Executive Committee and Council News
|
|
Marrakech, 23, 25 & 26 August 2007
Participants
The present membership of the ECA Executive Committee as appointed in 2006 is: President: J. R. Helliwell (UK); Vice-President: S. Larsen (Denmark); Secretary: P.Bombicz (Hungary); Treasurer: R. Kuzel (Czech Republic); Members; S. Garcia-Granda (Spain), L. van Meervelt (Belgium); A. Roodt (South Africa) and ECA Webmaster M. Nespolo (ex-officio).
________________________________________________________________________________
Agenda
1 Opening
1.1 Welcome to Council and Guests
1.2 Application for membership [none]
2 Annual Reports by the President and the Treasurer
2.1 Report by the President J.R. Helliwell
2.2 Report by the Treasurer R. Kuzel
3 Former e-mail decisions
3.1 on appointment of auditors
4 Approval by the Council of the submitted accounts
4.1 Report of the Auditors for August 2006- (mid of) July 2007
5 Annual Reports by the Executive Committee and preliminary progress reports
5.1 Report by the Secretary P. Bombicz summary of the work of the Executive Committee
5.2 Report by A. Roodt on the Max Perutz Prize
5.3 Report by the Past-President H. Fuess on setting up the Bertaut Prize and on CAM members
5.4 Report by L. van Meervelt on sponsorship of meetings and schools
5.5 Report by S. Garcia-Granda on SIG organisation
8 IUCr President's proposal on grouping the small countries with respect to IUCr General Assembly membership.
End of the first day of the Council Meeting
6 Annual Reports regarding SIG's activity
6.1 SIG.1 Macromolecular Crystallography
6.2 SIG.2 Charge, Spin & Momentum Density
6.3 SIG.3 Aperiodic Crystallography
6.4 SIG.4 Electron Crystallography
6.5 SIG.5 Mineralogical Crystallography
6.6 SIG.6 Instrumentation and Experimental Techniques (IET)
6.7 SIG.7 Molecular Interaction and Recognition (MIR)
6.8 SIG.8 Powder Diffraction ( SIGPD )
6.9 SIG.9 Crystallographic Computing ( CCSIG )
6.10 SIG.10 Diffraction physics and optics
6.11 SIG.11 Extreme Conditions
6.12 SIG.12 Material Science
6.13 SIG.13 Molecular Structures and Chemical Properties
7 Further organisational developments; Focus Area concept (M Nespolo)
9 Proposal of establishing a European Graduate School of Crystallography(M. Nespolo)
10 Reports regarding ECM's
10.1 Relationship between ECA, the ECM's and the CAM's
CAM-s pays membership fee and are donators to ECM, Perutz and poster Prizes
10.2 ECM23 (2006) Leuven - final numbers and summary L. van Meervelt
10.3 ECM24 (2007) Marrakech – running the conference A. Thalal
10.4 ECM25 (2009) Istanbul - progress in organisation E. Kendi
10.5 ECM26 (2010) Darmstadt - progress in organisation H. Fuess
10.6 ECM27 (2012) Selection of the venue - Bergen presentation K. Törnroos Part 1
End of the second day of the Council Meeting
10.7 ECM27 (2012) Selection of the venue - Bergen presentation K. Törnroos Part 2 and
decision on the venue of ECM27 (2012)
11 The ECA : what to do - where to go
Discussion regarding rules and future proceedings
12 Any other business
13 Close
End of the third day of the Council Meeting
The reports of the members of the Executive Committee and SIG-s' chairs referred in the Minutes were distributed to the members of the Council on 19th July 2007. Other reports can be found in the appendices of this document.
