European Crystallographic Association - Executive Committee and Council News

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
3.2 on changing the date of ECM25 Istanbul
4 Approval by the Council of the submitted accounts
4.1 Report of the Auditors for the financial year of 2007
5 Annual Reports by the Executive Committee and preliminary progress reports
5.1 Report by the Vice-President S. Larsen
5.2 Report by the Past-President H. Fuess
5.3 Report by the Secretary P. Bombicz on summary of the work of the Executive Committee
5.4 Report by A. Roodt on the Max Perutz prize
5.5 Report by L. van Meervelt on sponsorship of meetings and schools
5.6 Report by S. Garcia-Granda on SIG organisation
5.7 Report by M. Nespolo on Website related activities
6 IUCr-ECA link
7 National Crystallographic Associations
7.1 Grouping ECA member and IUCr non-member countries to IUCr Adhering Body
7.2 Observer Countries (Armenia, Belarus, Estonia)
7.3 African and Middle East-East Crystallographic Region
8 ECA memberships: Enlarging the number of IMs and CAMs of the ECA
End of the first day of the Council Meeting
9 Annual Reports regarding SIG's activity
9.1 SIG.1 Macromolecular Crystallography (Keith Wilson )
9.2 SIG.2 Charge, Spin & Momentum Density (Bo Brummerstedt Iversen)
9.3 SIG.3 Aperiodic Crystallography (Gervais Chapuis)
9.4 SIG.4 Electron Crystallography (Thomas E. Weirich)
9.5 SIG.5 Mineralogical Crystallography (Wulf Depmeier)
9.6 SIG.6 Instrumentation and Experimental Techniques (IET) (Jean-Louis Hodeau)
9.7 SIG.7 Molecular Interaction and Recognition (MIR) (Roland Boese)
9.8 SIG.8 Powder Diffraction (SIGPD ) (Jordi Rius )
9.9 SIG.9 Crystallographic Computing (CCSIG) (Ton Spek)
9.10 SIG.10 Diffraction physics and optics (Mikhail Kovalchuk)
9.11 SIG.11 Extreme Conditions (Leonid Dubrovinsky)
9.12 SIG.12 Materials Science and Functional Materials (Pam A. Thomas)
9.13 SIG.13 Molecular Structures and Chemical Properties (Chick C. Wilson)
10 Progress in the establishment of a European Graduate School of Crystallography by M. Nespolo
11 European Crystallography Service
12 Relationship between ECA, the ECM's and the CAM's
13 Reports regarding ECM's
13.1 ECM24 (2007) Marrakech – final numbers and summary A. Thalal
13.2 ECM25 (2009) Istanbul - progress in organisation S. Özbey
13.3 ECM26 (2010) Darmstadt - progress in organisation H. Fuess
13.4 ECM27 (2012) Bergen - progress in organisation K. Törnroos
13.5 ECM28 (2013)
13.6 ECA membership fee collection with ECM registration fee
14 The ECA : what to do - where to go
Discussion regarding rules and future proceedings
[Written contributions from the Councillors as well as from Individual Members are welcome!]
15 Any other business
16 Close

End of the second 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 24th June 2008.

Opening

2.1 Opening and report of the President, Prof John R. Helliwell

Prof Helliwell opened the Council meeting , he complemented orally his Presidential report circulated prior to the Council, which was accepted by the Council. In particular he highlighted:-

Prof Helliwell undertook a strategic analysis for the ECA. The risk folder of ECA has been reviewed and up-dated. A copy is available from the Secretary for the confidential use of the ECA Councillors. Feedback and comments to the Executive Committee are of course most welcome at any time.

An action plan is under development how to promote crystallographic education in Europe. The ECA Executive Committee is supporting a Spanish Training initiative on Crystal Growth and Crystallography led by Profs Juan Manuel Garcia Ruiz and Santiago Garcia Granda, which will lead to a European wide initiative. The ECA Executive Committee has asked Prof Massimo Nespolo to Coordinate our Education activities.

The ECM24 meeting held in Marrakech was a great success both scientifically and financially. The Advanced Training Workshop (ATW) held prior to the ECM24, sponsored by NATO, is part of a general effort to increase the benefits to ECA Membership.

A leaflet was prepared by Prof Radomir Kuzel with information on ECA and a form to become a member. It resulted in a significant increase of number of the Corporate Affiliate Members. We hope many new Individual Members also.

A booth of ECA was arranged advertising the Association and future ECM-s during the XXI IUCr Congress in Osaka.

The next ECA Executive Committee ‘Winter meeting’ will be held in February 2009 in Budapest and Councillors are most welcome to suggest agenda items for discussion till the end of January 2009, preferably before Christmas 2008.

Prof Helliwell expressed his hearty thanks to the ECA Executive Committee colleagues, the Auditors, and thanked the editors of IUCr Newsletter for publishing ECA reports.

The Executive Committee was informed about the death of Prof. Svetlana Zheludeva, Councillor of Russia in ECA, after the end of the first day of the Council Meeting. The second meeting started with a minute silent standing in memory of her.

2.2 Report by the Treasurer R. Kuzel

Professor Radomir Kuzel had prepared a leaflet with information about the European Crystallographic Association: brief history, membership, benefits of membership, National Members, Special Interest Groups, last and future ECM-s, meetings supported by ECA in 2008, ECA prizes. The brochure includes an Application form also to become an Individual or Corporate Member of ECA. Appearance of the logo of the Corporate Affiliate Members of the ECA on the back cover of the leaflet encouraged several firms to become a corporate member, thus the number of CAM-s increased to 21. It had a positive influence on the financial situation of ECA, the updated data are listed below for consideration.

