5868670 428625 0 0 -3810 9839325 Ehitajate tee 5 19086 Tallinn Rg-kood 74000323 Tel 620 2002 E-post
[email protected] www.taltech.ee 0 0 Ehitajate tee 5 19086 Tallinn Rg-kood 74000323 Tel 620 2002 E-post
[email protected] www.taltech.ee -3810 428625 0 0 SA Eesti Teadusagentuur Soola 8 28 . 11 .20 2 3 nr 11-10/ 575- 8 51004 Tartu Ettevalmistustoetuse taotlemine Käesolevaga taotleb Tallinna Tehnikaülikool ( reg nr 74000323, ak EE201010052037382001 ) ettevalmistustoetust järgmistele ERC p rojekti taotlustele: Theory of More-Than-Human Management - M-BOT ( 101123699 , ERC-2023-COG ) , p ro f Mari-Klara Stein, ärikorralduse instituut; Digital super telescopes and RIGOrous theory of Radars – RIGOR ( 101118952 , ERC-2023-SyG ), prof Lassi Päivärinta , küberneetika instituut . Lugupidamisega (allkirjastatud digitaalselt) Marika Lunden Teadusosakond Lisa: ESR id left 284480 Riina Vilgats 620 3536
[email protected] 0 0 Riina Vilgats 620 3536
[email protected]
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Step 2 Evaluation Report
CONFIDENTIAL
Call reference ERC-2023-COG
Activity HORIZON ERC Grants
Funding scheme ERC CONSOLIDATOR GRANTS
Panel name SH1
Proposal No. 101123699
Acronym M-BOT
Applicant Name Mari-Klara STEIN
Title More-Than-Human Management: “Bot-ification” and Beyond
EVALUATION CRITERIA
Criterion 1 - RESEARCH PROJECT
Ground-breaking nature and potential impact of the research project
To what extent does the proposed research address important challenges?
To what extent are the objectives ambitious and beyond the state of the art (e.g. novel concepts and approaches or
development between or across disciplines)?
To what extent is the proposed research high risk-high gain (i.e. if successful the payoffs will be very significant, but there is
a high risk that the research project does not entirely fulfil its aims)?
Scientific Approach
To what extent is the outlined scientific approach feasible bearing in mind the extent that the proposed research is high
risk-high gain?
To what extent are the proposed research methodology and working arrangements appropriate to achieve the goals of the
project?
To what extent does the proposal involve the development of novel methodology?
To what extent are the proposed timescales, resources and PI commitment adequate and properly justified?
Criterion 2 - PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
Intellectual capacity and creativity
The questions below can have one of the following five responses: Exceptional/Excellent/Very Good/Good/Non-competitive
To what extent has the PI demonstrated the ability to conduct ground-breaking research?
To what extent does the PI provide evidence of creative independent thinking?
To what extent does the PI have the required scientific expertise and capacity to successfully execute the project?
PANEL SCORE AND RANKING RANGE
Final panel score: B (meets some but not all elements of Ranking range*: 80%-100%
the ERC's excellence criterion and will For your information, only the top 42% of the proposals
not be funded) evaluated in panel SH1 in Step 2 were funded.
* Ranking range of your proposal out of the proposals evaluated by the panel in Step 2, in percent, from 1% for the highest ranked proposals to 100% for the lowest ranked.
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PANEL COMMENT
This evaluation report contains the final recommendations and score awarded by the ERC review panel during the
second step of the ERC Consolidator Grant review and the ranking range. The discussion of the panel was conducted
within the context of prior reviews submitted by ERC panel members and external referees and the interview with the
applicant.
The panel closely examined all the individual review reports and, while not necessarily subscribing to each and every
opinion expressed, found that they provide a fair overall assessment. The comments of the individual reviewers are
included in this report.
The presentation given by the applicant during the interview and the answers to the questions that were addressed
greatly contributed to build the panel's view about the proposal's strengths and weaknesses.
Both the individual reviews and the interview were the basis for the discussion and the final recommendation of the panel.
This proposal explores the collaboration between smart machines and human managers and examines the kind of
managerial work that emerges from such cooperation. To achieve this, the project presents three working hypotheses,
each focusing on a specific scenario in which human managers and machines work together: (1) delegation, (2)
sequential co-work, and (3) aggregated co-work.
The panel appreciated the candidate’s extensive track record in the field of digital transformation, particularly in relation to
its impact on employees, organizations, and managers.
The panel noted the ground-breaking potential of the proposal but concluded that the relationship between the qualitative
(interviews) and the quantitative (ABM) parts was not entirely clear. The information and explanations provided by the
candidate during the interview did not add sufficient clarity.
The panel therefore does not recommend the proposal for funding.
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REVIEWER COMMENTS
The following individual reviews have been carried out independently prior to the panel meeting and do not
necessarily reflect the panel's final opinion
Reviewer 1
Research Project
Ground-breaking nature and potential impact of the research project
The project is structured around a comprehensive mixed-methods approach, encompassing three distinct phases:
hypotheses development, hypotheses testing, and theory development. In the initial phase of hypothesis development,
the primary focus is on addressing research question #1, which delves into the dynamics of collaboration between
smart machines and human managers. This is excellent. This phase aims to meticulously formulate working
hypotheses denoted as A, B, and C, which collectively aim to provide a preliminary framework for addressing research
question #2. Nevertheless, the set goals lack a degree of ambition and fail to transcend the existing state of
knowledge, either through the introduction of innovative concepts and methodologies or by facilitating cross-disciplinary
advancements. This absence of heightened ambition stands as a notable drawback. Furthermore, inherent constraints
pertaining to how attributes and behavioral regulations can be precisely outlined within the context of Agent-Based
Modeling (ABM) might lead to a dilution of novelty during the translation of qualitative insights into empirically testable
hypotheses, thereby posing a risk of generating inconclusive outcomes. This limitation represents a significant concern.
Scientific Approach
The project outlined a feasible scientific approach using mixed methods, a three-phase approach, and (1) qualitative
case study research to develop hypotheses, (2) agent-based modeling to test those hypotheses, and (3) substantive
and abstract mechanism-based explanations to develop theories. Due to the possibility that full delegation, sequential
co-work, and aggregated co-work may prevent the hypotheses from being evaluated in a field context, the proposed
research is high risk–high benefit. The proposed timescales, resources and PI commitment is adequate and it is
properly justified.
Principal Investigator
To what extent has the PI demonstrated the ability to conduct ground-breaking research? Very good
To what extent does the PI provide evidence of creative independent thinking? Very good
To what extent does the PI have the required scientific expertise and capacity to successfully
Very good
execute the project?
Comments (Optional for reviewers)
The proposal is notably founded upon the scaffolding of prior research endeavors, thereby indicating a well-defined
trajectory of scholarly progression. Furthermore, the existence of a well-structured pipeline for forthcoming publications
contributes to the comprehensive scholarly standing of the PI.
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Reviewer 2
Research Project
Ground-breaking nature and potential impact of the research project
This project seeks to shed light on the work between humans and machines and the types of managerial work this
human-machine interaction generates. This is an important topic for management as machines are increasingly used
to make or contribute to managerial decisions. However, the ground-breaking potential of the project is not clear from
reading the proposal.
The focus is put on three types of "ideal" interactions, with either (i) decision-making delegated to machines, or (ii)
taking place sequentially between humans and machines, or (iii) with humans and machines working independently
with the final decision aggregating inputs from both. The research proposal contains an extensive description of
existing literature, which serves the PI to derive working hypotheses. The statements of those hypotheses, although
central to the research proposal, are not self-explanatory. For instance, the terms “more-than-human managerial work”
and “augmented system” are repeatedly used without being described.
The PI acknowledges that there are few real-world examples fitting the types of interactions considered – which poses
challenges for testing the hypothesis in real-life scenarios. The PI then proposes to rely on an approach she is not yet
familiar with (“The applicant is in the process of gaining proficiency with this method”), namely, an agent-based model.
As explained below, it is unclear whether this approach is able to provide empirical regularities to address the research
questions outlined in the proposal. It is also unclear how the outcomes of the approach could deliver lessons to
improve the interactions between humans and machines.
