KeyToNature Meeting 2008 (Berlin)
Berlin, 2008-09-22 to 25
Annual meeting of the Key to Nature project, including EU review meeting
Contents |
1 Date and venue
Monday, Sept. 22, will be only the Management Team meeting, Tuesday (23) to Tuesday (24) the Project Steering Committee will meet plenary the full day (all partners involved). Thursday (25) will take place the EC review meeting with 2 external evaluators (all partners involved).
The meeting will take place at the JKI biological research center (Google Street map of the vicinity, German Wikipedia):
- Julius Kühn Institute
Federal Research Center for Cultivated Plants
Königin-Luise-Str. 19
14195 Berlin, Germany
The location is right next to the Berlin Botanical Garden (See JKI and BGBM on Google Maps).
See also this compact map including all potential subway and bus lines to the JKI
The JKI was founded 110 years ago the "Kaiserlich Biologische Anstalt für Land- und Forstwirtschaft" (Empires Biological Research Station). It is a nice historical building and we could reserve the main meeting room, so we will have plenty of space there. We also have some large experimentation fields - I hope we can take a stroll if the discussions are becoming too heated.
Throughout the meeting we will have lunch (buffet-style) and coffee at the JKI facilities. Due to our numbers and to avoid long delays, we have to pre-order. Since we don't have central money to pay for lunch and the coffee-breaks in the morning and afternoon, we will have to ask every participant for a contribution of 10 EUR per day of participation. This will cover both lunch-buffet and coffee breaks (this will be covered by your daily rate; since you are paying lunch will have not been "provided" with respect to the travel report). Please inform Nicola if you want neither lunch nor drinks and cookies in the breaks.
Important: we need a confirmed number of participants for lunch and restaurants in the evenings 14 days prior to the meeting.
2 Before the meeting
2.1 Hotels
Google knows all the hotels we are aware of in the vicinity (but more may exist, thanks to Marina for telling us one!). On the hotel map, C (Hotel Ravenna, Family style) and A (Best Western Premier Hotel Steglitz) are recommended but are booked out, F, M, and O are no hotels, B (Hotel Eckstein) has its drawback (noisy street, poor entrance area; however the rooms are OK, especially if you can get a room away from the main street). E is a hostel (see Happybed below).
Many web portals offer hotel searches, and there is also a tourist board with a call center (which however, was entirely unhelpful both for Nicola and Gregor).
A very good hotel I just learned about is http://www.hotel-am-fs.de. It may be fully booked, Nicola is just checking.
An hotel that has vacant rooms nearby Potsdamer Platz is the Etap Hotel Berlin Potsdamer Platz Hotel.
Address: Anhalter Strasse 6, 10963 BERLIN, GERMANY. Tel : (+49)030 257 67 70 http://www.etaphotel.com/etaphotel/fichehotel/gb/etp/5058/fiche_hotel.shtml
2.2 Hostels
Backpacker style, but many have single or twin rooms.
The closest hostel to our meeting location is the
- Happybed hostel (see E on the map above)
The
- Heart of Gold Hostel
Johannisstrasse 11, 10117 Berlin
is in a JKI-distant, Berlin-central, cool location and relatively well to come to JKI using the S1 from Oranienburgerstraße to Rathaus Steglitz (45 minutes though).
2.3 Bed and Breakfast
A conveniently located and recommended Bed and Breakfast location is "Höfers B&B in B", Leidenallee 54, 12167 Steglitz, close to U and S Steglitz, car parking in courtyard, prices see http://www.gastgeberlin.de/preise.htm, annke.hoefer@gastgeberlin.de. They have only two rooms, to be rented as single or double.
2.4 Airports
After closure of the third airport, you can choose freely between Tegel (TXL, slightly more convenient when taking public transport to the hotel) and Schönefeld (SFX). When searching for flights, you can enter the code BER into the search, this will find any flights to Berlin regardless of airport. Public transport transfer time from TXL to Rathaus Steglitz will be around 35 Minutes (X9 Bus + U9 subway), from SFX it will be around 52 Minutes (various connections).
3 AGENDA
3.1 Agenda: 22 Sept 2008 (Management Team Meeting)
Time: 14:00-18:00
On arrival ask the porter for G. Hagedorn (room 313 on third floor, house phone 2220). Early arrivals will lunch together at 13:00.
