The first FCM was organized by The Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale dell’Umbria e delle Marche (IZS-UM) represented by Dr. Francesco Feliziani, and  The Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale della Sardegna (IZSSA),  represented by Dr. Sandro Rolesu .

The meeting was held at the Hotel Regina Margherita in Cagliari, Sardinia on October 21st – 22nd , 2013.

Objectives of the meeting

• Presentation and discussion the work developed up to month thirteen of the project, aiming at the assessment of the project progress, reinforcement of interactions for the work development and the stimulation of production of scientific publications.
• Review and discussion of current administrative and financial aspects of the project.

Participants

Fifty eight delegates from seventeen partner institutions including Contract Managers, Theme Leaders and Co-leaders, WP Leaders and Task Leaders and other collaborators (graduate, PhD and Post-Doc students) and eight guest delegates from IZSSA (Co-organizer of the meeting) and two delegates from CIRAD-INRA, attended the meeting.

Organization

The meeting was organized in parallel and plenary sessions.

Parallel sessions chaired by the Theme Leaders and Co-Leaders aimed at reviewing the progress of work, identifying delays or deviations and strategies to overcome them, planning future work and reinforcing collaborative agreements for the work development of different Tasks within each Theme.

During parallel sessions, organized as round table discussions, Theme Leaders addressed  the main strategies for the development of different tasks and delegates involved presented comprehensive overviews (oral presentations) on the work developed from the beginning of the project and in particular since the second Project Management Team  (PMT) meeting held in Madrid.

During plenary sessions chaired by the Coordinator, participants gathered to discuss transversal topics of the project, namely regarding the work progress on Theme 5 (Training and knowledge transfer) and administrative and financial aspects of the project. During these sessions, Theme Leaders presented and submitted to discussion, summaries on the progress and future work under the different Themes.

The Executive Board met separately and analyzed general aspects on the work progress that were transmitted by the Coordinator to the participants on the final plenary session.

Overall, fruitful discussions took place around the progress of the work. Collaborations among partner groups were strengthened and final conclusions on the work accomplished as well as on the work to be pursued were presented and discussed. The reported results indicated an adequate progress of the project in agreement with the work plans

The meeting evolved under a very fruitful scientific and friendly atmosphere and participants had the opportunity to socialize in different moments during the meeting and during a dinner on a traditional restaurant.