Scientific Approach
The research approach combines “qualitative exploratory research” through case studies, built mainly around
interviews with managers and analysis of log data generated by algorithms. Instead of testing the hypotheses in similar
settings as those from where they are obtained, the PI proposes to use an agent-based model. Simulations with
programmed behavior rules drive this model. It is thus unclear whether the outcome will just reflect those rules or the
actual behavior that would be expected from true human-machine interactions. The PI mentions a theory development
phase, which does not seem to be a formal theory. It is based on “reading, reflecting, and writing,” following an existing
approach (Rivard, S. (2021), published in the Journal of Information Technology). Overall, the project does not contain
a relevant methodological contribution.
Principal Investigator
To what extent has the PI demonstrated the ability to conduct ground-breaking research? Good
To what extent does the PI provide evidence of creative independent thinking? Good
To what extent does the PI have the required scientific expertise and capacity to successfully
Good
execute the project?
Comments (Optional for reviewers)
The PI's research has mostly been focused on analyzing the effects of technology adoption in the workplace, which is
closely linked to the current research proposal. She has a publication record covering this topic in various journals in
management, such as the Journal of Information Technology or Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, among others,
none of which are considered to be top-field journals in Management. The PI has extensive experience in conducting
the qualitative approach included in the proposal but is not trained yet to develop the agent-based model, which is
central to her proposal.
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Reviewer 3
Research Project
Ground-breaking nature and potential impact of the research project
The proposal engages with the urgent and complex challenges facing modern management, particularly the integration
of smart machines and AI. Its ambitious aim to develop new theoretical frameworks in human-AI collaboration is
compelling. The project promises transformative impacts on both theory and practice, should it succeed. The proposal
would nevertheless benefit from a deeper engagement with the existing body of research related to algorithms and AI
in the management field to ensure going beyond the current state of knowledge. Such resources include, but are not
limited to:
- Berente, N., Gu, B., Recker, J., & Santhanam, R. (2021). Managing artificial intelligence. MIS Quarterly, 45(3).
- Faraj, S., Pachidi, S., & Sayegh, K. (2018). Working and organizing in the age of the learning algorithm. Information
and Organization, 28(1), 62-70.
- Jarrahi, M. H. (2018). Artificial intelligence and the future of work: Human-AI symbiosis in organizational decision
making. Business Horizons, 61(4), 577-586.
- Raisch, S., & Krakowski, S. (2021). Artificial intelligence and management: The automation–augmentation paradox.
Academy of Management Review, 46(1), 192-210.
Scientific Approach
The proposed methods fit the research aims. The timeline provides logical progression and budgeting appears justified.
The PI has relevant expertise to guide execution and appropriate risks are acknowledged. Incorporating more
behavioral data from the field in the second project stage could enrich the model development, model validation, and
mitigate some of the challenges in accurately modelling complex organizational and cognitive processes through
simulations. A clear challenge is the limited expertise in computer science, statistics, human-computer interaction, or
related technical fields (including simulations, as acknowledged in the proposal). This is not least the case given the
complexity of developing, understanding, and deploying algorithmic systems. Overall, the approach is still reasonably
designed to achieve the ambitions.
Principal Investigator
To what extent has the PI demonstrated the ability to conduct ground-breaking research? Exceptional
To what extent does the PI provide evidence of creative independent thinking? Excellent
To what extent does the PI have the required scientific expertise and capacity to successfully
Excellent
execute the project?
Comments (Optional for reviewers)
No comments received
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Reviewer 4
Research Project
Ground-breaking nature and potential impact of the research project
To what extent does the proposed research address important challenges?
The research focus is very timely and topical: we have seen the sharp rise of AI, machine learning and natural
language processing, including generative AI recently, which poses many questions and challenges for organizations,
workers and managers. The concept of ‘more-than-human management’ is proposed as likely to differ substantially
from traditional human management.
To what extent are the objectives ambitious and beyond the state of the art (e.g., novel concepts and approaches or
development between or across disciplines)?
This is a very ambitious proposal which aims to address difficult if not intractable issues. The nature of ‘human’
managerial work is extremely complex, and investigating how human managers can work with ‘smart’ machines is a
vast enterprise. And, as rightly stated in the proposal, “little is known (…) about what managerial work routines will
actually be like when practiced by humans and smart machines together”. The aim is therefore to build a new ‘middle-
range’ theory of ‘more-than-human’ management.
Theoretically, the proposal essentially draws on the existing small number of studies which have investigated how
human managers and smart machines can work together; these are largely situated in the discipline of management
information systems research, and more precisely in the novel field of ‘algorithmic management’; presumably the
notion of ‘more-than-human management’ is offered here to contrast with and expand upon ‘algorithmic management’.
There is some, although fairly limited, overlap with literature in organizational behaviour on the nature of managerial
work. I am not entirely clear where this project would contribute in that area, apart from renewing attention on
managerial competencies (as mentioned in Table 2 Immediate Impact) in the context of managers using smart
machines. This would likely fall within the practical field of human resource management, especially training.
The intended ‘middle-range’ theorizing is not developed in the proposal, so I cannot comment on how this theorizing
would contribute to organization studies in general and to the understanding of managerial work in particular.
Specifically, the proposal states that it will establish an ‘entirely new stream of research’ about how full collaboration
between managers and smart machines ‘will gain in scope of activities and a gain in depth of knowledge of the
activities, including gain in professional judgement, that are part of managerial work’ – this is with regards to the third
hypothesis C. I am not sure how one determines a ‘gain’ in this context and how this could relate to established
organizational studies of managerial work. Why and how do the ‘emerging characteristics (e.g., scope of activities,
depth of knowledge, uniqueness of knowledge)’ describe ‘the quality of managerial work’ when compared to extent
research? Much research has exposed the difficulties in determining such ‘gains’ (who for? Compared to what?) and
‘quality’ (from what standpoint?) because they are highly dependent on the organizational context. Additionally, the first
empirical phase includes the gathering of data about workers, but this is not mentioned or theorised in the State-of-the-
Art section.
To what extent is the proposed research high risk-high gain (i.e., if successful the payoffs will be very significant, but
there is a high risk that the research project does not entirely fulfil its aims)?
The proposal draws on three categories developed in the literature on ‘algorithmic management’: delegation,
sequential co-work and aggregated co-work. These categories range respectively from a strong to a weak control of
managerial work by the smart machines, or put another way, a weak to a strong collaboration between managers and
machines.
The research project intends to assess how these three categories relate to levels of scope/variety of activities, depth
and uniqueness of knowledge, professional judgement, wisdom of decisions, and skills in managerial work. Intuitively,
it seems likely that these three categories range from low levels or ‘bot-ified’ managerial work to higher levels or a
richer kind of managerial work respectively. This is reflected in the three hypotheses proposed. One would assume that
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this can be demonstrated empirically fairly easily and can have practical managerial implications; however, I am not
sure how theoretically ground-breaking that is outside the subfield of algorithmic management, and whether this will
reach the ambitious aim of an ‘entirely new stream of research’.
Scientific Approach
To what extent is the outlined scientific approach feasible bearing in mind the extent that the proposed research is high
risk-high gain?
The first empirical phase with the three qualitative case studies follows logically from the three hypotheses and appears
feasible; and exploring workers’ perspectives (as well as managers’) is a good idea, although it is not referred to or
conceptualized elsewhere in the proposal. In terms of what data will be gathered, it is mainly about their perceptions
about the nature and quality of managerial work. This should be emphasized earlier in the proposal. Furthermore, for
hypothesis C, ‘gain’ implies gain over, or compared to, something else (prior managerial work pre-smart machine, I
presume). It is unclear how this will be elicited beyond opinions and perceptions.
To what extent are the proposed research methodology and working arrangements appropriate to achieve the goals of
the project?
In the first empirical phase, the range of primary data gathering methods is interesting and again feasible if good
company access is afforded, which seems to be the case, and there is a strong effort to ensure alternative empirical
sites in case the initial ones do not work out. The data collection techniques and coding for the first phase are well
described.
The sampling of case studies is well justified in view of the three categories and three hypotheses mentioned above,
upon which the first phase is clearly based. The risk for the third company case (corresponding to the third hypothesis)
is clearly signaled, this kind of ‘augmented’ managerial work still being rare in practice.
