Tarefa 8: Gestão do projeto

Tarefa 8: Gestão do projeto

Management and outreach

The aims of this task are to i) ensure coordination of partners, ii) ensure research objectives are achieved within the time and budget limits, iii) facilitate internal communication and data flow, and iv) disseminate the outputs of the project to as wide an audience as possible.

Overall project coordination and management will be conducted by IDL. The PI and co-PI will be responsible for the scientific leadership of the project, internal communication, monitoring progress towards milestones and for ensuring that all objectives are met fully and in a timely fashion. Task leaders will be responsible for delivering the outputs of their tasks on schedule.

We propose to organize regular plenary skype meetings once every month. Other topical meetings will be held upon special occasion, such as in preparation of field surveys. Smaller meetings in person will occur opportunistically profiting from the attendance to the same conferences. We plan to organize one final workshop in the Azores with all involved researchers, piggy-back with the International workshop proposed in Task 7.

Dissemination of project activities and results will be done through: Project website: this will be initiated at the beginning of the project and will be built up by IDL. The website will contain information on project objectives and partners and update activities and results as they became available and include information on the target species and relevant pressures/threats. The website will be used to disseminate information among the scientific community, and to the general public. A special effort will be done to promote the website among the many SME dedicated to whale-watching activities in the Azores, as well as to the tourists.

Project Workshop: a local workshop will be held at the end of the project aimed to whale-watching operators and general public, including tourists. The workshop will advertise the project main results, as well as addressing impacts to cetaceans from anthropogenic activities that disturb the sound environment of the oceans and bring physical and chemical changes to their habitat. The goal of the workshop is to promote responsible whale watching activities and the environmental awareness to the tourists and Azores inhabitants.

Scientific conferences and publications: project results will be communicated within the scientific community through presentations in international conferences and submission of articles to peer-reviewed scientific journals. TV, radio and press, IDL and IMAR have a long tradition and expertise in communication to the general public through local media. Several articles will be published, and researchers will make appearances on regional and national TV and stations, to disseminate discoveries by the project that are of interest to a broader community of stakeholders and the general public.