The TRUSS kick-off meeting took place on Tuesday February 17 from 9.30am to 4.15pm in the premises of the UCD School of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering in Dublin, Ireland.
The meeting was attended by Salam Al-Sabah from Arup Ireland, Luis Costas and Emma Merino from Equipos Nucleares (ENSA), James Brownjohn from Full Scale Dynamics LTD (FSDL), Kian Banisoleiman from Lloyd’s Register EMEA, Jennifer Brennan from IUA, European Advisor (NCP), MSCA, Thierry Yalamas from Phimeca Engineering, Donya Hajializadeh from Roughan & O’Donovan, Alan O’Connor and Maria Nogal from Trinity College Dublin (TCD), Gordon Airey from University of Nottingham (UNOTT), Joan Ramon Casas from Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC), and Mark Richardson, Eugene O’Brien, Debra Laefer, Aoife Ahern , Ciaran McNally, Tony Malone, Stephen Manuel and Arturo Gonzalez from University College Dublin (UCD).
Following welcome by the Head of School and a presentation on the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions by the National Contact Point, the coordinator together with the beneficiaries went through the objectives, the consortium, the structure and the timing of TRUSS. Then, all beneficiaries presented on the facilities of their organisations available to the network and on the background, objectives, challenges and needs of research projects under their main supervision. The research finance office at UCD informed on financial issues regarding salaries, management, and RTN costs.
In the afternoon, WP leaders of training and dissemination gave an overview of the planned activities with focus on the first period. Former coordinators and Early Stage Researcher in Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions also reported on their experiences. Finally, the coordinator covered management topics including governance, Supervisory Board, recruitment and Intellectual Property that were subjected to discussion and agreed at the meeting.
