany)
Herman Roodenburg (The Netherlands)
The two team leaders will share responsibility for the activities of their working group. In close consultation with the Chairman, the Secretary, the E.S.F. office, and the other team
leaders, they will be largely responsible for the composition of their team, ensuring an appropriate disciplinary and national balance among group members. They will be encouraged to
show flexibility in fixing group membership by inviting scholars representing appropriate disciplines.
Publications :
Each team will produce two major publications. Half of the eight volumes should appear before the end of the programme (normally, about the third year), and the final syntheses will follow the programmes completion.
CD-ROM publications :
The results of the project should also be available in the form of an interactive CD-ROM, which would make some of the programmes results available to a wider audience (including schools) in a form which is increasingly important in this age of visualization. This medium offers a superb opportunity to present such forms of non-verbal language as gestures or dance, and to present many types of exchange in graphic forms.
The final evaluation of the activities and a synthesis report will be presented jointly by the Chairman, the Secretary, and the Team Leaders
Steering Committee :
It will be responsible for the overall aims and contents of the programme, for organizing both plenary conferences, and for coordinating the activities of the working groups. It will meet at least once a year, and conduct its other business by correspondence..
The Steering Committee or the Core Group will meet at least once a year. The Core Group will regularly meet with the Team Leaders.
Research Co-ordinator : A post of part-time research co-ordinator is requested to
- help the chairman and the secretary, in order to help to organize workshops and plenary conferences and to co-ordinate meetings with the team leaders ;
- be the editor of a Newsletter and of selected information to distribute regularly to the members of the programme ;
- facilitate contacts between members of the programme and with the whole scientific community.
