Network Management Structure
The management structure for FlareNet is based on defining the roles and responsibilities for various individuals and groups within the network. The Board of Directors (BOD) oversees all of the activities within the network and has the primary responsibility of recommending annual budgets to NSERC. The BOD makes its recommendations after receiving input from the Chair of the Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC), who is also the principal investigators (PIs).
The PI is responsible for maintaining the overall direction of the research, as well as reporting to the BOD on progress of the various research projects and the development of highly qualified personnel (HQP). The PI also tracks and reports to the BOD on deviations in the planned research and makes recommendations for future allocations of financial resources. The SAC is primarily responsible for receiving reports from the researchers on the individual projects, assessing the technical merit of the work conducted, judging whether milestones are being met, and reporting their findings to the BOD through the PI. The SAC recommendations could include terminating specific projects for failing to meet milestones. The individual researchers are responsible for conducting the research, training HQP, and disseminating their results across the various forums described in the Knowledge and Technology Transfer section. The theme leaders are responsible for coordinating activities amongst the various research groups within the theme, working with the PI to ensure that activities across all the themes remain coordinated, and being the primary contact for the international collaborators related to their theme. The flux of data and information across the entire network is the responsibility of the Network Manager.
Board of Directors
The composition of the Board of Directors (BOD) includes 10 members who are external to the network, two members who are internal to the network, and two non-voting members. The external board members are a mixture of Canadian partner organizations including the private sector, as well as relevant provincial and federal government departments. This breadth of BOD representation has been enabled by an agreement with the Air Research Planning Committee (ARPC) of the PTAC to be the core of the Board. This organizational structure brings a wealth of background knowledge on the oil and gas industry, especially with respect to issues associated with flaring and unconventional resources development. Two external positions on the BOD will be reserved for international partner organizations (the U.S. EPA and the World Bank), which meet the 10% minimum international participation for the BOD. The BOD internal members are the PI and a researcher (this latter position will cycle annually through the group), who will provide connectivity from the lab to the BOD. NSERC will have an ex-officio position on the BOD to facilitate information transfer back to the network’s primary funder, while the other non-voting member of the BOD is the Network Manager.