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UCT signs General Conditions of Participation agreement with SAEON
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On 16 March 2007, the University of Cape Town (UCT) became the third
institution to agree to the General Conditions of Participation in
SAEON. The agreement was signed by Prof Cheryl de la Rey, Deputy
Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cape Town (UCT) and Johan Pauw,
Head of SAEON.
In terms of the agreement, UCT staff, students, visiting scientists and collaborators gain official participant status in all the SAEON nodes. By signing the agreement, UCT agreed to deliver data to SAEON that originates from the University's participation in the Network, other than data which is commercially sensitive or otherwise confidential in nature.
Participants in nodes benefit from the research and education platforms provided by the nodes. This means that nodes do not only offer conceptual observation frameworks within which research may be executed, but that the research is subsidised by support services, equipment and access to known research sites with organised data management systems. Data is shared among the participants through an electronic internet-based system which is about to be released for general use and population with data.
Participation in nodes is open to all institutions and individuals that agree to sign the General Conditions of Participation. Nodes can therefore be regarded as Centres of Gravity within the multi-institutional and multi-disciplinary research community that function neutrally in spite of being hosted by a specific organisation. Nodes are already becoming exciting integrative research hubs abuzz with intellectual discourse and research activities. All of this requires good organisation and orderly business processes which is fast becoming a main concern of the node managers. Through signing the agreement, organisations like UCT are agreeing to abide by the rules of the respective nodes. Built into the structure of a node is a Node Liaison Committee with the specific aim of facilitating interaction between participants.
By signing the agreement, UCT has joined the ranks of the University of Stellenbosch, CSIR and MINTEK, all of whom have signed the agreement, as well as the node hosts. South African National Parks, South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity, Marine and Coastal Management of DEAT and the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI), automatically became SAEON participants when they agreed to host the various nodes. An array of SAEON partners such as various science councils, the Chamber of Mines, universities, government departments and conservation agencies are supporting SAEON through serving on its advisory structures and will in due course also sign the agreement as appropriate.
"Significantly," Johan says, "the General Conditions of Participation agreement formalises arrangements for participation under the auspices of a node. As each node has specific requirements based on its specific circumstances, this agreement is a high-level document covering all of the nodes, but it also does away with the need for numerous individual contracts. Node management is a shared responsibility between the Node Manager and the participants, and the Node Liaison Committee is the instrument by which participants make their contributions."
Although SAEON nodes are designed to provide an infrastructure for ecosystem observational research that will mainly be used by visiting local and international researchers, a node is much more than the equipment it has. Nodes will provide coordinating and service staff and will be linked through an IT network. They will provide the field stations or observatories required for ecosystem research.
"These observatories are the laboratories of ecosystem research," says Johan. "Because the systems ecologist's laboratory is the field, this is an important innovation to enhance research progress incrementally through the sharing of research sites, infrastructure, equipment and data sets," he explains.
Johan emphasizes the vision that nodes will become "Centres of Gravity" that will attract more resources and intellectual capacity than provided for by the core support rendered by SAEON. They will also be supported by in-kind contributions from partner organisations.
Consolidating environmental observation networks
The accession agreement with UCT will cement relationships that SAEON has forged with individual UCT researchers, among them Prof De la Rey. As Deputy Vice-Chancellor of UCT and Associate Professor, she is responsible for research, innovation and postgraduate studies, institutional transformation and government and community relations. The Deans of the six faculties, the Director of the Graduate School of Business and the Dean of Higher Education Development all report to her, as do the Directors of the Research Office, UCT Innovation and the Postgraduate Funding Office and Centre. She chairs the University Research Committee, the Board for Graduate Studies and the Postgraduate Studies Funding Committee.
Her external commitments include membership of the Board of the Centre for Industrial and Scientific Research (CSIR), the National Advisory Council on Innovation (NACI), the Executive Evaluation Committee of the National Research Foundation and the Research Strategy Committee of Higher Education South Africa (HESA).
"It is gratifying to see SAEON's networks growing, and growing stronger by the day," says Johan. "It can only solidify SAEON's database from where information about our environment and its processes is disseminated, contributing to the sustained welfare of our people."