Opening
1 Opening and report of the President, Prof John R. Helliwell
Prof Helliwell opened the Council meeting and gave his Presidential report (circulated prior to the Council) and which was accepted by the Council. He highlighted:-
1. The creation of the risk folder of ECA had been completed by the ECA Executive Committee and a copy was available from the Secretary for the confidential use of the ECA Councillors. The top risk identified was that gThe ECA membership might not develop to its full capacity, expected to be around 4000, since a paid secretariat is not affordable for the ECA currently. The risk mitigation strategy is to proceed, as in the past, with the volunteer effort of the ECA Executive Committee (with specific risk holders the President, Treasurer and Secretary) to (i) advertise the benefits of ECA Membership to Companies and IMs and (ii) thereafter maintain as reliable a membership database as possible. The impact of this risk, whose probability of occurring is set at a 60% chance in the risk folder, is that ECA will lose revenue annually and thus European Crystallography will not develop to its full potentialh. As a practical measure at our current effectiveness with this current risk mitigation strategy, without a paid employee, we note two performance metrics namely that (i) there was only one new Corporate member (Taylor and Francis Publishers) in the last year (ii) no application for individual membership to ECA in the last year, most importantly via the ECM 24 registration benefit. Whilst there are other mitigating factors such as the fact that the ECA sustains good and very regular links with the European individual country crystallographic associations, the Executive Committee will discuss ways to improve these two performance metrics at its Committee Meeting in Budapest in February 2008. Action; the President and Executive Committee.
2. More cheerfully the President was able to report that the Advanced Training Workshop (ATW) held before ECM24 had been supported by a NATO grant; NATO were especially interested in telepresence access to Synchrotron Radiation and Neutron centralized facilities and the upcoming use of SESAME in Jordan by the NATO Mediterranean Dialogue countries. There were 32 registered participants, out of them 12 students, with an emphasis, as hoped for, from NATO Mediterranean Dialogue countries eg including especially Morocco and Tunisia. In particular a lecture within the ATW had been delivered from Daresbury UK at SRS 9.8 (Dr J E Warren) into the NATO ATW in the Marrakech classroom including SRS 9.8 user and safety training. This included joint video control of remote cameras and full audio contact. Built around this, over the two days of the ATW, were lectures on crystallographic science in Morocco (Prof A Thalal), the power of modern PC and laptop computers for crystallographic data analysis of powders (Prof Giacovazzo), protein crystallography and molecular graphics (Dr M Winn and Prof J R Helliwell) and electron density descriptors (Prof S Garcia Granda). Numerous computational practical demonstrations were also shown by the Lecturers and also exercises undertaken by the students themselves.
Annual Report by the Treasurer
2 Annual report of the Treasurer, Prof Radomir Kuzel
Prof Radomir Kuzel gave a presentation with the final data of accounting. He highlighted:-
The Treasurer's report was accepted by the Council.
Prof Joel Bernstein (former Vice-President of ECA) expressed his appreciation to the financial state of the Association. He suggested not to close the current bank account in the Netherlands and to pay the incorporation fee of ECA ~50 EUR/year from this account. Prof Sine Larsen finds convenient to have small amount of money in the Netherlands to keep registration continuous.
Prof John Helliwell highlighted the unnecessity of having an account in Portugal. He proposed that the Council ratify the plan of the closing of the Portugal bank current account. Credit card payment into the Prague current account by new members should be the most common joining method. However a detail needs tightening up namely that there should be a joining rule that 5 years are the maximum number of joining years possible for a new member (currently it is in effect unrestricted).
The Council Ratified (no objection):
5 years are the maximum number of years possible for pay-ahead the individual membership fee which is 10 EUR/year.
The Council Ratified (no objection):
ECA money has to be transferred from the Portugal bank current account to the Czech current account. Then Portugal bank current account has to be closed.
Auditors
3 Appointment of auditors
Profs Elspeth Garman and Jindrich Hasek had been appointed as auditors by the ECA Council for one year by former e-mail decision. Some clarifications to the statutes were needed for the future namely:-
The Council Ratified (no objection):
Interpretation of ECA statute 16.2
gThe Auditor of the Association shall be a person or corporation authorised to act as a public accountant.h
ECA has no financial background to afford a professional registered public accountant. The auditors are thereby the appointed members of the crystallographic community on a voluntary basis and who are authorised to act as a public accountant by the ECA Council.