ECA Treasurer Report – July 2008

From different reasons the ECA money are currently on several accounts. The history, reasons and credits are given below.

Account	Person responsible	Credit
Netherlands	Sybolt Harkema	~ 400 EUR
The account has beencreated together with the ECA registration in the Netherlands bythe ECA treasurer. It is used fees for the Chamber of Commerce(Euro 25), because the ECA is registered in theNetherlands.
Portugal, Lisbon	Maria Teresa Duarte	0EUR
The ECA account closed inMarch 2008. Remaining money (267 EUR)transferred to Prague EURO account
Germany, Darmstadt	Hartmut Fuess	22613 EUR
The principal ECA accountfor collection of Prizes money. It shouldhave minimal transfers and a higher interestrate.
Czech Republic, Prague	Radomír Kužel	40 523 EUR
The current EURO accountof the Czech and Slovak Crystallographic Association. Since 2007not used for other purposes than for ECA money. This is theworking ECA account of the present treasurer with frequenttransfers and low interest rates. It is used forcollection of money by bank transfers fromIM, NM, CAM and ECA supports.
Czech Republic, Prague	Radomír Kužel	81 786 CZK ~ 3 271 EUR
The current CZK accountof the Czech and Slovak Crystallographic Association. For ECA, itis currently used only for collection of credit card payments,mainly from IM (individual members). It still seems to bebeneficial to keep this. Due to the stillincreasing rate of Czech crown, the ECA has about 500 EUR fromthis account more now than it would be 2-3 yearsago.

Total amount of ECA money ~ 66 800 EUR.

The treasurer explained that he was still distributing the invoices to national members (NM) and corporate members (CAM), during the Colloquium of the Czech and Slovak Crystallographic Association (June), IUCr congress (August) and EPDIC (September). He has not sent any invoices to CAMs prior the Osaka Congress this year.

Expected income from national members if all the NMs pays including their debts from the past: 4300 EUR. Expected income from the CAMs: 1250 EUR at least, maybe 2250 EUR.

Transfers since ECM24

Transfers in the Portugal account

2007
Credit: 0 EUR
Debit:0 EUR

2008
Debit:
Transfer to Prague account 267 EUR
Closing the account 60 EUR

Transfers in the Prague EUR account (August 2007 – July 2008)

Credit:
From National members 5 831 EUR
From Individual members 770 EUR
From Corporate members 3 500 EUR

From the closed account in Portugal 267 EUR
Sponsorship of Max Perutz prize
(Molecular dimensions, Panalytical) 3500 EUR
Refund from ECM Marrakech 21 574 EUR
Bank transactions (- interest) - 134 EUR

Total 35576 EUR

Debit:
Berthaut prize contribution (medals) 256 EUR
Max Perutz prize (cheque) 5000 EUR
Jacek Grochowski poster prize 100 EUR
Support of HEC meeting 1000 EUR
Support of Mathematical school of crystallography 1500 EUR
Support of Graverona European charge density meeting 500 EUR
Support of Bialowieza Int. School on physics and chemistry
of condensed matter 500 EUR
Support of Erice school 1 000 EUR
Support of Villigen school Structure determination from
powder diffraction data 500 EUR
Support of EPDIC 11 Warszawa 500 EUR

Support of Zurich School of Crystallography 500 EUR

Refund of travel of Massimo Nespolo to Exec Com
meeting 322 EUR
Bank transactions 399 EUR

Total 12321 EUR

Difference + 23255 EUR

Transfers in the Prague CZK account (till the end of July 2008)

Credit:
From IMs 11 533 CZK ~ 460 EUR

Total 460 EUR

Debit:
Refund of accommodation of ECA Exec Com meeting in Budapest
for R. Kužel (who paid it privately by card in Budapest) 36 092 CZK ~ 1440 EUR

Printing of the ECA leaflets 10680 CZK ~ 427 EUR

Total 1 867 EUR

Typical costs

Support 5500 EUR
Exec Comm 2500 EUR
IUCr 700 EUR
Total 8700 EUR

Typical income

CAMs 5500 EUR
NM 4000 EUR
IM 2000 EUR
ECM ????
Total 11 500 EUR

The Council Ratified (no objection):

A tick box should be added to the ECM registration page for an e.g. 5 Euro contribution of an ECM participant towards the Perutz and Bertaut Prizes, starting for ECM25, and thereafter at all future ECMS.

Bye-law 6.3(c) is retained (no objection):

Individual Members below 30 years of age and Individual Members certifying their retirement from professional activities shall pay 50% of the annual fee that would otherwise be due.

The Council Ratified (no objection):

The number of advance years of the registration fees payable at once is limited for national members to 4 years.

Statute 13.2: “Each National Member shall pay an annual subscription which corresponds to the number of members of the National Adhering Body.“ The question is how to determine the number of crystallographers in a country. This issue needs further discussion since the World Directory of Crystallographers is outdated.

Prof Karimat El-Sayed: not all members of WDC are members of a National Association.

The proposal that ECA non-member surcharge within the ECM registration fee (usually 20 Euro) might accrue 50% to ECA per registration (i.e. 10 Euro) is not matured to vote. Executive Committee will evaluate it again.

