Fourth eLTER Interim Council meeting: Statutory seat of eLTER in Germany

The long wait for a physical Interim Council (IC) meeting came finally to end when the delegations met face to face in Uppsala, Sweden, on September 28-29 2022.

The IC04 meeting was hosted by SLU and chaired by Prof. Kevin Bishop. Delegates from seven countries attended the meeting physically, with a further 11 delegations joining via Zoom.

Apart from the joy of really meeting many people for the first time, there were also important items on the agenda. The IC discussed the recently established eLTER Site Category concept and adopted the mandatory criteria for Category 1 and Category 2 eLTER Sites and the eLTSER Platforms as a foundation for the site labeling process. The IC delegates were introduced to the proposed funding model for the eLTER ERIC operations, and advice on how to develop it further was given.

A presentation of the status of eLTER Service Portfolio led to numerous comments, and the discussions on the Thematic Service Areas and future Topic Centers will be continued in forthcoming meetings. Similarly, the first items on the Statutes document were decided, the most important being that Germany is willing and able to have the statutory seat of the eLTER RI.

Further, the IC decided to establish an Ethical Advisory Board (EAB) and approved the eLTER Ethical guidelines and the first draft for the EAB Charter. In addition to these agenda items for decision, the IC was also informed about the Key Performance Indicators, Risk assessment and HR policy documents that have been prepared by the eLTER PPP.

Overall the spirit of the meeting was good and the many comments and discussions will help the PPP Work Package leads in the next steps towards the implementation of eLTER RI.