Reports
on the Activities of ISN Committees
Officer
Reports
Committee
Reports
President's
report covering the period August 2004 to May 2005
to be presented at the Council and General Business Meetings in
Innsbruck, August 2005
Meetings of the
Officers
The Officers have met in connection with a meeting in Barcelona concerning
the future strategies for J. Neurochem. (February 2005). In addition a
short meeting with the Secretary in Barcelona was arranged in November
2004 in order to inform about matters discussed at the Council Meeting
in Osaka and to assist in the preparations of the minutes from this meeting
as well as the GBM in Osaka. This was done in order to compensate for
the unfortunate situation that the Secretary due to illness was unable
to participate in these meetings in Osaka.
Meetings related
to the subcommittee to discuss a future strategy for J.Neurochem.
At the Council Meeting in Osaka it was decided to form a subcommittee
headed by the Publ. Com. Chair, John Clark, to analyze the future of J.
Neurochem. and to prepare recommendations for a future structure and management
of the Journal. This was executed by a preliminary meeting with John Clark
in London in November 2004 to inform him about the obligations of this
committee. Subsequently, in February 2005 the committee met in Barcelona
to produce a plan that could be discussed with the Chief Editors and the
Publisher at the annual Journal business meeting to be held in Oxford
in May.
Establishment of
a business office
The Council decision in Osaka to make arrangements with Portland Customer
Service to collect membership and Journal subscription fees and to maintain
the membership directory was finalized by signing of a contract to that
effect in the fall of 2004. Portland has handled this matter as of January
2005. A meeting between the Officers and Portland to discuss further services
has been arranged for May 2005 in relation to the Journal business meeting
mentioned above.
Preparations for
the Innsbruck Meeting (ISN/ESN) 2005
The President had a short meeting with the LOC in Innsbruck February 2005
to discuss matters related to the organization of the ISN/ESN meeting.
It was clear that the planning was well advanced and that facilities would
be outstanding. The head of the LOC, Dr. Alois Saria and his assistant,
Ms. Christiane Riedl are complimented for their enthusiasm and extreme
efficiency.
Preparations for
the Cancun Meeting (ISN/ASN) 2007
In connection with participation in a Scientific Meeting in Chile in April
2005 the President made a short visit in Mexico to assist the LOC for
the 2007 ISN/ASN Meeting in finalizing arrangements with a suitable PCO
for that meeting. As a result of this a suitable PCO was identified and
a contract will be signed in the near future. It appeared that the planning
of the meeting is progressing and we look forward to having a full report
from the LOC at the Council Meeting and GBM in Innsbruck in August.
The President
May 2005
Secretary's
report for the period August 2004 - May 2005
The following activities have been carried out in the Office of the Secretary
since August 2004.
Meetings with the
Officers in relation to the Council and General Business meetings held
in Osaka in September 2004
Given the impossibility of the Secretary to travel to Osaka because of
health reasons, a meeting with the President took place in Barcelona in
September to prepare the 2004 Council and Business meetings. Another meeting
with the President and the Treasurer took place in Barcelona in November
concerning issues discussed in the Council meeting in Osaka and other
ISN matters.
Minutes of the
Council and General Business Meetings in Osaka, 2004
The minutes of these meetings were sent to the Officers for approval and
once approved they were distributed to the Council members. The minutes
were subsequently published in the December 2004 Neurochemistry News online.
Neurochemistry
News
The December 2004 printed issue of the Neurochemistry News was produced
and distributed. It contained information about the elections together
with the call for nomination of candidates for Treasurer and Councillors.
It also contained the call for proposals for venue of the 2009 Biennial
Meeting to be held jointly with the APSN in the Asian Pacific region.
A more complete version of the News including minutes of the Osaka Council
and Business Meetings and reports on ISN funded conferences was made available
at the ISN website with the collaboration of David Shine. The June 2005
issue of the News is being prepared while this report is finalised.