The second experimental phase is well justified in the context of the study and due to the practical difficulties in
comparing the three scenarios in situ. It would have been helpful to provide a better rationale for the choice of agent-
based modelling compared to alternatives. This section is also lacking details on the experimental design: which
‘variables’ will be operationalized, and how do these variables relate to the preceding phase, conceptually? What will
the ‘causal outcomes’ be? How will they be assessed? Which managerial tasks will be simulated, tested, how, with
whom, how many, how long for, etc.?
The last phase and section on ‘Theory development’ could have been much shorter, Figure 1 is self-explanatory. It
would have then given space for providing a lot more details about the preceding experimental phase.
To what extent does the proposal involve the development of novel methodology?
The mixed methods methodology is interesting and there has been many calls for more usage of mixed methods in the
field of information systems and management research in general. The particular mix here is original. However, the
links between the first qualitative and the second experimental phase should be made clearer conceptually so that we
have a much stronger sense of which type of theorizing will be developed in the final phase.
To what extent are the proposed timescales, resources and PI commitment adequate and properly justified?
These are well thought out and seem well justified, particularly the reliance on an external expert in agent-based
modelling which appears to be the PI’s main weakness. The PI is clearly well versed in qualitative research, and this is
a fairly radical change of direction.
Comments:
I am not entirely convinced about the second phase of the research design, and complementing it with an external
expert is a risky strategy; it may not ensure knowledge transfer to the PI and doctoral and post-doctoral team, which is
crucial in such an ambitious project.
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Principal Investigator
To what extent has the PI demonstrated the ability to conduct ground-breaking research? Very good
To what extent does the PI provide evidence of creative independent thinking? Excellent
To what extent does the PI have the required scientific expertise and capacity to successfully
Very good
execute the project?
Comments (Optional for reviewers)
The PI is extremely competent for the first qualitative research phase, but she is moving into unchartered waters by
embarking in a complex experimental second phase, which presents risks. Combining both is also a challenge and this
proposal does not quite convince me that it can be met.
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Reviewer 5
Research Project
Ground-breaking nature and potential impact of the research project
The project examines (1) how smart machines and human managers work together, and (2) what kind of managerial
work (e.g., how rich in skills, how wise in decisions) this generates, with the aim of building a new general theory of
more-than-human management. To this end, the project puts forward 3 working hypotheses each focusing on a
specific scenario in which human managers and machines work together, namely (1) delegation, (2) sequential co-
work, and (3) aggregated co-work.
The overall theme of the project is obviously highly topical and relevant, as algorithms are increasingly taking over
activities traditionally taken care of by humans. Management is a good example of this development. Altogether, the
project is well-positioned to contribute to the scholarly discussion on the future of work taking place within the
information systems (IS) and management and organization (M&O) disciplines. However, the research plan does not
explicitly articulate what the PI considers the project's main sources of academic breakthroughs. My interpretation is
that the main potential breakthrough could emerge from the theory development phase of the project. It is very difficult,
maybe impossible, to meaninfully foresee at this point what kind of theory will emerge from the project and whether this
. Hence, the project fulfills the criterion of being high-risk.
Scientific Approach
The methods presented support meeting the objectives of the project. The PI clearly has a very strong track record and
competence in conducting qualitative research.
The agent-based modeling to be undertaken in the second phase of the projec can be consider a novel methodology in
the scholarly discourse(s) the project is positioned to contribute to. The method can potentially be relevant to meet the
objectives of the project. At the same time, however, the PI is in the process of building her competence and command
of the method. This means that the project is quite heavily reliant on collaborations in this area. I don't consider this a
problem per se, but it is a potential risk regarding the execution of the research activities.
The present scheduling and resourcing seem to appropriate. The PI meaningfully acknowledges the host institution's
(understandable) challenges related to recruiting PhD students.
Principal Investigator
To what extent has the PI demonstrated the ability to conduct ground-breaking research? Exceptional
To what extent does the PI provide evidence of creative independent thinking? Exceptional
To what extent does the PI have the required scientific expertise and capacity to successfully
Very good
execute the project?
Comments (Optional for reviewers)
The PI has a track-record of conducting research related to the topic of the project. She published her work in very
good outlets. All in all, the PI has a strong capacity to successfully execute the research. Her track-record in terms of
obtaining research funding and leading research projects is however limited. The most relevant merit in this area is the
99k€ funding from Estonian Research Council.
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Reviewer 6
Research Project
Ground-breaking nature and potential impact of the research project
The proposed research addresses the new phenomenon of smart machines and human managers working together
and the new output and work they generate.
The research objectives are ambitious in terms of providing insights into new ways of working at a managerial level,
supported by intelligent artificial systems. The high-gain element of the research is its relevance to organisations'
current state of play in the wake of digitisation and artificial intelligence applications. Until recently, there has been a
noticeable lack of emphasis within the management field on the digitalization of managerial decisions and activities.
This proposal has the potential to address some of the existing gaps in the literature by introducing a novel concept
termed 'more than human management.' This concept indicates the opportunity to integrate new theoretical elements
for the creation and examination of innovative theories in this particular domain.
Scientific Approach
Although this project is characterized by its methodological complexity and the intricate nature of its subject matter, it
acknowledges and addresses relevant risks, demonstrating a robust approach to mitigating potential challenges.
The project proposes a scientific approach that utilizes mixed methods in a three-phase strategy, involving developing
hypotheses through qualitative analysis, testing the hypotheses through agent-based modelling, and developing
theories. It is worth noting that the research carries a high-risk, high-reward element due to the potential inability to test
hypotheses in a real-world setting.
This proposal establishes a set of operational hypotheses that enable the examination of managerial work beyond
human-centric perspectives under various hypothetical scenarios, with documented involvement from two of the three
case studies. The choice of employing agent-based modelling is well-founded, considering that the identified
hypotheses may not be testable in practical field settings.
Principal Investigator
To what extent has the PI demonstrated the ability to conduct ground-breaking research? Excellent
To what extent does the PI provide evidence of creative independent thinking? Excellent
To what extent does the PI have the required scientific expertise and capacity to successfully
Excellent
execute the project?
Comments (Optional for reviewers)
The PI has showcased pioneering research abilities while collaborating with doctoral and post-doctoral scholars. The
budget is thoughtfully allocated towards a substantial collaborative research team.
This proposal is an extension of the PI's prior research efforts and leverages an existing stream of publications. The PI
possesses a deep comprehension of digital transformation and its impact on work and extensive proficiency in
qualitative research techniques within this domain. The researcher has significant expertise in conducting influential
research related to digital transformation in organisations.
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Reviewer 7
Research Project
Ground-breaking nature and potential impact of the research project
The proposed research tackles an increasingly important but rather under-developed topic in management. While
traditional approaches have either relied on human managers or delegated simple tasks to ML algorithms, this project
aims to explore the implications of partially automating more complex managerial functions through human and non-
human managerial cooperation. This shift from an "either/or dichotomy" to a collaborative approach between human
managers and AI introduces a novel perspective and has the potential to shed light on the required managerial skills
and decision quality in this evolving landscape, thus contributing to new theory development. Given its unexplored
nature, the proposal is classified as a high-risk/high-gain endeavor. One significant risk is the current limitation in
studying real-life applications of ML algorithms, as acknowledged by the PI. However, the groundbreaking potential of
this research lies in developing new insights into the fast-paced adoption and use of AI in management. By examining
how this adoption affects managerial work and interactions with smart machines, the project can shed light on the
potential impact on collaboration and decision-making quality. While the research poses certain challenges, the
potential gains are substantial. The findings could have far-reaching implications for understanding the changing
dynamics in managerial roles, AI-human collaboration, and the optimization of decision-making processes. In
conclusion, the proposal presents a high-risk/high-gain research project that addresses a novel and critical aspect of AI
adoption in management. By investigating the implications of human and non-human managerial cooperation, the
research has the potential to make significant contributions to both theory and practice, offering valuable insights into
the future of AI-augmented management processes.
