In the spring of 2005 elections will take place to replace four ISN Council Members as well as the ISN Treasurer. Members are now invited to nominate candidates. It is important for the good functioning and development of ISN that dedicated and enthusiastic neurochemists commit themselves to work for our Society.

Council members are engaged in the different Committees of the ISN and as such play important roles in the decision making process, e.g. funding of conferences and educational activities. We therefore need Council members having a solid scientific background.

At the next ISN Meeting in Innsbruck your current Treasurer will retire from his office to, if elected, serve as the next President. Considering the tradition that the Treasurer and the Secretary do not reside in the same geographical area it may be desirable that the incoming Treasurer is not from Europe. Either the Americas or the Asian-Pacific region would be preferable.

Another important issue to be decided at the next ISN Council Meeting in Innsbruck is the location of the ISN/APSN meeting in 2009 that according to the rotation schedule among the geographical regions must take place in the Asian-Pacific region. Previous meetings in this region have been hosted in Japan (Tokyo, 1973; Kyoto, 1995) and Australia (Sydney, 1991). Unfortunately, the last scheduled meeting in the region (Hong Kong, 2003) was cancelled due to SARS. On the other hand, Mainland China has never had a meeting. Again, it is important that we receive high quality proposals from which the best possible venue can be selected.

Agustina Garcia
ISN Secretary