(Participation restricted to: ETI; EVO; TBA, UNITS and JKI as hosting organisation)
3.2 Agenda: 23 Sept 2008
Project Steering Committee – plenary session
Analysis of progress of previous and ongoing activities
The first day of the full meeting will be devoted to the analysis and brief discussion of the activities carried out in each WP. After a brief introduction of the Coordinator, the Technical Manager will summarize the project status as far as finances and deliverables are concerned. The rest of the day will be devoted to presentations-discussions of the 10 WPs. Each WP leader has 30 minutes at disposal for briefly presenting the WP achievements and problems, and for their discussion among partners (the longer the presentation, the shorter will be the discussion: this is left at the discretion of each WP leader).
- 8.45: Registration
- 9.15: Welcome (JKI)
- 9.30–9.45: Opening of the works and introduction (the co-ordinator Pier Luigi Nimis)
- 9.45–10.15: Project management and finances overview (the project manager Nicola Dorigo Salamon)
- 10.15-11.00: Workpackage overview (WP2 and WP3 introduced by WP Leaders)
- 11.00-11.30: coffee break
- 12.00-13.00: Workpackage overview (WP4, WP5 and WP6 introduced by the WP Leaders)
- 13.00-14.00: Lunch break
- 14.00-15.30: Workpackage (WP7, WP8, WP9, WP10, WP11, WP12 introduced by the WP Leaders)
- 15.30-16.00: coffee break
- 16.00-17.30: Workpackages continued
- 17.30-17.45: Q&A session
- 20.00: Social Dinner
3.3 Agenda: 24th September 2008 - Discussions and Demonstrations
The second day starts with a Demonstration session, where interested partners have ca. 10 minutes to show a demonstration of their products-activities. The rest of the day is mainly devoted to a general discussion of the planned activities for the next 12 months, and of the general development of the project. The discussion will be articulated into 3 main blocks of 1.5 hours each: 1) Education and users, 2) Data exchange and re-engineering, 3) IPRs, Dissemination, Evaluation). The chairpersons are invited to briefly introduce the main topics, to spend the 1st hour mainly in the discussion and the last 30 minutes to wrap-up.
- 9.30-11.00: Demonstration (moderator: ETI)
- 11.00-11.30: coffee break
- 11.30-13.00: Discussion block 1: Pedagogy, didactics, outreaching and usability (moderated by CUO or FIM)
- 13.00-14.00: Lunch break
- 14.00-15.00: Discussion block 2: Data exchange and interoperability (moderator JKI-ETI)
- 15.00-15.30: Discussion block 3: (moderator Dr Kittl - IPR, dissemination, website, evaluation etc.)
- 15.30-16.00: coffee break
- 16.00-17.00: Discussion block 3 continued
- 17.00–18.00: Internal preparation for the review (All Partners, moderated by the co-ordiantor)
- 20.00 Social Dinner
3.4 Agenda: 25th September 2008 - Review Meeting
The last day is mainly devoted to the project review, which will take place in the afternoon. In the morning all partners will implement with ideas and slides the draft of project presentation prepared by the Project Coordinator, the Technical Manager and the Project Manager.
The project review is expected to be complete by 18.00. The reviewers will provide a preliminary assessment of the project. After this, all partners will discuss the implications of the evaluation on the planned activities for the next 12 months. Two external reviewers plus the Project Officer will write the review report based on the input received during the meeting.
- 9.30 opening of the review
- 11.00-11.30: coffee break
- 11.30-13.00: Review continued (see below)
- 13.00-14.00: Lunch break
- 14.00-15.30: Review continued (see below)
- 15.30-16.00: coffee break
- 16.00-17.00: Review continued (see below)
- 17.00-17.30: post-review session (all partners internal ex-post review discussion)
- 20.00 Social Dinner
| 5 min | Welcome and introduction.Context, purpose and objectives of the review | PO |
| 25 min | Introduction of partners | by Team Leader of each partner |
| 90 min | Presentation of the work performed during the activity period(s) to be reviewed presentation of the results achieved user involvement and their feedback and focus groups | Project Representatives |
| 10 min | Dissemination activities
Project indicators and milestones |
Project Manager
|
| 60 min | Question & Answer session | All |
| 10 min | Wrap-up and plans for the next year | Project co-ordinator |
| 20 min | Meeting to discuss initial impressions and preliminary conclusions (without project representatives) | Reviewers/PO |
| 15 min | Preliminary feedback to the consortium on review conclusions | PO/Reviewers |
| 5 min | Closing remarks | PO |
Overall duration: approximately 4 hours
4 At the meeting
4.1 Public transport
The JKI is situated between the subway station "U Dahlem-Dorf" (left) and subway and city train station "U + S Rathaus Steglitz"; see the map on the JKI website or on Google map. You can walk in about 7 minutes from "U Dahlem-Dorf", from Rathaus Steglitz it would be a 20 Minute walk, but a convenient Bus (Line X83) should transport you much faster. The Bus stop is "Arnimallee".
