Administrative Management

The administrative and financial management of the ESPOIR project will be undertaken by Sonja Kress (Administrative Manager) at the USER-M Project Management Office based at the Research and EU Liaison Office, Leibniz Universität Hannover (Partner 12 LUH). Since 1992, the EU Liaison Office has been providing a comprehensive range of support services for all aspects of EU-funded research projects for seven higher education institutions in the region of Hannover/Hildesheim, including the MHH. The EU Liaison Office has provided support for over 60 successful proposals in FP6 and currently more than 60 projects in FP7 across all of the regional higher education. The USER-M Project Management Office is tailored specifically towards the needs of EU FP projects and to date has been involved in the administrative management of 11 projects spanning FP5, FP6 and FP7.

In particular the project management office will be responsible for:

  • monitoring project progress and quality control;
  • responding to important changes during the lifetime of the project;
  • controlling manpower resources and running costs;
  • timely submission of reports, deliverables, cost statements, financial certificates etc. to the EC; 
  • financial and legal administration (e.g. transfer of the payments from the EC to the partners); 
  • ensuring a constant and coherent communication flow among the consortium; 
  • general day-to-day management and conflict mediation and resolution;
  • external affairs and representation of the project, incl. liaison with the European Commission.