Prof Engin Kendi: as chair of ECM25 expressed that she was happy with the proposal

Prof Hartmut Fuess as chair of ECM26, as an alternative proposal, says that he has a contract with the Professional Congress Organiser guaranteeing 30.000 EUR surplus of income. The surplus above this amount is the income of the PCO.

Prof Jindrich Hasek, Auditor: it is difficult to audit in a foreign country. He is afraid that the method of ‘50% of non-member fees coming to ECA’ would increase the registration fee. A constant income should be guaranteed for ECA and not to take the risk according to the number of participants. If there is a deficit of an ECM, ECA does not inherit the deficit.

It was overall agreed that the ECA Executive Committee should reconsider the matter of ECM income to the ECA, and associated risks and benefits aspects, and meanwhile follow the usual method of “any ECM surplus would accrue to the ECA”.

3 Former e-mail decisions

3.1 on appointment of Auditors

The members of the ECA Council agreed in an email voting procedure that Profs Elspeth Garman and Jindrich Hasek act as Auditors for the financial year of January to December 2007 of ECA. They accepted and performed the task.

3.2 on changing the date of ECM25 in Istanbul

Because of the change of the date of the Formula 1 race in Istanbul to 9^th August 2009, the formal date (9-14 August) of ECM25 is moved to 16-21 August. There was approval via the email voting procedure of the Councillors, ie all agreed to keep the venue Istanbul and to change the date to the latter period.

Auditors

4 Approval by the Council of the submitted accounts

4.1 Report of the Auditors for the financial year of 2007

Report on the financial status of ECA in 2008. Auditors : Jindrich Hasek and Elspeth Garman

R.Kuzel (ECA treasurer) submitted his report on the overall status of accounts to June 30, 2008.

Total amount on the ECA accounts increased from 40 556 EUR in 2007 to 59 200 EUR in July 2008.

The bills were checked against the primary documents and all accounts were agreed.

Other comments of Auditors:

ECA keeps its accounts in three different countries (the Netherlands, Czech Republic and Germany).
Current account for money transfers in EUR in Praha (R.Kuzel)
Account for credit cards in Praha (R.Kuzel)
Deposit account in Germany (H.Fuss)
Residue account in the country of the ECA foundation (Netherlands)
The main accounts for transactions are in the Czech Republic (Prague, R.Kuzel). Both accounts were checked against the primary documents and the bank records. All transactions were agreed and signed by the President of ECA (Prof. Helliwell)
The accounts in other countries [Holland (S. Harkema), Germany (H. Fuss)] were agreed based on e-mail correspondence only.
Both auditors recommend that the ECA Executive Committee discuss possible changes in ECA policy with respect to Exhibitors at the ECA meetings. The ECA guarantees a high number of participants at the ECM and therefore it should share some profit from this source in the Auditors’ view.
Both Auditors recommend that the ECA Executive Committee discuss the policy of ECA membership fees.

CONCLUSION

Both auditors authorize the Treasurer’s report and agree with all transactions performed in the period 2007-2008.

August 21, 2008, Elspeth Garman Reader in Molecular Biophysics Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry, University of Oxford & Jindrich Hasek, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic

The Council approved the submitted report of the Auditors.

Report of Vice-President by S. Larsen

5 Annual Reports by the Executive Committee and preliminary progress reports

5.1 Report by the Vice-President S. Larsen

The Council approved the submitted report of the Vice-President.

5.2 Report by the Past-President H. Fuess on the Erwin Felix Lewy Bertaut prize

The Council agreed with the description of the Erwin Felix Lewy Bertaut prize. The wording has to be conciliated with ENSA. It can be accepted by ECA earliest during the Council Meeting in Istanbul 2009.

Prof Jean-Luis Hodeau volunteered to prepare a poster on Erwin Felix Lewy Bertaut. Prof Hartmut Fuess ensured a presentation on Felix Bertaut and the Prize in Istanbul.

Prof Hartmut Fuess highlighted the importance of the booth ECA organised during the XXI Congress in Osaka.

The Darmstadt current account has an interest of 3.5%. The overall aim is to build up sufficient capital to generate approximately 5.000 EUR interest per annum in the future to cover the ECA Prizes.

5.3 Report by the Secretary P. Bombicz summary of the work of the Executive Committee

The Council approved the submitted report of the Secretary.

5.4 Report by A. Roodt on the Max Perutz prize

The Council accepted the description of the Max Perutz Prize to include in the bye-laws.

Prof. Andreas Roodt urged the Council members to nominate eminent scientist s to the 2009 Perutz Prize. An advert will go out in October this year. To the question of Prof Chris Gilmore it was confirmed that any (i) ECA individual Member or (ii) any person from a member country associated to the ECA or (iii) any member from the CAMs may nominate.

5.5 Report by L. van Meervelt on sponsorship of meetings and schools

Prof. Luc van Meervelt informed the Council that one of the seven supported meetings of ECA in 2008 (XX International School on Physics and Chemistry of Condensed Matter, Bialowieza, Poland) was postponed to 2009. He also highlighted that dates of conference must be outside of a blackout period of ±1 month around the ECM's and IUCr Congresses. The applications of the organisers should be supported by a letter from at least one SIG chair (or IUCr Commission). All the reports on meetings supported by ECA submitted before June 2008 are readable on the ECANews website. Because in December 2007 seven applications were received in a very short period, two application deadlines were introduced to the future: 1^st February and 1^st August.