Change in Bylaws
The Secretary's office collaborated with the Company Secretary (J. Clark)
in the preparation of a modification of the Articles of Association that
will allow electronic voting if approved in the General Business Meeting
in Innsbruck.
J. Neurochemistry
Future Working Party
A meeting was organized in Barcelona in February 2005 for a subcommittee
composed of J. Clark (Chair), the Officers and H. Soreq with the purpose
of preparing a plan for the future management of the journal. This plan
will be discussed with the Chief Editors and the Publisher in the Journal
Business Meeting in Oxford, May 2005 and presented to Council in Innsbruck.
Preparation for
the Cancun Meeting (ISN/ASN 2007)
A final Program Committee was approved after a number of consultations
with the ISN Council, the ASN officers and the Program Committee Chair
(M.T. Miras). The proposed members have accepted to participate in the
committee.
Collection of proposals
for the 22nd Biennial Meeting of ISN
The December 2004 Neurochemistry News called for proposals for hosting
the 22nd Biennial Meeting of ISN to be held in the Asian Pacific region
in 2009. At the deadline the Secretary had received two proposals. The
sites were: Beijing, China; Busan, S. Korea.
Elections (Treasurer
and Council)
The December 2004 Neurochemistry News contained a call to nominate candidates
for Council and Treasurer to assume office in August 2005. At the time
of the deadline 10 candidates for Council and 1 for Treasurer had been
nominated. The nominations were scrutinized by the Nomination Committee
and based on the information about the candidates facilitated by the Nomination
Committee Chairperson, Dr. G. Goracci, the Secretary prepared the ballots
which were mailed to the membership in March. The deadline for the return
of ballots to the ISN President office was May 27 but due to delays in
receiving the ballots in some countries, the deadline was extended to
June 17th. The ballots received in the President's office will be counted
jointly with the Secretary on June 19 and the results of the elections
will be made known to the candidates.
Preparations for
the ISN/ESN Meeting in Innsbruck, 2005
The Secretary's office has collaborated with the head of the LOC, Dr.
A. Saria and his assistant, Ms Christiane Riedl on matters concerning
the organization of the meeting (e-mail alerts, web information) and the
celebration of the ISN Council and Business meetings in Innsbruck.
Preparations of
the Council and Business Meetings to take place in Innsbruck, Austria
2005
Preparations regarding the Council and General Business Meetings to be
held in Innsbruck, such as collection of committee reports have been taken
care of. Agendas and reports will be distributed to Council members. Letters
of invitation to Council members and Officers plus other persons involved
were sent out and hotel reservations were handled.
Agustina Garcia
The Secretary
May 2005
Report of the Committee for Aid and
Education in Neurochemistry
Report
of the Committee for Aid and Education in Neurochemistry
Dear ISN Council,
Following is a report
of CAEN Funding since the last report presented by email to the ISN Council
meeting in Osaka Japan in August 2004 (8/04 - present). The Chair is pleased
to once again acknowledge and praise the current Committee membership,
which continues to be active and productively thoughtful.
A. Twenty-two CAEN
grants totaling US$48,476 have been awarded to 22 individuals from 8 countries.
Four of these awards where made in collaboration with ASN to fund young
investigators to attend the ASN meeting in Madison WI in June.
Eleven requests for funds were rejected as being outside the CAEN mandate,
because the Small Conference Committee had already made a contribution,
or the individual was in the USA and had related funding.
These totals are in comparison with last year's final summary (in August
2004) of forty CAEN grants totaling US$51,050, awarded to 38 individuals,
from 11 countries; three requests for funds were rejected as being outside
the CAEN mandate. A primary reason for the difference was the influx in
2003-2004 of Asian young investigator awards made in collaboration with
APSN for attendance at the APSN Hong Kong meeting.
B. Some issues that
CAEN feels should be considered as part of an ongoing process of evaluating
the CAEN mandates and procedures are indicated.
Steve Pfeiffer, Ph.D.
