FEC recovery for co-chief scientist duties of Dr Heiko Pälike for IODP Expedition 320

The European research funding organisations that participated in the Ocean Drilling Program (1985 to 2003), including NERC, agreed to join its successor - the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program - IODP, under a single European umbrella. They formed the European Consortium for Ocean Research Drillling - ECORD through a joint action to represent and fund European ocean drilling studies at an international level. As a coordinated unit, ECORD achieves critical mass and economies of scale in its progress towards equal partnership with the U.S.A. and Japan. My invitation to act as co-chief for IODP Expedition 320 followed the following procedure: 1. I was the lead proponent for IODP drilling proposal 626, which was submitted in 2003. I have worked throughout the next 4 years to move the project from a proposal through the various panels to a state where it was selected for scheduling. 2. The Science Planning Committee (SPC) of IODP provides official Co-Chief Scientist recommendations and CVs to the Implementing Organization (IO), in this case USIO, the United States Implementing Organization, acting as Science Operator, when programs are forwarded to the IODP Operations Task Force. The Program Member Offices (PMOs) assist in the acquisition of CVs. 3. The IO reviews the recommendations for Co-Chief Scientists and determines the most appropriate individuals based on expedition science requirements, individual qualifications, the member country balance, and previous IODP performance. 4. The IO circulates the initial co-chief staffing strategy to IODP-MI, the SPC chair, the PMOs, and Project Management Team (PMT) Chairs (if any) for comments. This step ensures continuity and provides the opportunity for issues to be identified prior to invitations being issued. The IO has the responsibility for the final staffing decision given that they have the responsibility for delivery of the expedition. 5. I was selected as the first out of 4 co-chiefs for the joint Expeditions 320 and 321 in 2006, after which the ship's schedule was modified so that now the final Expedition dates are March 5th - May 5th 2009.