Community Programme Portfolio

The main instruments of the GÉANT Community Programme (GCP) are Task Forces (TFs), Special Interest Groups (SIG), workshops and training, collaborative projects and services as further defined below. All activities and projects fall within the currently supported thematic areas.

Task Forces

TFs are fixed‐term, typically short‐lived community‐based collaboration activities, provided largely by volunteers who work together on specific tasks to produce tangible deliverables.

Special Interest Groups

SIGs are similar constructs to task forces, in that they are also community‐ based and largely volunteering activities, but focus on community building, best­‐practice dissemination and knowledge exchange rather than on tasks and deliverables. SIGs normally have longer duration than task forces.

Workshops and Trainings

One‐of‐a‐kind or series of community‐based workshops, (un)conferences or BoFs may be organised around a specific topic of interest. Workshops may lead to recommendations for establishing further follow‐up activities. These may be captured in a workshop (or series of workshops) closing report.

Collaborative Projects

The GCP provides a framework for a broad range of collaboration activities of interest to GÉANT, these can be small or large collaborative projects or specific components of such projects initiated by members or individuals from the community and administered/commissioned by GÉANT. GÉANT provides support to a variety of collaborative projects that are important to the community in order to ensure that the projects can function well with supporting coordinators and infrastructure. In essence, the support provided is very similar to that of support for a TF or SIG - normally in the form of a professional secretariat for the project - but funding for these projects is typically not from the EC. Current projects supported include REFEDS, WISE, GLIF and the GeGC. Support for these projects includes some or all of the following functions:
  • Coordinator role;
  • Meeting support (both virtual and face to face);
  • Invoicing (REFEDS and GLIF);
  • Infrastructure support (wiki, website, mailing lists, hosting, VC).
There is currently no defined process for establishing support for such collaborative projects.

Collaborative Services

Through its TFs, SIGs, and collaborative projects, the community programme can identify activities within the supported thematic areas that are of a service nature and that benefit the community as a whole. GÉANT provides support to the Community Programme to confirm viability of such services, and support their incubation, with in intent to make such services self-sustaining. The services should be inclusive, and intended to be open and accessible to all participants in the Community at large. The Community Programme, in concord with the materially contributing stakeholders of the service, will advise on and oversee strategic direction and development of the services so created.

Vision & Mission

VISION
Connected, collaborative and harmonised research and education networking community.

MISSION
Provide optimal conditions for the R&E networking communities to collaborate both face-to-face and virtually. Create mechanisms to enable participation and inclusion.

STRATEGY
The Community Programme Strategy is outlined here.
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