The Steering Committee co-ordinates the project under the control of, and in compliance with the decisions of the General Assembly. The Steering Committee assumes overall responsibility towards the General Assembly for liaison between the Parties for analysing and approving the results generated under the clusters.

In particular, the Steering Committee is responsible for the general co-ordination of activities across the clusters, and between the different Work Packages; the development and delivery of the research projects and of supporting dissemination and training activities; and the co-ordination of periodic reports to be delivered to the Commission.

The Consortium Steering Committee is composed of the Director of the RSCAS, serving as chairperson of the SC, the Scientific Director, the four cluster co-ordinators, an adviser responsible for intensifying links in the new member states, a legal and an economic adviser. Two representatives of the practitioners community and the co-ordinator of the our partner Consortium, the Network of Excellence CONNEX, are also members of the Steering Committee.

The cluster coordinators have a special role both within the Steering Committee and the project as a whole. In particular, they advise and monitor projects so as to ensure that transversal objectives are met, especially including appropriate coverage of the new member states or developing links with relevant practitioner communities. By representing their cluster in the Steering Committee they will strengthen the complementary oversight mechanisms for the Consortium and liase with each other to promote cross-cluster coherence.

The Steering Committee meets once a year in person, or exceptionally also if an extra meeting is convened by the Scientific Director, and otherwise will hold virtual meetings and consult electronically.

[Members of the Steering Committee]

Steering Committee meeting in Florence, 17 January 2005