The Council Ratified (no objection):
Modification of ECA Statute 16.1:
An annual Council shall be held within nine months after each financial year, unless the Council lengthens this period.
4 Approval by the Council of the submitted accounts
4.1 Report of the Auditors for August 2006- (mid of) July 2007
The unified report of the two auditors (in appendices) was presented by Prof Jindrich Hasek to the Council. The activity report of the Treasurer was accepted in general. Some points were raised to investigate: reduction of number of accounts, checking operation of ECA in agreement with Dutch Law, archivation of the documents, report on conference grants, list of sponsored persons, member countries' contribution, possible corporate member categorization. They were accepted by the Council. Actions will be done. Regarding other points:-
Prof John Helliwell suggested that whilst the costs of the Treasurer have to be covered no honorarium is feasible to be paid for the work.
Prof Joel Bernstein as former Vice-President of ECA highlighted that there is no financial link ie specific responsibility or liability of the ECA Treasurer for ECM finances.
Report by the Secretary
5 Annual Reports by the Executive Committee and preliminary progress reports
The report was accepted by the Council.
Report on Max Perutz Prize
5.2 Report by Prof Andreas Roodt on the Max Perutz Prize
The Max Perutz Prize is 5000 EUR this year and was partly covered (70%) on this occasion by the sponsorship of Molecular Dimensions (2000 EUR), Panalytical (1000 EUR) and STOE (500 EUR). Whilst the Perutz-Bertaut foundation in Darmstadt has bank guaranteed interest of 5-6% tax free the ECA is very grateful to these, and all previous sponsors.
Prof Hartmut Fuess proposed that new crystallographic instruments ought to be bought from those producing companies only which are Affiliate Members of ECA. Exhibitors who are not sponsors of ECA should pay more for the booth to the ECM. Sponsors of course are those who do give extra contributions to the ECA for e.g. the Prize funds.
Dr Frank van Meurs emphasized the importance to show the logo of sponsoring companies during the award Ceremony.
Prof John Helliwell stated that ECA has the financial depth to support its Prizes but ECA is not a wealthy organization therefore sponsorship is welcome. He underlined that scientific independence is required from companies, furthermore from the awardee him/her self (Prof Pamela Thomas) and the ECA (Prof Joel Bernstein).
Prof John Helliwell highlighted that the Award Nomination Committee had indeed been working independently from the ECA Executive Committee although it was still the preferred method of working that the Chair of the Award Committee be a member of the ECA Executive Committee. There was one rule (from IUCr) however that the Executive Committee felt should be adopted (see below).
Prof Joel Bernstein proposed individual member contributions to the Prize like it is in the US ie the ACA should be made possible.
The Council Ratified (no objection) the Executive Committee motion that the:
IUCr principle is adopted by ECA that none of the ECA Prize selection Committee nor the President of the ECA be eligible to be nominated for the Prize during their terms of office.
Report on Bertaut Prize
5.3 Report by the Past-President Hartmut Fuess on setting up the Bertaut Prize
Prof Hartmut Fuess reported that the first Bertaut Prize went to Henrik M. Rønnow awarded by ENSA. The next Bertaut Prize will be awarded by ECA in Istanbul 2009.
Prof Naomi Chayen asked if the age limit is strictly 35 or it is more a gscientific ageh. Prof Hartmut Fuess answered that it ought to be "flexible":
Prof John Helliwell: at the next ECM meeting, ECM25 Istanbul 2009, both Perutz and Bertaut Prize awards will occur and it would probably be best that these are not both given at the Opening Ceremony.
Report on sponsoring schools and workshops
5.4 Report by Luc van Meervelt on sponsorship of meetings and schools
The report by Prof Luc van Meervelt on the ECA sponsorship of European symposia, schools, workshops and conferences on topics relevant to crystallography was accepted by the Council.
The Council Ratified (no objection):
Operational guidelines for supporting European workshops, schools, and conferences on crystallography by ECA (see ECANews website). 5000 EUR per annum in total can be used to support schools and workshops. In case of several applications toward the end of the year extension of this sum is possible after discussion with the ExeComm. Application from the organisers must be received a minimum of 3 months before the event.
