Activity 1: Coordination/Management, Dissemination – Engagement of Stakeholders and Competent Authorities.

Activity 1 has a four-fold focus and scope: administrative and scientific coordination and management of the project, engagement of MSFD Competent Authorities, communication and outreach and networking and stakeholder engagement. The specific objectives of this Activity are:

O1.1: Coordinate activities and facilitate communication between partners within and across activities;

O1.2: Manage and monitor the progress of the project ensuring that the project meets its objectives within the time (and budget) limits (including regular reporting requirements and financial requests to the Commission);

O1.3: Establish regular contacts with the Commission (including kick-off and final meetings in Brussels) and regular reporting of activities, in order to allow for appropriate discussion and feedback on the project execution; Provide Special Reports – guidance that can include tools, methods and results to be presented to the competent authorities in a training session;

O1.4: Communicate and outreach project results and scientific developments on all levels of society: policy, general public as well as scientific community;

O1.5: Establish effective links to the RSC UNEP/MAP to ensure coordination across the regions or subregions and dissemination of results to contribute directly to the efforts of the Regional Sea Convention;

O1.6: Link ABIOMMED to other relevant international and national projects, to foster (sub)regional cooperation, ensure synergies and efficiency gains, exchange of ideas and knowledge and avoid duplications;

O1.7: Facilitate and widen the engagement of the different stakeholders within the Mediterranean basin (beyond CAs);

O1.8: Facilitate the presentation of the progress of work done and gather input from the relevant technical/scientific meetings at (sub)regional level (e.g., relevant groups established under the auspices of UNEP/MAP) and EU level (e.g., Working Groups and Technical Groups);

O1.9: Support Competent Authorities (CAs) for the implementation of the next 6-year phase of the MSFD and ensure results have practical outcomes which clearly assist CAs to the implementation of the next phase of MSFD;

O1.10: Provide Special Reports and the Inception.