Since the 1st of January 2021, twenty-six National Meteorological Services from Europe and the Mediterranean Area have joined forces in the single R&D ACCORD Consortium, under the first Memorandum of Understanding – MoU1 covering the period 2021-2025. The consortium is currently finalizing the revision of its Memorandum (MoU2) and the organization of the next phase to cover 2026-2030.
As a first important step for this next phase, the Members have adopted an ambitious 2026-2030 Scientific Strategy outlining their objectives in meteorological and computer science for this horizon.
The development of the common codes will continue, in order to support world-leading operational NWP suites operated by the Members, with a priority on high resolution (from kilometre to hectometre grid size), short-range (including nowcasting suites) and high-impact weather. The codes and options therein are currently grouped in three “Canonical System Configurations” (CSC AROME, ALARO and HARMONIE-AROME). The Consortium will continue to strive to increase interoperability, transversal activities and joint R&D work across the CSCs. It will also work to make the codes portable and efficient on various computer architectures, in order to cope with the rapid evolution of HPC systems and encourage maximum competition in procurements of the Members. ACCORD has set for itself the goal to design a common development environment, beyond the achievements of phase 1, and it has defined ambitious goals toward common meteorological quality assurance. ACCORD intends to explore hybrid AI-ML/physics-based approaches and establish ways of collaborating with European initiatives in this rapidly evolving domain.
The human resources provided by the Members for this work represent approximately 150 FTE. These staff are employed by the Members and work at their premises, but meet and interact regularly. All aspects of the work are coordinated internationally by a Management Group. The list of officers is as follows:
- 1 Programme Manager (the “PM”) - appointed the 13 May 2025
- 3 CSC Leaders - appointed the 7 July 2025
- 8 Area Leaders - call on-going
- 1 Integration Leader - appointed the 7 July 2025
- 1 Scientific Secretary - appointed the 7 July 2025
- 1 Documentation Officer - call on-going
- 1 Coordinator of Networking Activities - call on-going
Call for Programme Manager, winter 2025
After a specific Call for Applications issued in January 2025, the PM position was appointed during the 2nd Extraordinary Assembly
- Claude FISCHER, from Météo-France was nominated as PM
3 CSC leaders, spring 2025
The ACCORD Assembly agreed on 10 March that each CSC group should organize its nomination process for the CSC Leader.
The 10th Assembly endorsed the proposals made by the AROME and ALARO CSC groups, and to nominate from 1st January 2026:
• Martina Tudor from DHMZ (Croatia) as Alaro CSC Leader,
• Eric Bazile from Météo-France as Arome CSC Leader.
For information: the HARMONIE-AROME CSC Leader will be the next UWC PM (the name is expected to be known at the end of September).
• Jeanette Onvlee from KNMI (Netherlands), actual Harmonie-Arome CSC Leader ensure the transition.
Call for Area Leaders, October 2025
Call for applications for the 8 positions of the AL of the Consortium
• Issue Call for Applications: 10 July 2025
• Deadline for Applications: 7 October 2025 (incl.)
Call for Coordinator for Network Activities and the Documentation Officer, October 2025
Call for applications for the CNA and DO for the 2nd phase of the Consortium
• Issue Call for Applications: 10 July 2025
• Deadline for Applications: 7 October 2025 (incl.)
Integration Leader and Consortium Secretary, July 2025
The 10th Assembly nominated from 1 January 2026:
- Alexandre Mary from Météo-France as Integration Leader
- Anne-Lise Dhomps from Météo-France as Consortium Scientific Secretary