The ECA has supported the following meetings between August 2006 and August 2007:
Name of event : ECM23 + satellites
Topic : European Crystallographic Meeting
Venue : Leuven, Belgium
Dates : 6-11 August, 2006
Organizer : Prof. Luc Van Meervelt
Amount granted : 2000 E
Name of event : HEC-9
Topic : BioCrystallography
Venue : Goettingen, Germany
Dates : 25-7 September, 2006
Organizer : Prof. Dr. Ralf Ficner
Amount granted : 500 E
Name of event : First joint Italian Spanish meeting of Crystallography – MISCA2007
Topic : General crystallography
Venue : Calabria, Italy
Dates : 24-28 September, 2007
Organizer : Prof. De Munno
Amount granted : 1000 E
Name of event : The Zürich Crystallography School 2007
Topic : small molecule crystallography
Venue : Zürich, Switzerland
Dates : 5-17 August, 2007
Organizer : Dr. Tony Linden
Amount granted : 2000 E
Name of event : ECM24 + satellite
Topic : all aspects of crystallography
Venue : Marrakech, Morocco
Dates : 22-27 August, 2007
Organizer : Prof. Abdelmalek Thalal
Amount granted : 2000 E
Sponsorship of Schools and Workshops by ECA upcoming for 2008
Name of event : International School on Mathematical and Theoretical Crystallography
Topic : General crystallography - symmetry
Venue : Gargnano, Italy
Dates : 27 April – 3 May, 2008
Organizer : Prof. Massimo Nespolo
Application on : 5 July, 2007
Amount granted : 1500 E
Name of event : From Molecules to Medicine: Integrating Crystallography in Drug Discovery
Topic : biological crystallography
Venue : Erice, Italy
Dates : 29 May – 8 June , 2008
Organizer : Prof. Paola Spadon
Application on : 24 July, 2007
Amount granted : 1500 E
Report on SIG standardization
5.5 Report by Santiago Garcia-Granda on SIG organisation
The report of Prof Santiago Garcia-Granda on SIG standardisation was accepted by the Council.
Council Agreed (no objection):
SIG main activity is to contribute to ECM-s. School and teaching activity may be organised on eg the -1 and 0 conference days of an ECM. Joint SIG activity is promoted.
Council Agreed (no objection):
SIG business meetings at ECM-s: a coordinated meeting timeslot of one hour has to be implemented, first at ECM25.
Prof S.I. Zheludeva proposed that the SIG has to be warned before dissolution of a SIG if monitoring zero activity of the SIG for two years. Prof John Helliwell welcomed the idea, ie reasonable mitigation is possible.
The Council Ratified (no objection):
Two consecutive years without a SIG report draws the consideration of dissolving a SIG.
SIG reports
6 Annual Reports regarding SIG's activity
6.1 SIG.1 Macromolecular Crystallography accepted
6.2 SIG.2 Charge, Spin & Momentum Density accepted
6.3 SIG.3 Aperiodic Crystallography representative not present
6.4 SIG.4 Electron Crystallography accepted
6.5 SIG.5 Mineralogical Crystallography accepted
6.6 SIG.6 Instrumentation and Experimental Techniques (IET) accepted
Nb Announcement of the foundation of the poster prize
in memory of Jacek Grochowski
6.7 SIG.7 Molecular Interaction and Recognition (MIR) accepted
Oral report was given by Prof Susan Bourne. Written report is in the appendices. INDABA 5 was a significant event and a book is to be published shortly.
6.8 SIG.8 Powder Diffraction (SIGPD) representative not present
6.9 SIG.9 Crystallographic Computing (CCSIG ) accepted
Prof Ton Spek warned that the activity of the SIG should be increased.