Reports are required from the School/Conference/Workshop organisers on scientific results and financial application of the grant. Furthermore a summary list of students (name, e-mail) who received a bursary is required to monitor the need for a variety of different students to attend meetings and solicit their joining the ECA. Each bursary grant holder is required to send a short report on scientific results Report template is provided by ECA. These efforts will let the student know that the received bursary is from ECA, the brand name ECA should thereby be advertised consciously.

The Council approved the refined guidelines for financial support.

The Council agreed:

The years the IUCr Congress are held outside Europe the ECA receive more applications from Schools/Conferences/Workshops’ organisers. The amount distributed in that year can be reconsidered by the Executive Committee depending on the financial situation of the Association, but the ‘black out’ period around the IUCr Congress should be respected.

ECA does not specify the use of the bursary support: travel, accommodation or registration fee. ECA’s belief is that this approach gives the organisers more flexibility.

ECA Councillors are requested to inform the ECA Secretary and Webmaster about the date of any schools, workshops and conferences on crystallography, annual meeting of the National Associations to be announced in the ECANews webpage in order to avoid potential clashes.

5.6 Report by S. Garcia-Granda on SIG organisation

Prof. Santiago Garcia-Granda presented the update of the SIG Activity Table based on the 2008 reports. This is a non rigorous analysis on a 4 years window, 2005-2008, based on the information supplied by the SIG officers in their annual activity report. The actual window includes two IUCr meetings, therefore including only two ECMs (2006/2007).

SIGs profile
SIG #	Membership				MS/KN - ECM [10]				Schools [4]				Webpage [2]				Scientific Meetings [4]				Overall Activity [20]	SIG NAMEs
	Number/Active				Contributions				Number/Participation				Existence/Activity				Number/Participation				Low / Medium / High / VH
	2005	2006	2007	2008	2005	2006	2007	2008	2005	2006	2007	2008	2005	2006	2007	2008	2005	2006	2007	2008	2005-2008
1				65/30		139/4	132/5		2/	3/	2/257	4/193	N/N	N/N	N/N	N/N	4/-	5/-	7/705	7/788	10+4+0+4= VH 18	Macromolecular Crystallography
2				140/80		37/1	54/1		0/0	0/0	0/0	1/80	Y/N	Y/N	?/Y	?/Y	1/96	4/-	2/150	3/139	3.5+1+0.5+4= M 9	Charge, Spin & MomentumDensity
3				30/30		16/0	10/1		0/0	0/0	0/0	0/0	Y/Y	Y/Y	Y/Y	Y/Y	0/0	2/-	2/57	2/110	1.5+0+2+2= M 5.5	Aperiodic Crystals
4				15/15		26/1	13/0		1/-	1/-	1/70	0/0	Y/Y	Y/Y	Y/Y	Y/Y	0/0	0/0	0/0	2/90	1.5+3+2+1= M 7.5	Electron Crystallography
5				136/136		69/1	70/1		1/-	0/0	0/0	0/0	Y/Y	Y/Y	Y/Y	Y/Y	0/0	1/-	2/849	6/665	3+2+2+4= H 11	Mineral and Inorganic Crystallography
6				10/10		12/1	83/0		0/0	0/0	0/0	3/100	N/N	N/N	N/N	N/N	2/-	0/0	0/0	0/0	2.5+2+0+1= M 5.5	Instrumentation and Experimental Techniques
7				180/180		103/2	86/1		0/0	0/0	0/0	0/0	N/N	N/N	N/N	N/N	3/-	0/0	0/0	0/0	7+0+0+0.5= M 7.5	Molecular Interaction and Recognition
8				22/22		27/1	23/1		0/0	1/-	1/70	0/0	EPD/Y	EPD/Y	EPD/Y	EPD/Y	0/0	1/-	4/650	1/100	3+2+1.5+3= M 9.5	Powder Diffraction (EPDIC)
9				/		42/0	12/1		1/-	0/0	0/0	0/0	CCP/Y	CCP/Y	CCP/?	CCP/?	0/0	0/0	0/0	0/0	4.5+0.5+0.5+0= M 5.5	Crystallographic Computing
10				250/250		9/0	0/0		0/0	0/0	0/0	2/130	N/N	N/N	N/N	N/N	0/0	1/-	3/30	2/100	0.5+1+0+1.5= L 3	Diffraction Physics and Optics
11				70/70		20/1	24/1		0/0	0/0	0/0	1/50	N/N	N/N	N/N	N/N	1/-	0/0	1/50	2/110	2+0.5+0+3= M 5.5	Crystallography under Extreme Conditions
12				/		90/1	58/1		0/0	0/0	0/0		N/N	N/N	N/N	N/N	0/0	0/0	0/0		5+0+0+0= M 5	Material Science
13				/		109/1	76/3		0/0	0/0	0/0	0/0	Y/N	Y/N	?/?	Y/Y	0/0	0/0	0/0	0/0	9+0+1+0= H 10	Molecular Structure and Chemical Properties

Remarks on the Reports:

Most reports follow the template - very useful to do a quick activity analysis.
Most have identified a number of members, which is very satisfactory even if the figures are approximate.
SIGs 1, 9, 12 and 13 failed to send the report before the deadline.
SIGs 1 and 9 reports were received shortly after the deadline.
Report from SIG 13 arrived about two months later and NO report was received from SIG 12
SIG 9 failed to use the template
SIG 13 and in some extent SIG 6 used the template as a guide but introducing some free style on their reports.
It was particularly difficult to evaluate the information given by SIG 10. Number of Members, Meetings and Schools could not be identified by the report but an emphasis purely on bilateral (Russia + Germany) links was noted.
The 5 years Report has been presented under different views and formats and, apparently, adds only limited information to the already collected reports.