Chairman of CAEN
CAEN Awards 2005
(through 14 August 05, in USD)
$2,500 Kalipatnapu,
India, 11/03 (accidentally not included in 03/04 summary)
$5,526 De Silva, Sri
Lanka, 8/04
$5,000 Paes, Brazil, 8/04
$3,000 Halek, Argentina, 9/04
$2,500 Guido, Argentina, 11/04
$1,000 Garbarino-Pico, 1/05
$3,000 Hallack, Argentina 2/05
$5,000 Dajas, Uruguay 2/05
$2,000 Seguro-Aguilar, Chile 2/05
$2,500 Ghevondyan, Armenia 3/05
$1,100 Arutyunyan, Russia 3/05
$4,000 ASN Cheli, Pasquini, Paez, Garcia, Argentina 4/05
$2,500 Panizzutti, Brazil 4/05
$5,000 Sotelo, Uruguay 5/05
$1,200 Guido, Argentina 5/05
$750 Setton, Argentina 5/05
$850 Rosillo, Cuba 5/05
$750 Besier, Argenina 5/05
$2,000 Vatta, Argentina 7/05
$800 Granstem, Russia 8/05
Total US$48,476
Applications funded
o[$2,500 Kalipatnapu,
India, 11/03 (accidently not included in 03/04 summary). Small research
grant.]
1. $5,526 De Silva,
Sri Lanka, 8/04. Support of an International workshop in Neuroscience
and Molecular Biology on Post-mortem Brain Research held at the University
of Peradeniya, Kandy, Sri Lanka 9 - 13 August 2004.
2. $5,000 Paes de
Carvalho, Brazil, 8/04. Support of the II IBRO school of Neuroscience
in Brazil.
3. $3,000 Halek, Latin
America/Argentina, 9/04. Support of the IBRO-INMHA School, Cordoba Argentina,
Topics in Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience, September 13-30, 2004.
4. $2,500 Guido, Argentina, 11/04. Small research grant.
5. $1,000 Garbarino-Pico, Argentina 1/05. Travel support to return from
a post-doctoral position in Philadelphia to accept the "Bernardo
Houssay" Award, from the Argentinean Society of Biology.
6. $3,000 Hallack,
Argentina 2/05. Small research grant.
7. $5,000 Dajas, Uruguay
2/05. Support of Xth School of Neuroscience.
8. $2,000 Seguro-Aguilar,
Chile 2/05. Ph.D. Course in Viña del Mar, Chile, April 8-10, 2005,
Neurotoxicity: Cellular and molecular mechanisms of neurodegenerative
disorders.
9. $2,500 Ghevondyan, Armenia 3/05. Small research grant.
10. $1,100 Arutyunyan,
Russia 3/05. Travel to ISN 2005 meeting.
11. - 14. $4,000 ASN
Cheli, Pasquini, Paez, Garcia, Argentina 4/05. Travel Fellowships to South
Americans to travel to ASN Meeting, August 2004, New York City. These
funds are in effect supplementary to the ASN Travel Committee chaired
by Dr. R. Quarles.
12. $2,500 Panizzutti,
Brazil 4/05. Small research grant.
13. $5,000 Sotelo,
Uruguay 5/05. Support of conference/course on "Calcium Signaling,
with special attention to cell motility and the cytoskeleton" in
Montevideo, October 2005.
14. $1,200 Guido,
Argentina 5/05. Support for Scientifc/Educational Workshop with Dr. Victor
Molina National University of Cordaba held in Villa Giardino, Cordoba,
August 2005.
15. $750 Setton, Argentina
5/05. Travel fellowship to attend 2005 ASN meeting.
16. $850 Rosillo,
Cuba 5/05. Visit to another laboratory for training.
17. $750 Besier, Argenina
5/05. Travel fellowship to attend 2005 ASN meeting.
18. $2000 Vatta, Argentina
7/05. Research grant.
19. $800 Granstem,
Russia 8/05. Visit to another laboratory.