To search for public transport connections within Berlin in English use: fahrinfo-berlin.
You can buy tickets which can be used in any of the public means of transport (bus, tram, local railway, "S-Bahn", underground ("U-Bahn")). There are, for example, daily tickets, 7-day tickets and other offers. Information about tickets (prices, range, etc.) can be found here. Tickets can be bought at the Central station ("Hauptbahnhof") and many other S-Bahn and U-Bahn stations. A list of ticket counters at U-Bahn stations is here.
There are also special offers for visitors.
4.2 Restaurants in the evening
To help you with seeing Berlin, we try to arrange some nice dinner locations. The first two days we will eat a-la-carte, the last we had to order a menu for most. Each participant will pay him or herself.
We have no organized transport, please come by yourself using public transport.
23. Sept., 20:00 (meet 19:15 for a walk through the gardens together). We are dining at the "Kleine Orangerie" at Schloss Charlottenburg. Schloss Charlottenburg ist one of the nicest castles in Berlin and has a large and nice garden. If you look from the main street unto the castle, the "Orangerie" is on the left side, a separate closer to the street than the main buildings. Address is Spandauer Damm 20 14059 Berlin (http://www.kleineorangerie.de).
Public transport: Take U9 from "Rathaus Steglitz" to "Berliner Straße", change into U7 to "Richard-Wagner-Platz", then take Bus M45. Alternative routes are possible and may be faster, depending on exact time of departure. Travel time: ca. 45 minutes from JKI (Busstop Arnimallee). Taking a look at the castle and garden prior to dining is recommended.
24. Sept., 20:00. We visit the Ständige Vertretung ("permanent representation", the German name for an embassy that is not supposed to be named "embassy" for political reasons). This is a famous Restaurant that followed the move of the parliament from Bonn to Berlin. It is right next to Bahnhof Friedrichstr. and Bertold Brechts Theater, in the heart of former East Berlin, with a view on the Spree. The address is Schiffbauerdamm 8, 10117 Berlin (http://www.staev.de/staev-berlin/index-berlin.html). Public transport: Take S1 from Rathaus Steglitz, Exit at Bahnhof Friedrichstraße. Travel time: ca. 35 minutes from JKI (Busstop Arnimallee). The area is worth seeing, I suggest being there an hour in advance, details will follow.
25. Sept., 20:00. As a highlight we will dine 30 m away from the Brandenburg Gate, with a view of the Pariser Platz, in walking distance to the parliament (Reichstag) and the other federal buildings, at Theodor Tucher Speisekabinett & Leselounge, Pariser Platz 6a, 10117 Berlin. Public transport: as above, exiting 1 Stop earlier at "Unter den Linden".
We had to order a menu here: Soup: Grüne Erbsschotenschaumsuppe mit mariniertem Lachs; Main: Gratinierte Hähnchenbrust mit Blattspinat und Tomatenkartoffeln; Dessert: Himbeermousse mit Anisparfait, total price: 25 EUR.
Tip: If you skip going to the hotel after the meeting and can reach the Reichstag about 18:30, you can visit the dome on top of the Reichstag (no fee, but usually 20 minute queuing, the entrance is at the side towards the large public place/lawn).
Other interesting Restaurants: Landauer, Landauer Str. 8 (U3 bis Rüdesheimer Platz, http://www.landauer-restaurant.de/, German); HH Müller, Umspannwerk Kreuzberg am Paul-Lincke-Ufer. 20 (east of Kottbusser Damm, http://www.xn--hhmller-p2a.com/, German food); Silberstein, Oranienburger Str. (Trendy); Ishin, Bundesallee (Japanese); Ostwind, Prenzlauer Berg (Modern Asian, small); Kasbah, Marocco, Gipsstraße 2, 10119 Mitte, 030-27594361; http://assala-restaurant.de/; http://www.gugelhof.de/ Kollwitzplatz, http://www.restaurant-hafis.de/germanindex.html (persisch); http://www.hasir.de/de/hasir_mitte.html (türkisch, z.B. an den Hackischen Höfen).
Current participant counts: 23: 26-28, 24: 18-21, 25: 24-26 Pers. If you do not want to participate in the evening, perhaps leaving on Thursday night with a late flight out, please notify us as early as possible. Restaurants may charge if number of attendants deviates strongly from reservation.
5 After the meeting
On Sunday, September 28, 2008 the 35th Berlin Marathon will take place. This may in part be a reason for hotels so fully booked.
We look forward seeing you!
Gregor, Gisela and Nicola