Question:

is there an eccesity for reorganization of some SIGs: fusion / splitting / creation / removing / reformulation relating to their activity: membership and coincidence of field of interest?

Guidelines for SIG Officers were evaluated and will be distributed on responsibilities of the SIG officers, how to keep the SIG active, how to keep the information updated about the SIG and ECA. Guidelines for setting up and administering an ECA-SIG website and mailing list are also prepared and can be found on the ECANews site: http://www.ecanews.org/sig_info.php.

There are several SIG-s which do not have an active website. ECA will introduce a uniform SIG web address system (see item 5.7 below).

Prof John Helliwell commented on three SIG-s. Answering to SIG 1’s criticism the new sigofficers e-mail distribution list was mentioned and will increase the communication between the EC and the SIG-s. Replies from SIG-s are expected and sometimes missing. Importance to have a regularly updated website of the SIG-s was highlighted. Efforts should be made to increase the activity level of SIG 10. Prof John Helliwell to contact Prof Mikhail Kovalchuk. If it does not work merging with SIG 6 and a name change is a possibility. SIG 12 has not sent a report although verbal input is that the action plan agreed in ECM24 of a name change adopted as proposed by the SIG had not been effective thus far and the SIG 12 Chair (Prof Pam Thomas) has stated she wishes to stand down (indeed she has served the ECA very well these last years and Thanks are due). At the ECM25 Programme Committee meeting in Osaka Prof Glazer attended on behalf of the SIG 12 Chair.

5.7 Report by M. Nespolo on Website related activities

Prof. Massimo Nespolo invites all Councillors to inform him about all national schools and meeting to include them to the ECANews website. He also includes the links to all National Associations’ websites. There are uniform SIG and ECM domain names. There are only five SIG-s (SIG 3, 4, 5, 8 and 13) which have active websites. If the SIG chair’s or officer’s institutions cannot host the SIG website there is a possibility to host the SIG website by the ECANews. Anyhow, organisation of the website is the responsibility of the SIG. All future ECM organisers are requested to contact first the ECA Webmaster to have the standardised web address before establishing the website.

6 IUCr-ECA link

The IUCr General Assembly voted against the ACA proposal in Osaka that the IUCr Executive Committee be expanded with a delegate each of the ACA, the ASCA and the ECA.

A fruit of the discussions is that Prof. Chris Gilmore as theassigned ECA-link member of the IUCr Executive Committee will be invited to the ECA Executive Committee Meeting next February in Budapest. The IUCr is expected to pay the travel cost, ECA would cover accommodation and meals costs.

7 National Crystallographic Associations

7.1 Grouping ECA member and IUCr non-member countries to IUCr General Assembly membership

The IUCr General Assembly accepted the application for membership of the Union of the Regional Committee of Crystallographers from Algeria, Latvia, Morocco, Tunisia, Turkey and Ukraine sponsored by the ECA. Thus the representative of these ECA member countries, Prof Abdelmalek Thalal, took part on the General Assembly as a voting delegate.

7.2 Observer Countries (Armenia, Belarus, Estonia)

Prof. Siranush Bezirganyan explained that Armenia is interested in establishing its national crystallographic association and to integrate to the European crystallographic community but they experience difficulties in the country. She asks ECA to help in promotion of crystallography in Armenia. Action; The President and the Past-President.

7.3 African and Middle East-East Crystallographic Regions of the ECA

Because of the lack of time this Agenda-item was not discussed.

8 ECA memberships: Enlarging the number of IMs and CAMs of the ECA

The substantial increase of number of Corporate Affiliate Members was highlighted again. Further increase is desirable. Number of individual members should be increased significantly. The suggestion of Prof Massimo Nespolo was to show ECA individual membership on the ECM conference badge. Prof John Helliwell underlined the importance that ECA membership may be made a condition of the award for bursary from the ECA.

Branded objects for sale: Prof Christine Cardin proposes to make the design of different objects that may be put to the website. Volunteers are needed as designers. Prof Radomir Kuzel shared his previous experience with the Czech Association and that production of such objects is easily done in fact.

Presence of exhibitors at ECM is vital. Donations received from companies are, as ever, needed.

At future ECM-s price for non-CAMs should go up by 10% compared to the costs imposed on ECA CAMs.

9 Annual Reports regarding SIG's activity

9.1 SIG.1 Macromolecular Crystallography accepted
9.2 SIG.2 Charge, Spin & Momentum Density accepted
9.3 SIG.3 Aperiodic Crystallography accepted
9.4 SIG.4 Electron Crystallography not present
9.5 SIG.5 Mineralogical Crystallography accepted
The change of the title to "Mineral and Inorganic Crystallography" is approved by the Council
9.6 SIG.6 Instrumentation and Experimental Techniques (IET) accepted
9.7 SIG.7 Molecular Interaction and Recognition (MIR) accepted
9.8 SIG.8 Powder Diffraction (SIGPD) accepted
9.9 SIG.9 Crystallographic Computing (CCSIG) accepted
9.10 SIG.10 Diffraction physics and optics not present. The activity should be tried to be increased. If it does not work merging with SIG 6 is proposed.
9.11 SIG.11 Extreme Conditions accepted
9.12 SIG.12 Material Science not present. Election of new chair is expected.
9.13 SIG.13 Molecular Structures and Chemical Properties accepted

10. Progress in the establishment of a European Graduate School of Crystallography

The Council accepted the proposal:

The ECA has to have an Acting Education Coordinator. The person assigned this responsibility is Prof Massimo Nespolo with a term of office of 1 year to 2009 ie to reconcile with Officers’ elections in general which will take place in August 2009 in Istanbul.

