ESSAC

The ECORD Managing Agency (EMA) is responsible for the management of the ECORD participation in the Integrated Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) until 2024 and International Ocean Drilling Programme (IODP-cubed) since January 2025. The EMA is administered by the CNRS, which pools the funding provided by the ECORD members (https://www.ecord.org/).

The ECORD Science Support and Advisory Committee (ESSAC) is the ECORD Science Committee and is responsible for scientific planning and co-ordination. ESSAC aims to maximize the scientific and technological contribution of ECORD to IODP/IODP-cubed, as well as promoting appropriate representation of the ECORD scientific community in the IODP/IODP-cubed Scientific Advisory Structure. ESSAC will also advise on requests to the European Commission (EC) and other funding entities to provide funds in support of IODP/IODP-cubed science and other European IODP-related activities.

The ESSAC office is funded by CNRS from the ECORD budget. The hosting of the ESSAC Office and the role of ESSAC Chair have been granted to OGS by the ECORD Council for the period 2022-2025. As ESSAC Office host, OGS has employed the ESSAC Science Coordinator (Dr. Hanno Kinkel) on a fixed term contract to assist the ESSAC Chair in his role during the entire duration of the Chair of ESSAC.

OGS maintains the ESSAC Office, provides support for travel arrangements and manage contributions for ESSAC activities. The Chair shall provide, amongst other things, the following activities: general administration and management and scientific support for ESSAC; the organization and running of biannual ESSAC meetings (Spring and Autumn); organizing the ECORD Distinguished Lecturer Programme; offering support for the ECORD Summer Schools.