Scientific Approach
The outlined approach of the proposal is classified as high risk/high gain. It involves the application of mixed methods
to develop and test hypotheses, leading to the development of new theory in the field. The research will explore three
situations of 'more-than-human' AI management applications, specifically delegation, sequential co-work, and
aggregated co-work, utilizing Agent-Based Modeling (ABM) for analysis. One potential risk is the lack of previous
experience from the PI in using ABM. While the PI plans to collaborate with an ABM expert and invest effort in gaining
proficiency with ABM, the dependence on this method still poses a high risk for the project's success. The use of a new
method requires a learning curve and may lead to challenges in implementing the research effectively. The detailed
description of the work plan and efforts to mitigate risks is commendable, indicating a well-thought-out strategy for
project execution. The justified time plan adds credibility to the proposal's feasibility. A significant portion of the budget
is allocated to manpower, including involving another senior scholar with documented ABM experiences. The inclusion
of two doctoral students and two postdocs further supports the project's complexity and potential impact. However, it is
noted that higher PI involvement would have enhanced the proposal's persuasiveness. Leadership responsibility is
crucial for guiding the project and ensuring its successful implementation. A more substantial commitment from the PI
may have instilled greater confidence in the project's feasibility. In conclusion, the proposal presents an ambitious and
high-risk/high-gain research project exploring 'more-than-human' AI management applications. The mixed methods
approach and utilization of ABM introduce both opportunities and challenges. While the detailed work plan and budget
allocation are well-justified, the project's dependency on ABM and the importance of higher PI involvement should be
considered in addressing potential risks and ensuring successful project execution.
Principal Investigator
To what extent has the PI demonstrated the ability to conduct ground-breaking research? Excellent
To what extent does the PI provide evidence of creative independent thinking? Excellent
To what extent does the PI have the required scientific expertise and capacity to successfully
Excellent
execute the project?
Comments (Optional for reviewers)
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This PI’s consistent and high-impact track record in the field of digital transformation, particularly in relation to its impact
on employees, organizations, and managers, is a significant asset that clearly support the viability of the proposed
research
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Step 2 Evaluation Report
CONFIDENTIAL
Call reference ERC-2023-SyG
Activity HORIZON ERC Synergy Grants
Funding scheme ERC Synergy Grants
Panel name SyG2D
Proposal No. 101118952
Acronym RIGOR
Applicant(s) Lassi Juhani PÄIVÄRINTA; Michael FLETCHER; Markku LEHTINEN
Title Digital super telescopes and RIGOrous theory of Radars
EVALUATION CRITERIA
Criterion 1 - RESEARCH PROJECT
Ground-breaking nature and potential impact of the research project
To what extent does the proposed research address important challenges?
To what extent are the objectives ambitious and beyond the state of the art (e.g. novel concepts and approaches or
development between or across disciplines)?
To what extent is the proposed research high risk-high gain (i.e. if successful the payoffs will be very significant, but there is
a high risk that the research project does not entirely fulfil its aims)?
Scientific Approach
To what extent is the outlined scientific approach feasible bearing in mind the extent that the proposed research is high risk-
high gain?
To what extent does the proposal go beyond what the individual Principal Investigators could achieve alone?
To what extent do the Principal Investigators succeed in proposing a combination of scientific approaches that are crucial to
address the scope and complexity of the research question to be tackled?
To what extent are the proposed research methodology and working arrangements appropriate to achieve the goals of the
project?
To what extent does the proposal involve the development of novel methodology?
To what extent are the proposed timescales, resources and PI commitment adequate and properly justified?
Criterion 2 - PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATORS
Intellectual capacity and creativity
The questions below can have one of the following five responses: Exceptional/Excellent/Very Good/Good/Non-competitive
To what extent have the PIs demonstrated the ability to conduct ground-breaking research?
To what extent do the PIs have the required scientific expertise and capacity to successfully execute the project?
To what extent does the Synergy Grant Group successfully demonstrate in the proposal that it brings together the know-how
- such as skills, experience, expertise, disciplines, teams - necessary to address the proposed research question?
PANEL SCORE AND RANKING RANGE
Final panel score: B (is of high quality but not sufficient to Ranking range*: 58%-100%
pass to Step 3 of the evaluation. Please For your information, only the top 57% of the proposals
note that you may also be subject to evaluated in panel SyG2D were retained for Step 3.
resubmission limitations in the next call)
* Ranking range of your proposal out of the proposals evaluated by the panel in Step 2, in percent, from 1% for the highest ranked proposals to 100% for the lowest ranked.
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PANEL COMMENT
This evaluation report contains the final scores awarded by the ERC review panel during the second step of the ERC
Synergy Grant review and the ranking range. The panel based its appraisal on prior individual reviews of the full proposal
conducted by ERC panel members and external reviewers.
The panel closely examined all the individual review reports and, while not necessarily subscribing to each and every
opinion expressed, found that they provide a fair overall assessment. The comments of the individual reviewers were the
basis for the panel's discussion and for the final recommendation of the panel, and are included in this report. The final
conclusion of the panel is also included in this panel comment.
The applicants are highly regarded specialists in their fields and they put forward a proposal with ambitious objectives
that could potentially lead to breakthroughs in the planetary radar field. The synergistic collaboration among different
disciplines allows to face the challenges of this proposal. However, the design methods and radar signal processing
methods proposed to build such a radar are not clear. Also, the requested resources are not sufficiently justified and the
description of the state of the art appears incomplete and not up-to-date.
The panel was of the opinion that on a global level, this proposal was more incremental in nature than ground-breaking.
The panel considered that the proposal is of overall high quality. However, based on the combined set of criteria used in
the assessment it was not ranked highly enough to be retained for the final step of the evaluation. The panel therefore
recommends that the proposal should not be retained for Step 3 and should not be considered for funding.
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REVIEWER COMMENTS
The following individual reviews have been carried out independently prior to the panel meeting and do not
necessarily reflect the panel's final opinion
Reviewer 1
Research Project
Ground-breaking nature and potential impact of the research project
This proposal aims at consolidating past works of PIs for realizing incoherent scatter radars based on innovative
measurement methods, signal processing and analysis that allows to achieve better performances. In particular, the
project aims at demonstrating novel types of processes where microscopic interactions can drive a macroscopic abrupt
phase transition.
The project starts from theoretical work performed in the past by PIs and further used all around the world to develop
radars. In order to do so, it addresses several paramount challenges related to mathematics, signal processing,
statistics, as well as working with real antennas.
Objectives of providing measurement instrumentation, algorithms and signal processing methodologies are quite
ambitious and but it is not clear how much they are innovative and how much they are incremental with respect to the
state of the art.
Thus, while there is no doubt that this proposal has a high potential impact, its ground-breaking nature is not fully
evident.
Scientific Approach
The project supports the develop new measurement data analysis and instrumentation for super radars and telescopes
with optimized ubiquitous design backed by first-principles based mathematical inversion theory.
The proposed scientific approach is definitely very feasible, as continuation of past activities of PIs, but not clearly high
risk/high gain.
The proposal as it combines the knowledge in mathematics, signal processing, statistics, and the capacity of all the
individual principal investigators clearly goes far beyond their standalone research, and appears as a natural and
necessary collaboration.
In this sense, the combination of scientific elements indicated above is very important for addressing the scope and
complexity of the radar discussed in this proposal, and the synergistic collaboration among different disciplines allows
to face the challenges of this proposal.
The proposal involve the development of methodologies for build methods and instrumentation for super radars and
telescopes with optimized ubiquitous design, but even if the proposed research methodology and working
arrangements are very appropriate to achieve the general goal of the project, their novelty is not sufficiently
substantiated.
Further, the timescale, the resources (including budget breakdown per PI) and the time commitment for each PI are
adequate, even if the high involvement of the PI and senior staff of the corresponding organization are not sufficiently
justified. Also, no justification is given for not having any PhD positions in the project.
Principal Investigators
To what extent have the PIs demonstrated the ability to conduct ground-breaking research? Non-competitive
To what extent do the PIs have the required scientific expertise and capacity to successfully
Good
execute the project?
To what extent does the Synergy Grant Group successfully demonstrate in the proposal that it
brings together the know-how - such as skills, experience, expertise, disciplines, teams - Very good
necessary to address the proposed research question?
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Comments (Optional for reviewers)
The principal investigators demonstrate good competence in mathematics, signal processing, and statistics, which are
required to successfully execute the project. However, their expertise and capacity in executing and conducting
ground-breaking projects is not evident.
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Reviewer 2
Research Project
Ground-breaking nature and potential impact of the research project
The proposed research focuses on the definition and on the development of a rigorous theory of antenna design and
signal processing to push the limits of radar for space science and astronomy.
