Information for prospective partner institutions
Interested research institutions are welcome to join the TEAMx partnership. Adhesion to TEAMx does not imply any legal or financial obligation towards other TEAMx partners and/or the TEAMx Programme Coordination Office (PCO). The only required formality is the signature of the TEAMx Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). Extensions of the partnership are regulated according to §15 and §21 of the TEAMx MoU.
§15. The Partners have established a TEAMx Coordination and Implementation Group (CIG) […] The CIG will undertake activities which will include […] admitting new signatories to this agreement.
§21. Additional Partners may join this Memorandum of Understanding upon signature of Annex B, subject to agreement of the CIG.
The admission procedure is as follows:
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After examining the TEAMx MoU and deciding on the willingness to sign it, the applicant institution sends an informal expression of interest (e.g., e-mail) to the Chairman of the TEAMx Coordination and Implementation Group (CIG) and to the TEAMx PCO. The contact person approaching the TEAMx partnership does not necessarily coincide with the person that will eventually sign the MoU as institutional representative (see point 3 below). Any request for modifications to the TEAMx MoU cannot be taken into consideration at this stage, because the TEAMx MoU can only be modified by the signatory partners through a qualified (80%) majority vote (§ 22 of MoU).
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The PCO collects expressions of interest and periodically submits them to the CIG. In practice, one batch of new applications is processed every 4-6 months. At each periodic meeting, the CIG evaluates new applications. Upon positive decision of the CIG, the PCO informs the contact person of the applicant institution.
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The contact person of the applicant institution now completes Annex B of the TEAMx MoU, has it signed by an institional representative and sends an original to the TEAMx PCO per mail. Annex B is meant to be signed by a person on behalf of an institution, i.e., applications from individuals cannot be considered. There is no stringent guideline about who the institutional representative should be. It is advisable that she/he holds a leadership position (director, rector, etc.), but this is not required. The decision is left to the the applicant.
If needed, clarifications may be requested to the TEAMx Programme Coordination Office.