Management structure

The FIRST project is managed by a number of boards, directors and coordinators, including:

Project Management Board 

Technical Management Board

Inclusion Board

Project Exploitation and Dissemination Board

Scientific and Societal Advisory Board

Project Director 

Administrative Director 

Technical Coordinator

Quality Assurance Coordinator

Inclusion Coordinator

Exploitation Coordinator

 

The diagram below illustrates the organisational structure for the project:

Diagram of management structure

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WP# – Work Package (number)

The Project Management Board is composed of one management representative from each partner organisation. This board co-ordinates and manages matters that affect the contractual terms of the project. It also ensures the overall scientific coherence, technical quality and exploitability of the project. It liaises with the Project Co-ordinator and key personnel to make sure that the project is kept on course. Key tasks of this board include:

  • Monitoring and maintaining the coherence and integration of the project;
  • Reviewing the work plan and the consortium structure;
  • Resolving technical, administrative or contractual issues;
  • Coordinating the preparation of all major technical deliverables;
  • Defining the legal, contractual, ethical, financial and administrative aspects of the project;
  • Promoting gender equality in the project.   

Members:

University of Wolverhampton

Chair:  Prof. Ruslan Mitkov

 

Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust

Representative:  Vesna Jordanova

 

Universidad de Alicante

Representative:  Paloma Moreda

 

Autism-Europe a.i.s.b.l.

Representative:  Aurélie Baranger

 

Universidad De Jaen

Representative:  Maite Martin Valdivia

 

Parallel World Sdruzhenie

Representative:  Kremena Stoyanova

 

Deletrea Sl

Representative:  Juan Martos

 

iWeb Technologies Ltd

Representative:  Pranay Puri

 

Kodar OOD

Representative:  Nikolay Pavlov

 

The Technical Management Board is composed of technical experts from each partner organisation, which is in charge of making decisions on all technical issues. This board will ensure the overall technical quality of the project and monitor the interoperability of individual component technologies and contributions delivered by the consortium. Key tasks of this board include:

  • Ensuring technical consistency and synergy between work packages;
  • Ensuring that all implementation work meets functional requirements.

Members:

University of Wolverhampton

Representative:  Richard Evans

 

Universidad de Alicante

Representative:  Paloma Moreda

 

Universidad De Jaen

Representative:  Fernando Martinez Santiago

 

iWeb Technologies Ltd

Technical Coordinator:  Pranay Puri

 

Kodar OOD

Representative:  Nikolay Pavlov

 

The Inclusion Board is composed of representatives from autism associations, the user group, and experts from health care service providers. This board is responsible for the inclusivity aspect of the project. This includes designing and implementing experiments in order to measure various aspects of inclusion enabled by the developed platform and advising work package leaders on issues related to inclusion.  

Members:

Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust

Inclusion Coordinator:  Vesna Jordanova

 

Autism-Europe a.i.s.b.l.

Representative:  Aurélie Baranger

 

Parallel World Sdruzhenie

Representative:  Youri Ianakiev

 

Deletrea Sl

Representative:  Juan Martos

 

The Project Exploitation and Dissemination Board is composed of partners involved in dissemination activities and representatives of industry. This board oversees the implementation of the dissemination plans, including:

Ensuring that the project is properly and appropriately exploited;

Overseeing and co-ordinating the work in the dissemination work package and ensuring that awareness of the project and its results are spread among the relevant audiences;

Ensuring that the industrial partners fully address the market;

Providing suggestions for dissemination activities that complement exploitation goals, including demonstrations.

Members:

University of Wolverhampton

Representative:  Constantin Orasan

 

Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust

Representative:  Vesna Jordanova

 

Universidad de Alicante

Representative:  Paloma Moreda

 

Autism-Europe a.i.s.b.l.

Representative:  Nikki Sullings

 

Universidad De Jaen

Representative:  L. Alfonso Ureña

 

Parallel World Sdruzhenie

Representative:  Ani Shileva

 

Deletrea Sl

Representative:  Juan Martos

 

iWeb Technologies Ltd

Representative:  Jasper Chandel

 

Kodar OOD

Exploitation Coordinator:  Dilyana Krushkova

 

The Scientific and Societal Advisory Board is comprised of leading scientific experts. This board provides scientific and societal guidance and advice to the Technical Management Board. The members of this board are:

  • FIRST Project Quality Assurance Coordinator, organisation, country
  • Arti Ahluwalia, University of Pisa, Italy
  • Dr. Wauter Bosma, University of Twente, The Netherlands
  • Prof. John Barnden, University of Birmingham, UK
  • Dr. Susan Bull, University of Birmingham, UK
  • Prof. Terry Brugha, University of Leicester, UK
  • Prof. Arthur C. Graesser, University of Memphis, USA
  • Dr. Karen Guldberg, University of Birmingham, UK
  • Miklos Gyuri, Autism Foundation, Hungary
  • Prof. Eduard Hovy, University of Southern California, USA
  • Prof. Perry Klein, University of Western Ontario, Canada
  • Sarah Parsons, University of Birmingham, UK
  • Dr. Marina Reiter, University of Nijmegen, The Netherlands
  • Prof. John Tait, The Information Retrieval Facility, Vienna, Austria
  • Elizabeth Wentz, University of Gothenburg, Sweden

 

The Project Director is responsible for the overall technical direction of the project. The Project Director is appointed and employed by the co-ordinating partner of the project (University of Wolverhampton) and chairs the Project Management Board, is a member of the Technical Management Board, and serves as the main contact point for the project.

 

The Administrative Director assists and reports to the Project Director. The Administrative Director is also employed by the co-ordinating partner of the project.

 

The Technical Coordinator, Quality Assurance Coordinator, Inclusion Coordinator, and Exploitation Coordinator, are the contact points for matters relating to these areas within the project. They also ensure effective communication within the management structure, between the management structure and all partners, among all partners, and between the project and external stakeholders.