Current Total US$48,476
(as of 5/15/05)
Issues to Consider:
1. The CAEN Guidelines will receive their annual check-up in early summer,
and the issues introduced below will be debated by CAEN by email in anticipation
of further discussion at Council in August.
2. Balance of applications:
a. There continues
to be a concern of whether the CAEN program is sufficiently known, understood
and used by those most targeted and in need. Plans for better dissemination
of the Guidelines must continue, and ideas are solicited from Council.
b. Requests for
information on CAEN arrive from time to time from potential applicants
who apparently have not seen the CAEN Guidelines on the ISN web page.
Working with David Shine to alleviate this problem, it is now much easier
to find these Guidelines on the ISN web page. We offer our sincere thanks
to David.
c. We need to further
reexamine the list of countries that are considered appropriate targets.
This applies in particular to several former Easter Bloc EU countries,
such as Hungary, which has now been taken de facto, if not officially,
off the CAEN list. Clearly, this is a case of "need is in the eyes
of the beholder". Continued examination of the cut off of 'need'
would be appropriate at this time.
d. Noting that much
of the funding this period has gone to applicants from South America,
in particular Argentina, a consideration of balance is in order. In
contrast, few applications were received from Asia and Africa this year.
Last years APSN meeting in Hong was a great stimulus for applications
from Asia. It would seem worthwhile to reexamine our contacts with African
colleagues.
e. Nevertheless,
throughout consider of all these issues, the retention of significant
flexibility seems worthwhile.
4. The specific issue
of supplementing, in effect, ASN Travel Awards for South America needs
to be explicitly addressed.
5. As an administrative
point, it will help if the Chair of CAEN can be alerted when an award
is actually paid to a successful applicant. For example, travel fellowships
are paid directly to successful applicants only at the meeting (when practical),
assuring their actual attendance.
6. A questionnaire
has been sent to members of the Committee, for which some interesting
replies have been received. However, many on the Committee have not yet
replied, and it seemed best to leave further deliberations to the new
ISN officers, Council, and the new CAEN Chairperson. The information tallied
to date will be passed on to the latter for further development and decisions.
7. I am pleased to
thank ISN for the opportunity to work on this important area of ISN overall
function. I believe that these grants have made important impacts on the
development and/or maintenance of neurochemistry in countries in need.
Conference
Committee report, August 2005
Since the last Council meeting in Osaka in September 2004 one deadline
for the application of ISN support for conferences has been resolved.
For the October 31
2004 deadline there were twelve applications examined. Eleven of them
were considered worth supporting to some extent. The name of the applicants
and the amount granted are summarised in the attached spreadsheet.(Spreadsheet
1)
Two meeting reports
of the conferences supported in October 31, 2003 session have appeared
in June 2004 Neurochemistry News (Markus Böhm, Alois Saria) and one
in December 2004 News (Josef Krieglstein). Five meeting reports in April
30, 2004 session have appeared in December 2004 News (Angus C. Nairn,
Reinhard Schliebs, Masaya Tohyma, Vincenzo Nicola Talesa, Osvalco Uchitel).
I have also approved two meeting reports in April 30, 2004 session (Kruetz
and Andras dr Palotas) and one report in October 31, 2004 session (Alois
Saria).
During this period,
ISN conference committee examined submissions (deadline January 31, 2004)
for the Young Scientist Lectureship Award that has been programmed for
the ISN/ESN meeting in Innsbruck. Thirteen proposals were received and
the ISN-CC had a very difficult task selecting only two among several
outstanding young scientists.
ISN-CC had decided to award to Dr. Anthonny Hannan from University of
Melbourne, Australia and Dr. Matthew Neil Rasband from University of Connecticut,
USA. They are going to have a 30 minute lecture each at the ISN/ESN meeting
in Innsbruck.
In the process of
deciding the Young Scientist Lectureship Awardees, we have met two agreements.
First is that the materials the applicants would submit should be more
defined. Thus we changed as "Nominating letters should be accompanied
by a curriculum vitae and a short description of the research accomplishments
(up to two pages) and publication list of the candidate." Second
is that the deadline for the ISN-CC activities should be DD/MM/YY 12:00
pm (Hawaii time).