6.10 SIG.10 Diffraction physics and optics representative not present
6.11 SIG.11 Extreme Conditions accepted
6.12 SIG.12 Material Science accepted
Prof Pam Thomas: new name of the SIG with two subgroups is Materials Chemistry be announced
6.13 SIG.13 Molecular Structures and Chemical Properties accepted
7 Focus Area concept
Prof Massimo Nespolo gave a presentation on proposing a "focus area" concept.
Shortcomings of the current organization of the ECM
From the viewpoint of a participant
From the viewpoint of a SIG officer
From the viewpoint of the organisers
The total number of microsymposia proposed is always higher than the number of microsymposia that can be organized by having five or even six parallel sessions. As a result, the Program Committee has to request that some proposed microsymposia of similar topics are fused into a single microsymposium and/or that some proposals are withdrawn. Priority is given to MS that are co-organized by two (or more) SIGs.
The advantages of a "Focus Area" concept
Titles of Focus Areas:-
Biological and Macromolecular Crystallography (SIG1)
Materials and Minerals (SIG5, SIG11, SIG12)
Physical including fundamental crystallography (SIG2, SIG3, SIG4)
Chemical Crystallography (SIG7, SIG13)
Experimental and Computational techniques (SIG6, SIG8, SIG9, SIG10)
Prof John R Helliwell invited recent ECM organisers to comment starting with ECM21 where the FA concept had been launched:-
ECM21 Prof Andreas Roodt: FA concept was well adopted in the organisation
ECM22 Dr Petra Bombicz: it was not used. She emphasized it is a two level hierarchy ie more admin would then probably have been required
ECM23 Prof Luc van Meervelt: it was applied but was not visible
Prof Radek Kuzel: SIG 7 belongs to more than one FA-s so the FA is not always a generally good label. Second it should be noted that the FA discussion is not a proposal endorsed unanimously across the whole ECA executive Committee.
Prof Paola Gilli: protein and chemical crystallography overlaps, instrumentation is related to most SIG-s. FA concept reduces the presence ie influence of big SIG-s.Number of MS is more than number of parallel sessions, it is impossible to avoid overlapping.
Prof Andzrej Katrusiak: science becomes interdisciplinary, there is a broader interest. It is difficult to prevent coincidences; will the FA achieve this?
Prof Ivan Leban: let us get input from the participants but nb an additional possible FA could usefully in crystallography teaching.
Prof Wolf-Dieter Schubert: agreed that the Programme Book should include the FA indications of MSs.
To sum up Prof John Helliwell proposed that in future an ECM should work within this framework but as a guideline rather than a rigid rule since the FA concept seemed to be generally accepted as logical and sensible by the Council. Next the President proposed that for future Max Perutz Prize awards the FA concept could usefully be harnessed ie: whilst, obviously, the first priority is always that the best person has to be selected, he suggested that if there were more than one equally excellent candidate then the field of the past Prizewinners can be considered and account taken so achieve a spread of awards across the various fields and disciplines of crystallography neatly described by the FAs proposed.
Prof Andreas Roodt: emphasized the importance for getting nominations in for the Perutz Prize.
Council Agreed (no objection):
(a) Focus Area concept should be applied as a guideline for the ECM25 programme in Istanbul. No representatives of the focus areas are to be appointed at this stage*. (b) Whilst the first priority is to find the best person for the Max Perutz Prize, in the case of more than one equally excellent candidate(s) the FAs of the former awardees can be regarded by the Prize Selection Committee.
*Post meeting note; the ECM25 PC will have Turkish national delegates (ie see minute 10.4) and so by making these one in each Focus Area this makes optimal the link to national and subject fields exemplified by the defined Focus Areas.
Grouping small countries
8 IUCr President's proposal on grouping the small countries with respect to IUCr General Assembly membership.
The proposal of IUCr President Prof Yuji Ohashi was summarized by ECA President Prof John Helliwell.
Council Agreed (no objection):
ECA identify a grouping of small countries (ECA member countries who are not members of IUCr ie: Latvia, Turkey, Ukraine, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia) as a single entity to IUCr.