The objectives are ambitions and well beyond the state of the art. Research is high-risk high-gain and represents an
extension of the work some of the PIs have done in the past.
Scientific Approach
The outlined scientific approach is very feasible given the expertise of the proposing team. The project objective go
well beyond what a single PI can achieve and requires the expertise and the actual work of all the PI teams.
The research methodology seems sound, but the time development of the project is not discussed in detail. The PIs
will build on their previous expertise.
The timescales seem justified, even if the 3.1 MEUR prototyping cost of PI2 is a large cost that is not fully justified.
Principal Investigators
To what extent have the PIs demonstrated the ability to conduct ground-breaking research? Very good
To what extent do the PIs have the required scientific expertise and capacity to successfully
Excellent
execute the project?
To what extent does the Synergy Grant Group successfully demonstrate in the proposal that it
brings together the know-how - such as skills, experience, expertise, disciplines, teams - Very good
necessary to address the proposed research question?
Comments (Optional for reviewers)
PIs 1 and 3 are well-known experts in the field of the project and have developed inelastic scattering radar methods
that are presently applied and represent the state of the art. PI 2 has specific hardware expertise and a professional
career not specifically research-based but important for the project. It is not clear from the proposal whether the project
in the case of PI1 and PI3 will be carried on by a team or mainly by the PIs.
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Reviewer 3
Research Project
Ground-breaking nature and potential impact of the research project
Building the methodological capability for taking full advantage of large-scale radar and antenna systems, with the
necessary mathematical underpinnings, is a highly important challenge with several applications, with the large-scale
EISCAT et al a very nice case.
The project aims at going clearly beyond state of the art in all its three objectives; there is high risk in both each of the
fields, and in making them work well together.
Scientific Approach
This clearly could not be done by any of the PIs alone, and with this constellation of PIs seems feasible, given their
collaboration history.
The PIs have ample experience in their fields and the approaches are very well justified. Novel methodology will be
developed to a great extent.
The proposal is thinner on the practices of actually working togehter, and timescales.
Principal Investigators
To what extent have the PIs demonstrated the ability to conduct ground-breaking research? Excellent
To what extent do the PIs have the required scientific expertise and capacity to successfully
Exceptional
execute the project?
To what extent does the Synergy Grant Group successfully demonstrate in the proposal that it
brings together the know-how - such as skills, experience, expertise, disciplines, teams - Excellent
necessary to address the proposed research question?
Comments (Optional for reviewers)
No comments received
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Reviewer 4
Research Project
Ground-breaking nature and potential impact of the research project
The stated objective to generalize the team’s existing accomplishments in signal processing and analysis. The
underlying importance of the scientific aims is not clearly developed.
The team has a strong connection to the existing EISCAT_3D, which offers a promising facility for deployment of any
new software developments, but no guarantee of their use. Some of the related goals have merit purely as theoretical
developments (e.g., general principles for antennas), but these have limited scientific significance.
The proposal asserts that this work will be state-of-the-art.
The proposed work does not reach significantly across disciplines or bring together very different types of expertise.
The basic combination of theory and experiment is not novel.
Scientific Approach
The PIs have made past progress in the field, which implies room for continued advancement. The work relies on a
combination of theoretical and experimental/practical expertise, which no participant would fully cover alone. However,
the text does not elaborate on the relationship between the specific theoretical and experimental contributions to the
proposed work, and it does not demonstrate how the combined effort is greater than the sum of its parts.
The program offers a common application in radar that could make use of the multiple developments proposed here.
The work is computationally intensive, and expenses for computing facilities are included. Other significant hardware
includes a test transmitter.
The proposal reasonably includes significant costs for essential equipment. However, the apparent total lack of some
basic versions or related equipment suggests that this team is not currently active in the field.
The PIs will dedicate significant effort to this work. They will not involve any funded students in the program. Some
funding is allocated to postdoctoral researchers, but their number, specific tasks or projects, and the duration of the
employment are not described.
The proposal does not give any timeline for the work, only the implication that the collection of projects will be
completed over the lifetime of the funded program.
Principal Investigators
To what extent have the PIs demonstrated the ability to conduct ground-breaking research? Non-competitive
To what extent do the PIs have the required scientific expertise and capacity to successfully
Good
execute the project?
To what extent does the Synergy Grant Group successfully demonstrate in the proposal that it
brings together the know-how - such as skills, experience, expertise, disciplines, teams - Non-competitive
necessary to address the proposed research question?
Comments (Optional for reviewers)
The PIs do not all demonstrate the ability to do ground-breaking research. At least one brings primarily technical
expertise.
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The proposal overall does not provide sufficient information to demonstrate that the full range of relevant and
necessary skills will be available to complete this work successfully.
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Reviewer 5
Research Project
Ground-breaking nature and potential impact of the research project
This proposal includes three main challenges:
1) improved design of large-scale radars and radio-telescopes,
2) inverse problems, and
3) an optimized wideband antenna design,
that are “oriented” towards:
1) the development of a methodology of the 2nd phase of EISCAT 3D, and
2) the design a distributed synthetic aperture at HF using smallsats.
The topics are important, and ambitious. The smallsat synthetic aperture is mentioned, but then it vanished.
Additionally, authors’ background in the field of smallsats is inexistent, or marginal, or at least this reviewer has not
been able to find it. This topic could be by itself and ERC AdG.
While in principle these overarching goals categorize as high risk-high gain, this reviewer finds some aspects of the
proposal uneven: while the radar coding methods seem cutting-edge, there are other aspects listed below that are not
or just incremental knowledge (antenna and array design, SDR back-ends etc.). It seems to this reviewer that most of
the progress to be done will be conducted by one PI, and the other two, with complementary expertise will support the
hardware and experimental activities.
According to the PIs, current radar designs are sub-optimum, because the improper coding method, the non-optimal
signal processing, and data analysis, the non-physical a priori models of the target, and the “wrong” way to estimate
the errors in the measurements. This reviewer is a bit skeptical of some of the claimed gains:
1) Pure mathematical models: From a mathematical point of view a “an exact model of the target and the
measurement” will be derived, but in my opinion it can be just that: a model, which can be significantly different from
the reality. It is true that Physicists and Engineers have different views from Mathematicians, but it is experience and
actual data, what helps to refine and improve the models, not just abstract mathematical concepts.
2) Antenna array geometries are a very mature area, and progress will likely produce only marginal improvements.
Today, imaging algorithms have even been developed for synthetic aperture arrays with random and moving elements,
such as in satellite swarms.
3) Tripolar and multipole antennas seem novel, and almost no public references are found. Although there are tripole
and multipole antennas in the literature, they do not seem to refer the same type of antenna as the authors’, although
having the same name.
Scientific Approach
The scientific approach is feasible, but the methodology could be better explained, at least in terms of the workflow,
even without going into the typical WBS and Gantt. It is understood that it is research, and nobody knows what you are
going to find, but you need to have a clear idea of the steps you want to follow, and what would be your plan B… not
just which are the goals.
The methodology seems a continuation of the one conducted in the original design of EISCAT 3D, that was not
finished at that time, which is valuable.
The proposal goes beyond what each individual PI can achieve, and the three profiles are complementary
(mathematical background and hardware: SDRs, antennas etc.). However, this reviewer believes that neither the work
is evenly distributed among the researchers, nor the topics where most of the cutting-edge research will be conducted
are evenly distributed (the radar signal design). It is not the fraction of the time devoted to the project, it is about the
topic of each one. The other two PIs, will bring their valuable knowledge, but their task seems more engineering
design.
Because of the above, and despite the efforts put by the authors in preparing this proposal, it seems to me more a
juxtaposition of proposals, rather than their convolution.
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PIs’ commitment seems appropriate, also the project duration, although there is neither a detailed work package
breakdown structure, nor a Gantt diagram detailing the project milestones and evolution. I think that engineering
aspects are a bit undervalued. Even just developing a small array will bring numerous technical challenges, which can
be -at least- as complex as the scientific challenges to be tackled.
The requested resources are not properly justified. The statement “it is impossible to present a detailed cost
breakdown structure at this point. We want to create and test new scientific/technological paradigms, which cannot be
done by buying readily developed products from the market” is not acceptable to pretend to justify the lack of detail of
expenses for up to ~4.5 M€.
