France
CNRS-INSU
CNRS (National Center for Scientific Research) is the principal organization for fundamental scientific research in France. CNRS carries out research in all fields of knowledge through its 10 thematic institutes. CNRS employs about 25000 scientists, technical and administrative research personnel in Joint Research Units with Universities and other French research organizations. The annual operating budget, of the order of €300 million is used for specific targeted research programs. Total budget is about 2500 M€. INSU, National Institute for Earth Sciences and Astronomy, as one of the thematic institutes of CNRS, elaborates, develops and coordinates research and projects in astronomy, Earth and planetary science, ocean and atmosphere sciences and space sciences. Within its field, INSU undertakes and coordinates research performed at national and international levels by CNRS and other public French research bodies. It develops, pilots and implements instruments for very large facilities: platforms (geophysical and geodetic networks and borehole measurements), observatories (astronomy, seismology, oceanography, meteorology, geophysical hazards, land use), observation services, and computing facilities (databanks, community models, centres for satellite data analysis). INSU has a strong involvement in many European EC funded Projects in various fields.
Contribution to the PP.
The Department of European Affairs at INSU is in charge of the management and the follow-up of European projects within the scientific fields covered by INSU and mainly in infrastructure large-scale projects. It works in close connexion with the department of Legal affairs of CNRS. INSU's European dept. has a central role as WP leader in WP2 and WP4. In the WP4, the task dedicated to the Business Plan will be subcontracted to the consulting office ISPM which has experience in other EC Preparatory Phase projects. CNRS scientists, especially from LGIT (Laboratoire de Géophysique Interne et Tectonophysique) are strongly involved in the technical preparation (WP6) of the project.
Principal personnel involved.
Prof. Helle Pedersen is a senior researcher at the University of Grenoble. She will coordinate the CNRS activities within NERA. She is the French representative in EPOS and coordinator of the national French research structure RESIF. Her research activities focus on seismic imaging, and she is author or co-author of 50 publications in referenced international journals.
Prof. Jean-Pierre Vilotte, joined IPGP in 1994 where his main research activities are focused on numerical simulations in seismology, HPC parallel computing and numerical algorithms. He has worked at the University of Swansea (Wales) and in the Ecole Normale Supérieure de Paris and been a visiting professor at the Universities of Tokyo and California Berkeley He is presently leading the Computing and Data analysis centre of IPGP.
Dr. Jean-Mathieu Nocquet, is an advanced researcher in Geodesy. He leads the GNSS activity group within the Astronomy-Geodesy team of Observatoire de la Côte d'Azur. He is a member of the WEGENER governing board since 2004, member of the scientific board of the national permanent GPS network in France. His research includes both methodological investigation in geodesy, reference frame, high rate seismology and interpretation of continental deformation processes. He has published 20 papers since 2001.
Dr. Nikolai Shapiro is a senior researcher in seismology. He is presently the head of the seismology department in IPGP, and he is responsible of the FOSFORE group which coordinates the French seismic data distribution. He is a specialist on seismic tomography and has published over 60 research articles in referenced international journals.
Dr. Elisabeth Kohler is an experienced European project manager in the CNRS mainly in EC funded Infrastructure projects with a strong involvement in legal, governance, financial and management aspects.
Dr. Antoine Weexsteen is an experienced European project manager in the CNRS mainly in EC funded Infrastructure projects.
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