Prof Sine Larsen informed the Council that the IUCr membership fee of a single entity is 1000 Swiss Francs/year, and a term is three years. She suggested that the ECA should support two terms ie total financial commitment currently envisaged thereby being 6000 SFs.
Council Agreed (no objection):
Group membership fee of a single entity to IUCr will be supported by ECA for 2 terms equal to 3+3 years.
9 Proposal of establishing a European Graduate School of Crystallography
Prof Massimo Nespolo gave a presentation on the idea of the establishment of European Graduate School of Crystallography.
Why a European Graduate School of Crystallography (EGSCry)?
How to choose participants?
Prof Paola Spadon, the Chair of the Commission on Teaching Crystallography of IUCr, expressed her agreement from the point of view of the crystallographer. She emphasised the different commitments of the students and wondered who will volunteer to take part on this kind of education.
Prof Karimat el Sayed supported the idea to give grants to students. At the same time she gave emphasis to the situation that there are more and less wealthy universities, laboratories with low facilities would like to participate also.
Prof Ivan Leban raised the question of accreditation of the school. Transfer of credits among the universities taking part in the Bologna process will also be a requirement. He underlined the difficulties with the administrative side of the project.
Prof Jean-Louis Hodeau expressed his doubts whether supervisors want to send their students to different places. Having a network of teaching crystallography is advantageous. Complementarity with the very established and popular Hercules training program (6 weeks length) will need to be respected.
Prof John Helliwell requested Profs Massimo Nespolo, Paola Spadon and Jean-Louis Hodeau to work on the details of the proposal especially legalities, governance, financial aspects, budget plan etc.
Relationship between ECA, the ECM's and the CAM's
10 Reports regarding ECM's
10.1 Relationship between ECA, the ECM's and the CAM's
CAM-s pays membership fee and are donors to ECM, Perutz and poster Prizes
Prof John Helliwell had visited the representatives of the exhibitors on the days during ECM24 asking their opinion. They did not support the auditorsf idea to have a hierarchy of CAM donations. They confirmed though that they (the exhibitors) are members of ECM-s with a symbiotic relationship between themselves and the participants thus contributing to the success of the ECM events. They recognized of course that the ECA creates a guaranteed process in advertising the products and services of the vendors.
ECM23 (2006) Leuven
10.2 ECM23 (2006) Leuven - final numbers and summary Luc van Meervelt
Prof Luc van Meerveltreported the final numbers of ECM23 meeting. 16 plenary lectures scattered over all important disciplines in crystallography. 46 microsymposia were scheduled in 8 sessions. Each MS had 5 speakers, which made in total 230 oral presentations. Two poster sessions were organised with 363 poster presentations. The most popular microsymposia were: MS9 – Structural enzymology, MS13 – Understanding molecular interactions, MS19 – Phase transitions in inorganic and mineralogical materials, MS41 – Structural coordination chemistry, MS42 – Structure-property relationships in molecular crystals. The abstracts of all contributions are published in a hard copy Abstract Book and as an online supplement to Acta Crystallographica A, volume 62 (see journals.iucr.org/a). Until January 2007 the abstracts were also available on the ECM23 conference web site. The poster prizes of RCSB PDB, CCDC (3 prizes), Oxford Cryosystems and IUCr (3 prizes) were awarded during the Conference Dinner. In total 30 firms have participated to the commercial exhibition (196 m2 in Nieuwe Valk, 55 m2 in Oude Valk). The workshops have been organised during ECM23: Mathematical and Theoretical Crystallography, X-El 2006, CCDC Workshop, QIAGEN products for protein crystallization, Il Milione, demo session, Mosquito User Group Meeting, Satellite Workshop on Rational Protein Crystallization. The following social programme was included in the registration fee of the registered participants, exhibitors and accompanying guests: Opening Ceremony & Welcome reception, Concert Kolacny Brothers, Lecture on Belgian Beers with tasting, Conference dinner in Château du Lac (Genval), Excursion to Brussels. In addition the MARresearch Party was organised in the top sphere of the Atomium (Brussels) for 250 guests. During the Opening Ceremony the Max Perutz Prize was awarded to Dr. Eleanor Dodson (York University). Prize Lecture: eIssues for the refinement of macro and micro moleculesf. In total 888 participants from 50 countries have been registered (including exhibitors). The top ten of participants per country is: Germany 115, United Kingdom 88, Belgium 76, France 63, Italy 43, Russia 39, Poland 37, Switzerland 28, Japan 26, Spain 25. The total bursary fund was made available by IUCr, ECA, NVK, CCDC and BASF for support of young scientists (accommodation, travel support and waiver or reduction of registration fee). In total 134 applications have been received of which 91 were selected for funding by an international bursary committee. Unfortunately 23 selected candidates did not accept the offer and in addition 10 persons have cancelled their application. As a consequence the money that became available again was used to pay additional travel and registration expenses. Finally 9 selected candidates did not attend the conference (last minute withdraw). In addition the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons OPCW has funded the participation of Prof. B. Ibragimov.