Total equipment requested -for example- is 3.5 M€, going mostly to PI 2. Frankly, it looks to me that there is n intention
to fully equip a lab in the company. This is even more exaggerated when one revises budget item C1, with
subcontracting costs of ~0.5 M€ for both PI 2 and PI 3, which are supposed to be used to develop this new
instrumentation… so the detail of the 3.5 M€ to be spent in lab equipment must be clarified. On the other hand,
consumables are very small (1500 € in total), despite we know that in a RF/electronics lab this budget item is orders of
magnitude higher, especially with all the planned hardware developments. Publication fees for a 6-yer project are very
low as well, assuming each article processing charges (APCs) equals 2 K€ per paper, this accounts for a total of 10
publication for PI 1, 3 for PI 2, and about 5 for IP 3, which is not a very high publication rate. Having said this, I do not
mean that the quality of the work has to be measured by the “weight” (i.e. number of publications), instead of the
quality of the individual publications, but for a ground-breaking project, which will supposedly provide many new
results, I found this number a bit low. Last, but not least, it seems that only one postdoc will be hired by PI 2. Overall,
despite subcontracting the development of new (TBD) instrumentation, the team seem a small one to tackle the
magnitude of the proposal.
Principal Investigators
To what extent have the PIs demonstrated the ability to conduct ground-breaking research? Exceptional
To what extent do the PIs have the required scientific expertise and capacity to successfully
Excellent
execute the project?
To what extent does the Synergy Grant Group successfully demonstrate in the proposal that it
brings together the know-how - such as skills, experience, expertise, disciplines, teams - Excellent
necessary to address the proposed research question?
Comments (Optional for reviewers)
[Overall evaluation in first item is Exceptional because of PI 1 and PI 3, but in my opinion PI 2 lacks this ability]
PI 1 has a moderate publication record (31 papers, 4131 citations, in Google Scholar), and has advised 15 PhD
students. Most of the scientific developments of the project should be carried by him, in case it is granted. PI 1 benefit
from an ERC AdG in 2010, and in the opinion of this reviewer he is the one with the largest demonstrated capability to
conduct ground breaking research.
PI 2 has a weak publication record (2 publications, 14 citations), but he has a long industry experience. He will be
receiving most of the equipment, and subcontracting budget, and he will be in charge of the prototype developments. I
wonder if they could be developed in house, or in collaboration with some university labs, such as Aalto University.
PI 3 publication record is more difficult to find, it is not in Google Scholar, but in Scopus he appears to have ~60, with
about ~1280 citations, and has advised 9 PhD students.
In general, the 3 PIs bring complementary skills needed for the execution of a project as the one proposed. They are
good, but I tend to disagree with their statement in Part B1, page 5: “All we together are world leading experts in the
field. We have the best radar methods in the world, but ’selling’ them to practical engineers requires that we are
impeccable in every respect and can describe our leadership in many different terminologies in mathematics, physics
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and engineering.”
These 3 researchers are good, but there are great engineers and physicists out there with years-person of experience
in radar design AND manufacturing.
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Reviewer 6
Research Project
Ground-breaking nature and potential impact of the research project
The scope of this proposal is to derive methods and instrumentation for new radars systems based mathematical
inversion theory. The proposers claim that they want to advance every aspect of the design of this kind of radar
system, from the antenna design to the solution of inverse problems, from the digital signal processor to the hardware
architecture. The results of this project should represent the input (or an aid) of the second phase of EISCAT_3D. No
doubt that the challenges addressed in this proposal are very important. However, if the general aims of this proposal
are clear, how to achieve these ambitious goals is rather vaguely described in the proposal. The state of the art is
largely incomplete. Reading the proposal it seems that the contribution of the radar community to the state of the art
has not been significant after the publication of the 3rd volume of Larry Van Trees published more than 50 years ago. It
seems that the proposers are not aware of many research works published in the most relevant radar and antenna
design journals (IEEE Transactions of Aerospace and Electronic systems, IET Radar Sonar and Navigation, IEEE
Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, IEEE Sensors Journal , IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and
Techniques, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing , IET Microwaves Antennas and Propagation ,
IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing, to mention only a few of them). What are the present weaknesses and what
are the improvements that the proposer want to achieve and how to achieve them is vary vaguely described. Hence, it
is difficult to judge the risk that the research project does not entirely fulfill its aims, since these aims are not clearly
stated. In the proposal, I find a description of EISCAT, but not a description of the state of the art in terms of antenna
design, radar target modeling and radar signal processing methods for array radars.
Scientific Approach
The proposers certainly have the knowledge and experience to improve some aspects of EISCAT, e.g. the inversion
methods adopted to retrieve the radar reflectivity map. Some of the stated objectives would require additional expertise
in my opinion. The next-generation EISCAT radar (EISCAT_3D) will be a software-defined array radar. Hence, I would
expect that the proposers clearly explain which new antenna design methods and radar signal processing methods to
aim to derive, or how to improve existing methods, and how they want to measure the improvement. I cannot find this
information in the current proposal. As an example, they mention the issue of mutual couplings, but they do not
mention the current methods to take antenna coupling into account and how to improve with respect to the state of the
art. In the proposal I find the list of objectives very vaguely stated, but not the milestones to achieve the final goals. I
cannot find the organization of the various temporal phases of the work. The methodology is also very vaguely
described and so I doubt it is appropriate to achieve the ambitious goals of the project. In the description of the
objectives, I often find the word “optimal” but it is never stated what is the criterion of optimality adopted here. For
example it is not clear what is the definition of optimal array geometry, the same for the optimal radar code. The
goodness of a radar code can be measured by using different criteria. It is not clear how they can design a radar code
with no side lobes. In equation 1 they cite space-time Gaussian white noise, but in radar scenarios the clutter is always
present, often correlated and sometimes non Gaussian.
Principal Investigators
To what extent have the PIs demonstrated the ability to conduct ground-breaking research? Excellent
To what extent do the PIs have the required scientific expertise and capacity to successfully
Very good
execute the project?
To what extent does the Synergy Grant Group successfully demonstrate in the proposal that it
brings together the know-how - such as skills, experience, expertise, disciplines, teams - Very good
necessary to address the proposed research question?
Comments (Optional for reviewers)
The PI is a mathematician expert in solving EM inverse problems and its applications. He obtained the ERC’s
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Advanced Grant in 2010. PI2 has a vast experience in wireless systems design with applications to satellite
communications, with years of professional experience. PI3 is also an expert in incoherent scatter radar measurement
techniques, ionospheric radar measurements, inverse problems and in particular Bayesian inverse methods. None of
them are expert of radar signal processing. In the list of their works I do not find anyone published in the most relevant
radar and antenna design journals, such as e.g. IEEE Transactions of Aerospace and Electronic systems, IET Radar
Sonar and Navigation, IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, IEEE Sensors Journal , IEEE Transactions
on Microwave Theory and Techniques, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing , IET Microwaves
Antennas and Propagation , IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing, to mention only a few of them.
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Reviewer 7
Research Project
Ground-breaking nature and potential impact of the research project
The proposed research certainly addresses important challenges, from both the theoretical and the engineering point
of views. The proposed large-scale radio array is not new as idea, since there are already at least 3 operational
systems in the world: SKA, EISCAT and Sanya. What is new is the theoretical rigorous approach, based on the
mathematical inversion theory, to build optimized antennas and a planetary radar. These theoretical results seem to be
already available to the applicants (at least partially), but never applied in a real system as could be EISCAT_3D.
Difficult to judge the risk of the project. There are not many details and the applicants are so sure of their success that
everything seems to be possible. It needs only to be applied, beating the conservative attitude of EISCAT. Anyway, the
gain would be high, particularly in terms of image resolution or of data processing time, that nowadays is too long.
Also, the optimization and testing of antennas with a radiation pattern frequency independent over a wide range of
frequencies can have a large impact on other related areas.
The project needs expertise from different braches of science and engineering. In that sense, it is interdisciplinary
Scientific Approach
The proposal is not always clear and detailed. Sometimes some technique is cited, but without reference (see for
instance Turowski brushes).
The proposal talked about “perfect radar code” without sidelobes, that sounds quite strange to me. At least, it is not
clear what they mean with “sidelobes” here. It would have been beneficial to explain what is the peculiarity of these
codes that make them "perfect" for this application. Pulse compression and compression codes are standard in many
radar applications.