The Master Program in Crystallography and Crystallization approved by the Spanish Ministry of Education May 2008 was presented to the Council by Professor Juan Manual Garcia Ruiz. The Master in Crystallography and Crystallization belongs to the Official Postgraduate Program of the Uiversidad Internacional Menendez y Pelayo and it is sponsored by the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas. The Master has been organized in the Framework of “La Factoría de Cristalización” a large scale project that merge the efforts of Spanish Crystallographers. The first year of this Master will be taught in English and Spanish by lecturers belonging to more than 60 European and Non-European Institutions to prepare a maximum of 25 students a year. Prof Garcia Ruiz thanked the letter of support of ECA Executive Committee sent to the organization of this Master which, along to other strong supports from International Organization of Crystal Growth, International Working Party on Industrial Crystallization and the Royal Spanish Societies of Physics and Chemistry were instrumental in the success of our proposal.

There was a positive feedback after the Marrakech Council Meeting 2007 concerning the idea of the European Graduate School of Crystallography. The network of laboratories will be crucial: cooperation of European organisations, universities is essential. A foundation has to be established in order to successfully apply for financial support from the European Union to start to make the courses.

Professors Hartmut Fuess and Massimo Nespolo met in Darmstadt. They agreed that beside a future PhD program a Master in Crystallography program should be organised. It would consist of 2-3 semesters of education, one semester of laboratory practice, this could be followed by an oprtional PhD course.

11 European Chemical Crystallography Service

The Council welcomed the proposal to the EU Framework7 call submitted by several European Laboratories to establish a European Crystallography Service, to be accessible to all European chemists and crystallographers.

12 Relationship between ECA, the ECM's and the CAM's

CAM-s pays membership fee and are donators to ECM, Perutz and poster prizes

The work of the Treasurer had successfully increased the CAMs by 100%.

13.1 ECM24 (2007) Marrakech – final numbers and summary A. Thalal

The ECM24 conference held in Marrakech last year was a great success both scientifically and financially. Report was given by Prof Abdelmalek Thalal, Chair of the meeting, presenting the final numbers.

663 delegates, 77 accompanying persons and 70 exhibitors participated from 42 countries. Thus the total number of participants were 810 (32% female, 68% male). The scientific programme consisted of 17 keynote lectures, 45 microsymposia, 270 oral communications and 392 poster presentations. Scientific contributions by SIG-s:

Four satellite meetings were organized besides the main meeting. 21 companies exhibited on 313 m²(171m²equipped / 142m² empty booth). Bursaries: ECA financial support helped 11 attendees, IUCr grant went to 45 young scientists. The University of Marrakech supported 9, while the fund of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons made possible the participation of 8 attendees. The total income was 346,955 EUR, the total expenditure was 319,437 EUR. From the 27,518 EUR surplus 17,000 was the ECA loan now refunded. Thus the successful financial outcome of a surplus is 10,515 EUR. 4,574 EUR is on the ECA current account, while 5,941 EUR remained in Morocco. This amount will be used by the Moroccan Crystallographic Association on the understanding that this was not a precedent for the future shares-formula of an ECM surplus between hosting country and the ECA.:

the promotion of crystallography in the Maghreb region e.g. towards the costs of a joint conference between Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria;
through award of bursaries to Moroccan students to attend ECM or IUCr conferences;
to arrange Moroccan national access to the new electronic International Tables published by IUCr (approximately 2 years subscription should be possible).

There had been problems for some of the Exhibitors with the amount of time allowed to clear Moroccan customs. This emphasized the need for tight er guidelines eg from IUCr regarding the ‘black out’ period expected around the ECMs, ACA Meetings, ASCA Meetings and IUCr Congresses.

The ECM24 Report by Prof Thalal was concluded with applause from the Council as to the effectiveness of the science program and the healthy financial surplus achieved.

13.2 ECM25 (2009) Istanbul - progress in organisation S. Ozbey

Prof Engin Kendi, chair of ECM25, gave a presentation. The new dates of the ECM25 meeting are 16-21 August 2009. The registration fees are:

Payment of the full congress fee entitles to:

participation in the opening ceremony and the welcome reception, participation in the scientific sessions, visit of the exhibition, printed materials of the congress, beverages during breaks
and the following social events: 25th meeting celebration on 18/08/09, congress dinner on 20/08/09 (extra administrative fee of 20€ needed to confirm attendance) and excursion (Bosphorous trip).
For students, the registration package includes five nights sharing accommodation in Double room on Bed & Breakfast basis.