Prof Joel Bernstein complained that many authors do not show up at their poster.
ECM24 (2007) Marrakech
10.3 ECM24 (2007) Marrakech – running the conference Abdelmalek Thalal
Prof Abdelmalek Thalal reported the numbers on 25th August 2007 state of the running ECM24 conference. There were 792 registrations, out of them 665 attends the meeting. With the 70 exhibitors and 83 accompanying persons the total number of participants are 813. 31% are female attendees. The most participants were coming from France, UK, Germany, Morocco, Spain, Japan, Italy, Czech Republik, South Africa, Austria, Russia, Switzerland and the Netherlands. Grants were received from IUCr, ECA, OPWC and for the Advanced Training Workshop from NATO.
Concerning the Shipment Prof Thalal stated Storing and Customs Clearance: It is the Exhibitorsf responsibility to arrange the freighting to the congress building and to fill in correctly the freighting and/or custom clearance forms for equipment and products from abroad. The organizers take no responsibility for any problems arising in connection with such formalities. It is also the Exhibitorsf full responsibility to arrange and pay for storage, if material arrives to Morocco before the dates of meeting. To avoid any problems concerning the freighting / Storing and Customs Clearance administrations, we advise Exhibitors to contact a handling company and/or forwarding agent. Exhibitors are free to choose their own agent .
ECM25 (2009) Istanbul
10.4 ECM25 (2009) Istanbul - progress in organisation Engin Kendi
Professor Engin Kendi presented the current stage of organisation of ECM25 dates being confirmed as August9-14, 2009.
The Organising Committee is: Chairman: Engin Kendi, Secretary: Suheyla Ozbey, Engin Ozdaş, Exhibition:Alper Ergeç (E&F). The Programme Committee is: Chair: Engin Kendi, Secretary: Yalçın Elerman, Representatives ofmaterial science: Yalçın Elerman, physics: Orhan Büyükgüngör, biology: Zehra Sayers. Registration fees and detailed budget plan will be finalised and approved in discussion with the ECA Executive Committee in February 2008 Budapest committee meeting.
Payment of the full congress fee entitles to:
Timetable of the Meeting:
Sun, 9 August Opening Ceremony & ECA Prize talk, Welcome reception
Mon, 10 August Conference & Exhibition day
Tue, 11 August Conference & Exhibition day, 25th meeting celebration
Wed, 12 August Conference & Exhibition day
Thu, 13 August Conference & Exhibition day, Conference Dinner
Fri, 14 August Tour Day
Professor Engin Kendi presented Istanbul the city, transportation to and from Istanbul, the Congress Center: venue and conference facilities, range of hotels, venues of conference functions. More details will be given in the ECA Council Meetings within the IUCr Congress Osaka August 2008.
ECM26 (2010) Darmstadt
10.5 ECM26 (2010) Darmstadt - progress in organisation Hartmut Fuess
Prof Hartmut Fuess informed the Council that the inauguration of the Congress Center in Darmstadt will be celebrated at the end of 2008. A major feature is that the EPDIC and ECM conferences will take place jointly running from 27 August 2010. Prof Fuess raised the question whether the two conferences should run after each other or with overlapping days. Exhibitors should be present throughout the two meetings.