The idea of the tripolar antennas, already partially experimented by HI2, is interesting.
The applicants mention also “new kinds of beamforming signal processing”, necessary for their system, but never
provide any hint on these algorithms. Moreover, at the beginning of the section “Methodology”, the applicants waste
time and space in criticizing the common engineering approach and common lack of knowledge of what they think is
basic, instead of really describing why their approach will work much better.
The other interesting idea is to use a fleet of small satellites for measuring the HF radio waves that generally do not
penetrate the ionosphere. A radio map of the universe at low frequency would be a great achievement.
The “Mathematical proofs to replace preliminary results on antenna geometry” is quite generic. Not clear what has
been done and how difficult will be the remaining part. Conversely, the section on antenna prototyping is better written
and shows that the applicants have a very good knowledge of this practical aspects (not only about theory).
The 3 research groups integrate perfectly their expertise, covering the aspects of EM modeling, inverse problems, and
mathematical theoretical analysis.
PIs commitment is satisfactory but I’m surprised that there are not student salaries nor post-docs for the corresponding
PI and 3rd PI. Moreover the travel expenses seem to be a bit high.
Principal Investigators
To what extent have the PIs demonstrated the ability to conduct ground-breaking research? Excellent
To what extent do the PIs have the required scientific expertise and capacity to successfully
Excellent
execute the project?
To what extent does the Synergy Grant Group successfully demonstrate in the proposal that it
brings together the know-how - such as skills, experience, expertise, disciplines, teams - Very good
necessary to address the proposed research question?
Comments (Optional for reviewers)
My impression is that they overstate a bit their competence. I looked at google scholar and I have not found many
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papers and citations. Anyway, they seem to have the right expertise and they complement and integrate each other in
this project. I suggest that they hire also PhD students and post-docs.
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Reviewer 8
Research Project
Ground-breaking nature and potential impact of the research project
1. To what extent does the proposed research address important challenges?
The proposal aims to develop advanced methods and instrumentation for super radars and telescopes, incorporating
optimized design principles supported by rigorous mathematical inversion theory. The proposed research will tackle a
range of significant challenges in the fields of mathematics and engineering. These challenges encompass large-scale
radars and telescopes, inverse problems, as well as antenna, antenna array, and digital signal processing engineering.
2. To what extend are the objectives ambitious and beyond the state of the art (e.g. novel concepts and approaches or
development between or across disciplines)?
The proposal outlines a set of ambitious objectives that seek to address fundamental mathematical questions in
antenna theory, enhance optimization results for antenna arrays, develop prototypes of advanced antenna elements
and arrays, and establish a meticulously optimized planetary radar system. The overarching goal is to create
opportunities for groundbreaking advancements in radar and antenna technology, space research, and Bayesian
inversion theory, thereby paving the way for new avenues of exploration and potential breakthroughs.
3. To what extend is the proposed research high risk-high gain (i.e. if successful the payoffs will be very significant, but
there is a high risk that the research project does not entirely fulfill its aims)?
The proposed research carries a high risk-high gain profile. If successful, it has the potential to provide groundbreaking
insights into radar and antenna technology, as well as advance the field of mathematical inversion theory by
addressing significant mathematical and engineering questions. As mentioned, the proposal presents a series of
ambitious objectives that, if achieved, could lead to substantial advancements. The three Principal Investigators (PIs)
bring together their synergistic and complementary expertise in their respective fields to tackle these objectives.
However, it is important to note that the proposed research activities may require a substantial research team to be
successfully executed.
Scientific Approach
1. To what extent is the outlined scientific approach feasible bearing in mind the extent that the proposed research is
high risk-high gain?
The proposed research activities align with the expertise of the Principal Investigators, who are recognized as leading
experts in their respective fields with well-established research records. Within the proposal, the Principal Investigators
have presented preliminary results, demonstrating progress in the research. Additionally, the outlined scientific
approaches are deemed feasible.
2. To what extent does the proposal go beyond what the individual Principal Investigators could achieve alone?
This proposal is interdisciplinary in nature, necessitating expertise in mathematics, as well as radar and antenna theory
and technology. The attainment of the proposed objectives is unlikely to be accomplished by any individual Principal
Investigator working alone.
3. To what extent do the Principal Investigators succeed in proposing a combination of scientific approaches that are
crucial to address the scope and complexity of the research question to be tackled?
This proposal demonstrates excellent writing, effectively presenting the state-of-the-art and outlining the objectives.
The proposal provides a clear description of the challenges associated with each aspect and outlines the scientific
approaches that will be employed to address the research questions.
4. To what extent are the proposed research methodology and working arrangements appropriate to achieve the goals
of the project?
The proposal outlines three objectives, where the Principal Investigators describe the research methodology and the
actions they will undertake. However, further clarification is needed regarding the specific implementation details of
their proposed methods. To strengthen the proposal, providing additional details about the proposed methods would
enhance the understanding of how the Principal Investigators plan to accomplish their objectives.
5. To what extent does the proposal involve the development of novel methodology?
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The Principal Investigators aim to advance Bayesian inversion theory and enhance antenna theory and technology.
However, it remains unclear how the proposed methodology will surpass the existing results in these areas. While the
intentions of the Principal Investigators to develop Bayesian inversion theory and improve antenna theory and
technology are clear, further clarification is needed to demonstrate how the proposed methodology will go beyond the
current state of research.
6. To what extent are the proposed timescales, resources and PI commitment adequate and properly justified?
The commitment of the Principal Investigators (PIs) is sufficient and appropriately justified. However, it is unclear what
additional personnel would be involved in the proposed research, aside from the three PIs. Given the ambitious
objectives of the proposal, it is recommended to include junior researchers to complement the expertise of the Principal
Investigators and support the successful execution of the research.
Principal Investigators
To what extent have the PIs demonstrated the ability to conduct ground-breaking research? Exceptional
To what extent do the PIs have the required scientific expertise and capacity to successfully
Excellent
execute the project?
To what extent does the Synergy Grant Group successfully demonstrate in the proposal that it
brings together the know-how - such as skills, experience, expertise, disciplines, teams - Excellent
necessary to address the proposed research question?
Comments (Optional for reviewers)
No comments received
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Reviewer 9
Research Project
Ground-breaking nature and potential impact of the research project
The proposed research furthers the state of the art in imaging of phenomena observed in radio wavelengths. The
current approaches are compute intensive, and progress is required on many fronts such as proposed here. This is an
important challenge to undertake, relevant to many fields.
The objectives are truly ambitious, being a dramatic extension and subsequent demonstration of previous work. The
activities are geared to facilitating practical high performance designs in a number of disciplines.
The overall programme of work is high risk, purely because of its scope (advancing theory, instrumentation and
applications in the same programme. Should it succeed, it is very high value.
Scientific Approach
The scientific approach has been proven feasible, and the work is geared to demonstrating practicality in implementing
high performance systems fulfilling the promise.
There is a distinct mix of theoretical, experimental and engineering expertise in the team which is not present in the
same proportion in any one individual.
The PIs do indeed succeed in proposing credible approaches to the ongoing development and implementation of their
ideas.
The work is multifarious and scientific and engineering terms and the interdependences are not clear to achieving the
ultimate outputs of designs of advanced instruments and systems. The working arrangements are nonetheless suited
to the work.
Novel methodology is the main thrust of the proposal.
The proposal is not clear on programmatics; as noted above, the dependencies are not drawn out, and the task
breakdown not fully clear. In envelope terms, the duration and costs are as expected for a programme that produces
designs and prototypes. It is not clear how much access to EISCAT and Sanya facilities are required to achieve the
goals.
Principal Investigators
To what extent have the PIs demonstrated the ability to conduct ground-breaking research? Excellent
To what extent do the PIs have the required scientific expertise and capacity to successfully
Exceptional
execute the project?
To what extent does the Synergy Grant Group successfully demonstrate in the proposal that it
brings together the know-how - such as skills, experience, expertise, disciplines, teams - Excellent
necessary to address the proposed research question?
Comments (Optional for reviewers)
The track records and decades of experience of the PIs in this domain are a testament to their future performance.
