Highlights from the first reporting period of CREMLINplus

After submitting the first extensive periodic report, a virtual review meeting was held in November 2021 with representatives from the European Commission, external expert reviewers, and CREMLINplus work package managers as well as the coordinator. The most important project achievements were presented, interweaved with question-and-answer sessions.

The CREMLINplus consortium thanks the Project Officer and representatives of the European Commission as well as the external expert reviewers for their dedicated work in reviewing the project. The CREMLINplus consortium very much appreciates the overall positive assessment of the project and the valuable feedback as well as recommendations received. The recommendations will be incorporated into the work programme and implemented as best as possible.

Below are some selected highlight quotations from the CREMLINplus review report of the first reporting period that we want to share.

The CREMLINplus community has clearly been highly successful in this science diplomacy project aimed at creating a diffuse effective channel of collaboration between the broad research communities that operate in different fields in the European Union and in the Russian Federation. The intrinsic challenges of a large-scale project that covers cooperation on scientific cases and infrastructure access options across the whole life-cycle of research infrastructures, have been complicated by the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as by the current phase of the EU-Russia relationship.

The project has brought together scientists across borders and enhanced the scientific collaboration between Russian and European scientists for the benefit of the science and society in all the participating countries and beyond and this is remarkable as it includes collaboration efforts in the design of large installations as well as collaboration in making effectively accessible on the basis of a common advanced charter a significant number of resources insofar little exploited internationally. The CREMLINplus project has enhanced the collaboration among Russian List-11 infrastructures and supported Russian scientists to work and collaborate.

The targeted milestones and deliverables have been achieved at a very good level: in spite of the COVID conditions, the collaboration was able to deliver 16 out of the 22 milestones and 13 of 16 deliverables scheduled for this first reporting period. Furthermore, the postponed milestones and deliverables are typically related to on-site visits affected by the global lockdown or to administrative actions requiring governmental involvement, neither of which is under the control of the project participants.