Strategy for project-based activities

INQUA International Council have made a decision, that all INQUA activities should be project oriented during this inter-congress period. During this period the Commission plans should be written down in the form of project proposals, which will give a better background for the INQUA Executive Committee to estimate the commission activities and to make a decision about the budget. The projects might well bear the same name as Working Groups, and the leader of the project could well be the leader of one of the Working Group. One single project may make up the total activity of one Working Group, or it may be organised independently of the Working Groups. Normally Projects will provide the means whereby a Commission seeks to achieve its scientific objectives. In fact, our Working Groups have always acted as Projects in the way that they should be focused on specific problems, and have an expected output.

All project proposals should be signed by the commission President. The project leader might well be another person (e.g. a Working Group Chairman), but the Commission leadership are responsible for the project.

The following objectives have been stated for this new strategy:

1. Improve quality of INQUA research
2. Loosen the system to permit more flexibility thereby enabling projects to respond more readily to strategic goals.
3. Heighten professional and public awareness of INQUA's contribution to science.
4. Ensure INQUA funds are best used to assist in production of high quality research results.

Restructing of Commissions will reflect the following:

1. Demonstrate increased efficiency for targeting realistic research objectives. Commissions will prioritise research objectives consistent with evaluation of opportunities and scientific needs.
2. Demonstrate project orientation consistent with sound scientific principles achievable within limited time frames.
3. Rationalise/reduce overlap between existing and potential commission activities by identifying common interests and increasing communication between related commissions.

The following steps are suggested for Commissions to improve INQUA research performance:

1. Commissions will develop specific and, where appropriate, staged project orientation.
2. Proposed commission projects will be reviewed and evaluated by the Executive Committee.
3. Biannual reports, normally prepared by project leaders in consultation with Commission Presidents, will be forwarded through Commissions to the Executive Committee for evaluation.
4. While the function of Commission Presidents will remain to oversee and manage activities, specific projects within a Commission will maintain a degree of financial autonomy consistent with that Commission's established priorities.
5. Each Commission will liase with the Executive Committee through one of the four Vice-Presidents of INQUA.
6. Commissions will terminate after 2 Inter-Congress periods; they may be renewed subject to detailed evaluation.

Paleopedology Commission Projects for period 1995-99 will reflect the following.

Paleosols are becoming increasingly important as paleoclimatic indicators, especially in long loess sequences, but much more detail could be obtained if we knew more about quantitative interpretation of climate-related soil features, especially those surviving burial. Our main project is therefore to establish climofunctions (mathematical relationships between soil properties and climatic factors) and thresholds of soil processes in Holocene loess soils of various climatic zones.

Outside the simple stacked loess-soil sequences, there are major problems of stratigraphic correlation, classification of truncated and diagenetically altered paleosols and precise dating of past soil-forming periods. These were tackled at the 1993 Symposium in Illinois, and work is continuing in various of the Working Groups. Our main efforts for the next 4 years will be to develop a system of paleosol classification that can be used with truncated and diagenetically modified profiles, and to produce guidelines for pedostratigraphy to be used with Quaternary and pre-Quaternary paleosols. Official USA organisations have suggested schemes for both paleosol classification and pedostratigraphy, but neither is satisfactory for non-buried soils and also for buried soils of Quaternary and pre-Quaternary periods.

The Commission also sees an urgent need for strengthening links with soil scientists, pre-Quaternary geologists and archaeologists, many of whom are involved with paleosols but often fail to interpret them correctly or even recognise them. Better collaboration should also help us appreciate the possible applications and wider significance of paleopedology. In view of current and proposed programmes of work, our strongest links are and will be with the Loess Commission, and to a lesser extent with Tephrochronology. We support the Loess Commission's proposal to establish a world-wide database of loessial paleosols. Because paleosols are often used for dating Quaternary seismic events, the Commission could also benefit from collaboration wit the neotectonics Commission.

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