ANNEX IISupplementary provisions
ANNEX II GOVERNANCE OF BONUS BONUS shall be managed by BONUS EEIG through its Secretariat. BONUS EEIG has established the following structures for the purposes of BONUS: (a) Steering Committee; (b) Secretariat; (c) Advisory Board; (d) Forum of Sector Research; and (e) Forum of Project Coordinators. (a) The Steering Committee shall be the highest authority of BONUS EEIG, forming its decision-making body and board governing its secretariat. The Steering Committee shall be composed of senior officers of the research funding and management institutions appointed by the members of BONUS EEIG. It shall be presided by the Chairperson, a position that shall be rotated annually between BONUS EEIG members. The previous, current and future chairpersons shall form the Executive Committee that supports the Secretariat in matters of strategic importance. Taking account of proposals by the Secretariat, the Steering Committee shall decide on the strategic orientation of BONUS, including the decisions on defining and updating BONUS, on the planning of calls for proposals, on the budget profile, on the eligibility and selection criteria, on the pool of evaluators, on the approval of the ranking list of BONUS projects to be funded, on the monitoring of progress of the funded BONUS projects and on the supervision of the adequate and orderly work of the Secretariat in relation to BONUS. (b) The Secretariat shall be headed by the Executive Director, who shall implement the decisions of the Steering Committee and shall act as the principal representative of BONUS to both the Commission and the various national funding agencies. The Secretariat shall be responsible for the overall coordination and monitoring of activities of BONUS, the publication, evaluation and outcome of the calls for proposals and the monitoring of the funded projects, both from the contractual as well as scientific point of view and for reporting on progress to the Steering Committee. It shall also be responsible for the planning and organisation of consultations with stakeholders and the Advisory Board and their subsequent integration and streamlining into the Strategic Research Agenda and the promotion of effective science-policy interfaces. (c) The Advisory Board shall assist the Steering Committee and Secretariat. It shall be composed of scientists of high international standing, representatives of relevant stakeholders, including for example, tourism, renewable energies, fisheries and aquaculture, maritime transport, biotechnology and technology providers and including both industry and civil society organisations with an interest in those sectors, other integrated Baltic research programmes and other European regional seas. It shall provide independent advice, guidance and recommendations regarding scientific and policy-related issues of BONUS, including advice on the objectives, priorities and direction of BONUS, ways of strengthening the performance of BONUS and delivery and the quality of its research outputs, capacity building, networking, and the relevance of the work to achieving the objectives of BONUS. It shall also assist in the use and dissemination of the results of BONUS. (d) The Forum of Sector Research shall be composed of representatives from ministries and other actors dealing with Baltic Sea System research and governance. It shall convene once a year as a consultation meeting that discusses the outcomes of BONUS and emerging research needs from the decision-making perspective. It shall serve as the forum for advancing the pan-Baltic integration of research, including relevant sectorally-funded research and the use and planning of joint infrastructures. (e) The Forum of Project Coordinators shall be composed of coordinators of projects funded through BONUS. It shall assist the Secretariat in matters dealing with the scientific coordination of BONUS and the integration and synthesis of the research results.