[CoFI] New overall coordinator; funding for European CoFI activity

["Don Sannella" <dts@dcs.ed.ac.uk>]

Dear CoFI friends,

This is the message that Peter promised concerning funding for CoFI.
Let me however begin by thanking Peter on behalf of all of us for the
tremendous amount of energy he has selflessly devoted to CoFI in the
past, including: getting it started and keeping the momentum going;
creating and managing the extensive CoFI web pages; masterminding and
writing/editing multiple versions of the CASL Language Summary;
leading discussions by e-mail and face-to-face on all aspects of the
CASL design; publicising CoFI and CASL via meetings and presentations
in various places; and writing most of the proposal for ESPRIT funding
mentioned below.  I'm sure that I have forgotten something important
or maybe many things.  So: a HUGE round of electronic applause, please!

This is a very hard act to follow and I should warn you right now that
I plan to be rather less of a "hands-on" manager than Peter was
although of course I will continue to contribute in various areas
including Semantics and Methodology.  I expect that the individual
task group coordinators will be much better placed to take care of the
details in their respective domains than I will be.  But I do hope
that when I someday finish my stint as overall coordinator I will be
able to follow Peter's example with two years off travelling the
world!  :-)

Anyway, I am happy to announce that funding for European CoFI activity
will be available soon.  An ESPRIT proposal for a CoFI Working Group
was submitted some time ago by the coordinators of the various CoFI
task groups, with me as overall coordinator, see
	http://www.dcs.ed.ac.uk/home/dts/CoFI-WG/proposal.ps
It has been successful, and the contract is now being finalized with a
duration of two years, a probable start date of 1st October, and
funding of 118KECU.

Funding is available to European CoFI participants for CoFI-related
travel, on a trip-by-trip basis.  There is a simple procedure to
follow if you want funding for a trip.

Everything you need to know about the CoFI WG is available at
	http://www.dcs.ed.ac.uk/home/dts/CoFI-WG/
including information concerning funding for CoFI-related travel.

Here is a TENTATIVE list of CoFI workshops for your diary.

	early November 1998: Working meeting, Cachan
	March 1999: satellite workshop at ETAPS'99, Amsterdam
	September 1999: satellite workshop at FM'99, Toulouse
	Late autumn or winter 1999: Working meeting, Genova
	March-April 2000: satellite workshop at ETAPS'2000, Berlin
	Summer 2000: Working meeting and Summer School, Edinburgh

Best regards,

Don Sannella
CoFI WG coordinator


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Answers to some questions:

Q: What do I do if I want funding for some CoFI-related travel?

A: In summary (see the web page for details): You must be located in
an allowable country, travelling to an allowable destination, and
either at a member site (Edinburgh, Bremen, Warsaw, Cachan, Nancy,
Genova, Aarhus) or on an easily-expandable list of other people who
may be funded.  You need permission for the trip from a relevant task
group coordinator.  After the trip, submit an expense claim to
Edinburgh.  Conference fees are generally not allowable except for
conferences connected with CoFI workshops (ETAPS'99, FM'99,
ETAPS'2000).


Q: Wow, that sounds really bureaucratic.  Why are there so many rules?

A: Most of the rules are imposed by ESPRIT.  A few are to simplify the
administration of the WG and to ensure that funded travel is CoFI-related.


Q: Can't you just transfer a sum of money to my university and I will
submit cost statements?

A: No, we have decided to run things as described above.


Q: There is a lot of work to do before CoFI is complete.  Why did we
apply for a Working Group that funds only travel rather than a real
project with funding for researchers?

A: The last deadline for real project proposals under ESPRIT's
Framework 4 passed a long time ago.  The call for proposals under
Framework 5 will not be open until early 1999 at least.  So this is
the best we could do.  If all goes well then one activity of the WG
will be to prepare a real project proposal for submission to Framework 5.


Q: Why is there such a small number of members?

A: Only the coordinators are members, but funding for CoFI-related
travel is available for anyone in Europe who wishes to contribute.
The small number of members is just to simplify administration of the WG.