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Reviewer 10
Research Project
Ground-breaking nature and potential impact of the research project
The proposal is rather vague to my taste. As main research question, I found: How to construct rigorous antennas,
arrays, and telescopes to reliably answer fundamental questions in space sciences and astronomy? Obviously that is
a very broad ambition. The main target then is to develop EISCAT_3D to a world leading (european) ionospheric
scintillation radar using the newest methods and hardware technology. It is mentioned that a similar Chinese
instrument is operational but that the proposers can do "better" and improve on their own earlier work. Indeed, as main
challenge the authors mention creating an "optimised ubiquitous design backed by first-principles based on
mathematical inversion theory." This can mean anything, from very hard to very easy. It is not possible to judge if this
is high-risk high-gain, and what the ambition level is.
The "state-of-the-art" section in the proposal does not describe the state of the art in any way. The newest reference in
this section is from 2015. Both in Part B.1 and B.2, the section discusses topics around the EISCAT radar, inversion,
and antenna/array design, but rather than providing context, it (too) often just refers to the PIs work from decades ago -
is that the state-of-art?
From this section, I do not learn about ionosphere scintillation (what is its scientific purpose, which instruments are
available/state-of-art, what significant improvement is needed, why is that a fundamental scientific challenge). The rest
of the proposal also doesn't place itself in broader perspective.
I am not familiar with ionospheric scintillation, but I know that "inversion" is a major and active research topic in
mathematics and engineering, with many branches. Nothing is mentioned regarding current viewpoints and
approaches, or even the specific branch that is taken here, and any specific unique idea that the PIs will pursue and
that will shaken up this field. Current research on computational imaging is entirely going into the direction of machine
learning, loop unrolling, and neural network implementations; I would expect at least a reference to this.
Scientific Approach
The proposal does not describe in any detail what questions will actually be addressed. Three objectives are phrased
as reseach topics only. Then in B.2 seven 'questions' to be addressed are given, but these contain 4 demonstrators,
and the other three say "improve", "open new avenues", "answer the fundamental questions": these are all vague and
not concrete questions.
The objectives lack focus. I understood that the main objective is to propose (and demonstrate) alternative designs to
EISCAT_3D. Although PI2 was involved in EISCAT until 2014, the current relation to EISCAT_3D remains vague: is
this project aligned at all (and how) to the current instrument, whose commissioning is said to be stalled? It appears to
me that there is no alignment, or even contact, to the current EISCAT_3D team, if even such a team exists (no
mentioning of an institute, steering board, or otherwise).
Among the objectives is to design a satellite system for HF observations from space; described in half a page. This by
itself is a major effort. No reference is given to existing or past international efforts in this direction, such as OLFAR,
NOIRE (each with large teams and running over a decade), SULFRO, etc. It appears that this objective is "off-the-cuff"
and not substantiated in any way. It is also unclear what this objective has to do with the main objective (design
studies for EISCAT_3D). I do not see any satellite expertise within the project.
The description of another objective: "design study for a European planetary radar", is at the same superficial level.
The proposal lacks any division of the proposed objectives into practical activities (such as work packages) and clear
outcomes (such as milestones), and time division within the proposed 72 month duration. It is impossible to judge how
much manpower each objective will require, and what exactly will be realized in the end. In short, this proposal is not a
project definition at all.
Principal Investigators
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To what extent have the PIs demonstrated the ability to conduct ground-breaking research? Good
To what extent do the PIs have the required scientific expertise and capacity to successfully
Good
execute the project?
To what extent does the Synergy Grant Group successfully demonstrate in the proposal that it
brings together the know-how - such as skills, experience, expertise, disciplines, teams - Non-competitive
necessary to address the proposed research question?
Comments (Optional for reviewers)
The cPI and PI2 are essentially retired, although still active. I believe that their advanced age constitutes a risk to the
execution of the project. The proposal has no information on the size of the team that will be assembled to carry out the
work. Only the proposed budget indicates that a few other (senior) persons will be involved, and 1 PD, but no PhD
students. The role and tasks of these people are not described. Nothing is said about the embedding of the project in
the host institutes (access to students or other resources?) In my opinion, the manpower allocated to the project is far
insufficient to carry out the ambitious goals.
The CVs of cPI and PI2 are good, but hardly anything is mentioned that relates to the past 10 years.
PI1 represents a small but very relevant engineering company; the size of the company is not disclosed ("it represents
100 man-years of expertise"). If this project is carried out, it will be the main activity of the company.
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Reviewer 11
Research Project
Ground-breaking nature and potential impact of the research project
The investigators propose to improve the capabilities of EISCAT by improving the analysis methods and adding an
outlier array to EISCAT-3D. The analysis methods have have been developed by the investigators close to 10 years
ago and have been adopted by the Chinese Sanya radar. Using those methods in EISCAT-3D therefore feels like
engineering work instead of ground-breaking scientific work to me. This feeling is reinforced by the fact that the
investigators indicate that they want to provide thorough mathematical proof for results that are already established by
numerical experimentation. Although adding an outlier array to EISCAT-3D will further enhance the capabilities of the
EISCAT radar, the focus of this project is on optimisation of the antenna design, not on the science to be done with
EISCAT exploiting those enhanced capabilities. Would it have been more cost-effective to simply realise an outlier
array using an already proven array design?
The investigators note that the inversion methods used for incoherent scatter radars may be of interest to other fields,
such a radio astronomy. Unfortunately, based on the lack of references to relevant work, the investigators show no sign
of being aware of related efforts in the radio astronomical domain on the use of Bayesian Inference and Information
Field Theory for image reconstruction and uncertainty quantification. I am thus unable to conclude that this project will
build on top of and advance the current state-of-the-art in that area.
Scientific Approach
As demonstrated by the adoption of the proposed analysis methods by the Sanya radar, adoption of those methods by
the EISCAT-3D radar has the potential to make a big step forward in instrument performance. This is high-gain, but not
high-risk as it concerns an engineering / development effort to realise.
To realise the ambition of improving EISCAT-3D performance, the complementary expertise of the investigators is
required. This is underscored by the fact that the investigators have already collaborated fruitfully in the past. This
means that this project is not a new collaboration, but will benefit from earlier collaborative endeavours.
The project contains several exploratory avenues that do not (directly) contribute to the main goal of improving
EISCAT-3D performance. One such avenue is to use the mathematical model to optimise the array geometry for a
radio-astronomical space-based HF array. Such unrelated explorations dilute the focus of the project. Moreover, the
investigators do not make reference to several ongoing efforts around the globe towards space-based HF arrays for
radio astronomy, which at least indicates a poor connection of the investigators with such projects, reducing the
chances of those projects benefitting from this work. Another, in my opinion unneeded, exploratory avenue is antenna
optimisation for an EISCAT-3D outlier array. Wouldn't it be more cost-effective to simply realise this using proven
antenna design?
My concerns regarding the cost-effectiveness of the proposal grew further due to some comments supposed to
substantiate the budget, such as "We will produce the best we can with the 4 MEuro 'extra', but what 'best' is will only
become clear as the project is proceeding". This does not give me confidence that the project has been thoroughly
thought through.
Principal Investigators
To what extent have the PIs demonstrated the ability to conduct ground-breaking research? Excellent
To what extent do the PIs have the required scientific expertise and capacity to successfully
Excellent
execute the project?
To what extent does the Synergy Grant Group successfully demonstrate in the proposal that it
brings together the know-how - such as skills, experience, expertise, disciplines, teams - Excellent
necessary to address the proposed research question?
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Comments (Optional for reviewers)
The investigators have some long-standing collaborations, which gives confidence for further collaboration.
I found it amusing to note that the ten-year track record of the corresponding PI mainly lists achievements of (well) over
10 years ago
In the ten-year track record of PI3, it is stated that "the [EISCAT] organisation is reluctant to replace the methods with
our new far better ones." The way this is formulated gave me a sense of frustration of the PI with the EISCAT
organisation, which may affect a fruitful collaboration with the EISCAT organisation needed to get the proposed
methods integrated in the EISCAT radar. Another sign of this is that, for some reason or another, the EISCAT
organisation did not pick up these methods close to 10 years after them being proposed while the developers of the
Sanya radar did. When reading carefully, I sense this frustration thoughout the proposal, which makes me concerned
about the impact this group can make within the EISCAT community.
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