Dr Frank van Meurs underlined he was not an official representative of the exhibitors but suggested that the question of how many days for the Exhibition needs more consultation. He suggested that 5 days for exhibitors should be normally acceptable, eg 2-3 days of EPDIC and 2-3 days of ECM.
Prof Jindrich Hasek emphasized the importance of the combined registration fees. Prof Hartmut Fuess agreed.
ECM27 (2012) Selection of the venue - Bergen presentation
10.6 ECM27 (2012) Selection of the venue - Bergen presentation K. Törnroos
Karl Wilhelm Törnroos from Department of Chemistry, University of Bergen, Norway presented a bid for the ECM27 in 2012 to be in Bergen. The available dates should be between 2 and 16 August 2012, preferable on the week of the 6th August. He presented the city, the different transportations available to Bergen, the historical University of Bergen, crystallography of Norway, the venue "the Grieg Hall", accommodation facilities, local dining options etc.
Finances: Basic package in current prices – not negotiated yet obviously but physically the Bergen Conference Centre, centrally placed in Bergen, can include: Six parallel sessions, three meeting rooms, complete multimedia resources and assistance, buffet lunch (ex. beverage), coffee breaks (3), fruit for ~Euro 80/pp/conference day (based upon 600 active). Cost for exhibition, poster, reception and mingle space (gross area 3.670 m2): Euro 4.200/day. Cost for poster boards not included. Basic package in current prices –includes: Web-hotel (customer designed), Registration, abstracts, payments and invoicing, Complete accounting and VAT-issues, Two staff present for Euro current indicative charge 47euro/pp. Cost for handling the exhibition (complete handling): 10% of exhibition revenues. In conclusion he stated that he and his Norwegian colleagues knew that 2012 was the centennial of the Friedrich, Knipping and von Laue experiment of 1912 and they would do their very best to make 2012 a worthy commemoration of the Centennial. Furthermore Bergen is a very attractive location and is proximal to the outstanding beauty of the fjords that Norway offers.
Prof Massimo Nespolo stated re dates choices that the airfare prices are cheaper if a Saturday night is included. KT replied that this airfare pricing arrangement had been changing ie as an absolute requirement/consideration and in addition ferries coming into Bergen itself were another option. J R Helliwell added that the Exhibitors are very likely to prefer to set up on a week day rather than a weekend and their needs should also be respected too.
ECM27 (2012) Decision on the venue
10.7 Decision on the venue of ECM27 (2012)
Council accepted the presentation and made the decision that the venue of ECM27 will be Bergen, Norway in 2012.
What to do - where to go?
11 The ECA : what to do - where to go
Prof John Helliwell stated, re future ECMs (beyond 2012) aspect, that it had been agreed with two potential bidders that a timely decision on the venue of ECM28 (2013) can be made in Istanbul 2009. More generally he stated that the ECA Finances have to be improved and he invited input from the Council members to this very important discussion and he specifically framed the question: Where does the ECA wish to see itself in 10 years time? A discussion paper on this strategic question will be prepared for the February 2008 Committee meeting and then circulated to the Councillors.
Any other business
12 Any other business
No suggestions arrived prior to the meeting. No more items were added at the meeting.
Close
13 Close
Prof John Helliwell proposed an arrangement with up to three Council Meetings to be planned for in the future. If there was no necessity of the third meeting it could be canceled at the end of the second meeting.
He expressed his hearty thanks to all the members of the Council and his Executive Committee colleagues, as well as to the ECM24 Organisers in particular for all their hard work through the last year.
Minutes of the ECA
Council , Leuven 2006
Minutes of the ECA
Council , Florence 2005
Minutes of the ECA
Council , Budapest 2004
Minutes of the ECA
Council , Durban 2003
Minutes of the ECA
Council , Geneva 2002
Minutes of the ECA
Council , Krakow 2001