Important deadlines:

Dec 1, 2008 Call for Abstracts & Registration
Feb 28, 2009 Deadline for bursary applications (abstract should include with application)
March 15, 2009 Deadline for abstract submission
May 1, 2009 Deadline for registration payment at Early Bird rate
May 1, 2009 Deadline for Student Accom. Request
June 1, 2009 Deadline for Congress Hotel Accom.
July 1, 2009 Deadline for Cancelation with full refund (but 10% admin fee)

ECM25 Meeting Programme:

Sun 16, August Opening ceremony & ECA prize talk, Welcome reception
Mon 17,August Conference & Exhibition
Tue 18, August Conference & Exhibition, 25th meeting celebration & Bertault prize
Wed 19, August Conference & Exhibition, Concert @ Hagia Irene Museum (opt)
Thu 20, August Conference & Exhibition, Conference Dinner
Fri 21, August Exercursion Day Bosphorus Cruise Tour

There are to be 16 keynote lectures and 48 microsymposia planned. It will be the highest number of microsymposia organized in the last four ECM-s. By November 2008 the programme has to be finalised ie so that invites to speakers and Chairs can be sent out by ECM25 Organisers. The Confrence MSs layout each day will be guided by the previously defined Focus Areas.

Prof Engin Kendi presented the congress venue, the Harbiye Museum, and gave two options for the arrangements of the events. There are two buildings available for ECM25. Plan 1: parallel MS-a are shared between the two buildings. Plan 2: All MS-a take place in the main building, while all other activities, exhibition, poster sessions, coffee breaks and internet access would be in the side building. Organisers prefer Plan 2. Dr. Frank van Meurs as the representative of exhibitors chooses Plan2 also. He suggested that the exhibition takes place on the first floor, and posters are on display on the second floor. Prof Engin Kendi explained in her answer that the entrance to the side building is at an intermediate level between the first and the second floor having an overview of both floors when someone enters. Thus Plan 2 was accepted for organization. Coffee will be served on the floor-level of the exhibition.

Prof Jean-Luis Hodeau emphasized the importance of the possibility to be able to change between MS-a to attend lectures. He also suggested to introduce the screening of time for lectures to keep the timetable of the MS as it was in Osaka and in Florence previously (accepted). He finds the cancellation deadline early (not accepted).

To the question of Prof John Helliwell it was said that also the three star hotels are air conditioned. In another aspect he mentioned the bombing that had happened in Istanbul on 9^th July 2008 near the U.S. consulate. It of course casts a shadow over the tourism of the city and thus by implication of the preparation of our meeting. The President and Past-President had discussed the matter and invited the Council to remember that other attacks of course have happened in Europe and though it means that this risk has to be considered their recommendation was that we live with such risks these days.

Profs John Helliwell and Hartmut Fuess will visit Istanbul November 2008 to help the preparation and visit the venue. Prof Engin Kendi informed the Council Meeting’s participants that the Ramadan starts at 21 August in 2009 which gives an interesting opportunity to those who remain for tourism in Turkey to experience it. There are no restrictions for tourists / foreigners during the Ramadan.

ECM25 web page: ecm25.ecanews.org.

13.3 ECM26 (2010) Darmstadt - progress in organisation H. Fuess

ECM26: 29 August – 3 September 2010. EPDIC: 27-30 August 2010. There will be separate and combined registration fees. Prof Hartmut Fuess informed the Council that the hotel rooms are pre-booked (all are below 120 EUR). Lunch will be included in the registration fee. Registration fee will be kept below 400 EUR.

ECM26 web page: ecm26.ecanews.org.

13.4 ECM27 (2012) Bergen - progress in organisation K. Törnroos

ECM27: 6-11 August 2012. Ideas how to celebrate the Laue 1912 Centenary are welcome.

ECM28 (2013) bidders

13.5 ECM28 (2013)

Presentation of the bidders will take place during ECM 25 Council Meeting 2 in Istanbul 2009. Potential bidders in the present state are Athens (I.Mavridis) and UK (P.R.Raithby). The session on ECM28 selection will be chaired by the Vice-President of the ECA since the President, Prof John Helliwell, is from the UK.

13.6 ECA membership fee collected with ECM registration fee

It should be made possible at future ECM-s to pay ECA individual membership fees together with the Meeting registration fee for registrants. Details will be worked out by the Executive Committee with respective ECM Organisers.

14 The ECA : what to do - where to go

The summary of the ECA overall strategy, discussion regarding rules and future proceedings, was distributed in the Appendices of the Agenda of the Council Meeting 2008 in Osaka. Contributions from the Councillors as well as from Individual Members are welcome.

15 Any other business

Professor Massimo Nespolo proposed that retired participants receive reduction of the ECM registration fee at the future ECM-s. The proposal will be discussed by the Executive Committee.

16 Close

Prof John Helliwell expressed his hearty thanks to all members of the Council and the Executive Committee and closed the Council Meetings in 2008 in Osaka.

Minutes of the ECA Council, Istanbul, 2009

Minutes of the ECA Council , Marrakech 2007

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

	Voting right	Councillors / representative	25 August	27 August
*Councillor of MemberCountries*
Algeria	Yes	Ahmed Bekka	-	Leila Boukli-Hacene
Austria	Yes	Ekkehart Tillmanns	Ferdinand Belaj	Ferdinand Belaj
Belgium	Yes	Bernard Tinant	-	Joke Hadermann
Bulgaria	Yes	Kostadin Petrov	-	-
Croatia	Yes	Stanko Popovic	Marijana Djakovic	Marijana Djakovic
Czech and SlovakRep	Yes	Jindrich Hasek	Jindrich Hasek	Jindrich Hasek
Denmark	Yes	Robert Feidenhansl	-	Gregers Andersen
Egypt	Yes	Karimat El-Sayed	Karimat El-Sayed	Karimat El-Sayed
Finland	Yes	Keijo Hämäläinen	Keijo Hämäläinen	Keijo Hämäläinen
France	Yes	Jean-Louis Hodeau	Jean-Claude Daran	Jean-Louis Hodeau
Germany	Yes	Wolfgand Neumann	Wolfgand Neumann	Wolfgand Neumann
Greece	Yes	Irene Mavridis	-	-
Hungary	Yes	Alajos Kálmán	Gyula Faigel	GyulaFaigel
Israel	Yes	Noam Adir	-	NoamAdir
Italy	Yes	Paola Spadon	Paola Spadon	PaolaSpadon
Latvia	Yes	Anatolij Mishnev	-	-
Morocco	Yes	Nouzha Bouhmaida	Nouzha Bouhmaida	Abdelmalek Thalal
Netherlands	Yes	Ton Spek	Rene deGelder	Rene deGelder
Norway	Yes	Carl Henrik Gorbitz	-	Carl Henrik Gorbitz
Poland	Yes	AdamPietraszko	Marek Glowka	-
Portugal	Yes	Ana Margarida Damas	-	Joao Ferreira da Silva
Russia	Yes	tba	-	-
Serbia	Yes	Slobodanka Stankovic	-	-
Slovenia	Yes	IvanLeban	-	-
SouthAfrica	Yes	SusanBourne	Susan Bourne	Susan Bourne
Spain	Yes	Enrique Gutierrez-Puebla	-	Fernando Lahoz
Sweden	Yes	Ylva Lindqvist	Elisabeth Sauer-Erikson	Elisabeth Sauer-Erikson
Switzerland	Yes	Jürg Schefer	WalterSteuer	WalterSteuer
Tunisia	Yes	Mongi Debbabi	Mongi Debbabi	Mongi Debbabi
Turkey	Yes	Engin Kendi	Engin Kendi	Engin Kendi
UK	Yes	Christine J. Cardin	Paul Raithby	Christine J. Cardin
Ukraine	Yes	Roman Gladyshevskii	-	-
IM representative(2006-9)	Yes	Teresa Borowiak	Teresa Borowiak	Teresa Borowiak
IM representative(2006-9)	Yes	Massimo Nespolo	Massimo Nespolo	Massimo Nespolo
present			59%	76%
*Observers*
IUCr	No	Chris Gilmore	Chris Gilmore	Chris Gilmore
Armenia	No	Hakob Bezirganyan	Siranush Bezirganyan	Siranush Bezirganyan
Belarus	No	Alexander Lyakhov	-	-
Estonia	No	Hugo Mandar	-	-
*SIG'srepresentatives*
SIG 1	No	Garib Nurshudov / Victor Lamzin	-	Nurshudov / Lamzin
SIG 2	No	Bo Brummerstedt Iversen	UllrichPietsch	Carlo Gatti
SIG 3	No	Gervais Chapuis	Gervais Chapuis	Gervais Chapuis
SIG 4	No	ThomasE. Weirich	Wolgang Neumann	Wolgang Neumann
SIG 5	No	Wulf Depmeier	Wulf Depmeier	Wulf Depmeier
SIG 6	No	Jean-Louis Hodeau	Jean-Louis Hodeau	Jean-Louis Hodeau
SIG 7	No	Roland Boese	Susan Bourne	Susan Bourne
SIG 8	No	Jordi Rius	Radomir Kuzel	Radomir Kuzel
SIG 9	No	Ton Spek	Ton Spek	Ton Spek
SIG 10	No	Mikhail Kovalchuk	-	-
SIG 11	No	Leonid Dubrovinsky	Leonid Dubrovinsky	Leonid Dubrovinsky
SIG 12	No	Pam A.Thomas	-	Mike Glazer
SIG 13	No	Chick C. Wilson	-	Fernando Lahoz
*Auditors*
Auditor(2006-7)	No	Elspeth Garman	-	-
Auditor(2006-7)	No	Jindrich Hasek	Jindrich Hasek	Jindrich Hasek
*ECANEWS*
ECANEWS	No	Massimo Nespolo	Massimo Nespolo	Massimo Nespolo
ECM'srepresentatives
ECM24-2007	No	Abdelmalek Thalal	-	Abdelmalek Thalal
ECM25-2009	No	Engin Kendi	Engin Kendi	Engin Kendi
ECM26-2010	No	Hartmut Fuess	Hartmut Fuess	Hartmut Fuess
ECM27-2012	No	Karl Törnroos	Karl Törnroos	Karl Törnroos
ExecuticeCommittee
President	No	John Helliwell	John Helliwell	John Helliwell
Vice-president	No	Sine Larsen	Sine Larsen	Sine Larsen
Past-president	No	Hartmut Fuess	Hartmut Fuess	Hartmut Fuess
Secretary	No	Petra Bombicz	Petra Bombicz	Petra Bombicz
Treasurer	No	Radomir Kuzel	Radomir Kuzel	Radomir Kuzel
Member	No	Luc vanMeervelt	Luc vanMeervelt	Luc vanMeervelt
Member	No	Santiago Garcia-Granda	Santiago Garcia-Granda	Santiago Garcia-Granda
Member	No	Andreas Roodt	Andreas Roodt	Andreas Roodt
CAM
Bruker - AXS	No	Eric Hovestreydt	F. van Meurs	F. van Meurs
*also present*
SIG 3	No		Michal Dusek	Michal Dusek
ECM25 PCsecretary	No	Semra Ide	-	Semra Ide
ECM25 OCsecretary	No	Suheyla Ozbey	-	Suheyla Ozbey

Minutes of the ECA Council, Osaka, 2008