Kazuhiro Ikenaka, Ph.D.
Chair of ISN Conference Committee
Report
of the ISN Internet Committee
In addition to maintaining the Internet site, and occasionally sending
email announcement to the membership we have:
· Consulted
with the organizer and program chair of the ISN/ESN meeting on internet
services
· Assisted the ISN Secretary's office in posting the online newsletter
· Registered the copyright with the USA copyright office
· Advised officers and council on matters of online voting
· Working with Portland Press to regularly update the online directory
On May 27, 2005 Drs.
Schousboe (President), García (Secretary), and Shine (Internet
Chairman) met with Adam Marshall, Director of Marketing and Customer Services
of Portland Press regarding plans to engage Portland Press in maintaining
the Society's website.
Respectfully submitted,
David Shine (USA, Chairperson)
Chair of Internet Committee
Report
of Company Secretary - 2004
Duties of the Company Secretary have included:
a) Liaison with the
accountants at Deloitte & Touche LLP in Birmingham, UK in respect
of the annual accounts and VAT matters.
b) Maintenance of contact with UK Charity Commissioners.
This year has been
particularly busy, in that the Memorandum and Articles of Association
have been modified to allow voting by electronic means. This has involved
liaison between the ISN's solicitors and the General Secretary (A. Garcia)
and the proposed revisions will be put to the General Business Meeting
in Innsbruck for approval.
John B. Clark
Company Secretary
Publication
Committee Report for 2004
Board Membership
2004
J.B. Clark - Chairman,
London
R. Butterworth - Ex-Officio, Montreal
B. Collier - Ex-Officio, Montreal
S.K. Fischer - Ann Arbor
A. Garcia - Ex-Officio, Barcelona
M. Hamon - Paris
S. Murphy - Nottingham
I.J. Reynolds - Pittsburgh
A. Schousboe - Ex-Officio, Copenhagen
H. Shine - Houston
H. Soreq - Jerusalem
A.J. Turner - Ex-Officio, Leeds
Board membership in 2004 remained the same as 2003 with business conducted
by email. Liaison with the publishers was carried out by email together
with the annual business meeting involving the Society Officers, Chief
Editors, Chair of both the Internet and Publications Board. This was in
conjunction with the ISN focus meeting in Avignon in May 2004. The 2005
Business Meeting is scheduled for the end of May 2005 in Oxford at Blackwells
(our publishers).
2004 has been a mixed
year for J. Neurochem, with papers submitted, circulation and income yielded
increasing. However, in common with several other journals, our impact
factor fell marginally (see later). Relationships with the production
team at Blackwells remain good and our Chief Editors and their offices,
the Deputy Chiefs and the Editorial Board have operated with the customary
efficiency and dedication. The Chair of Publications Committee on behalf
of ISN salutes you!
Finance
Whilst the income
from print subscriptions in 2004 has continued to decline, this has been
more than compensated for by increases in online and consortia subscriptions.
The outcome has meant a total income for the journal in 2004 some 14%
higher than 2003 which translates into an income for ISN of in excess
of $1.1 million [USD] after costs and profit sharing is taken into account.
This is some 12% up on 2003 and represents good management in times which
are less fortunate for other society journals. Similar incomes are forecast
for 2005/6
Subscriptions for
2005 are given below:
Institutions paper
& on-line - $3332
on-line only - $2878
Individual paper &
on-line - $717
Members paper &
on-line - $214
At the time of writing
the subscription rates for 2006 have still to be agreed.
Circulation
From the above, it
is clear that the journal is financially successful. However, circulation
and reader availability needs to be maintained if not enhanced. This was
achieved with good measure in 2004, the number of consortia libraries
offering on-line access to J Neurochem increased by 108% up to 3,253 (1,562
in 2003). This represents an increase of 70% over 2003 in the total number
of libraries offering the journal to its readers. It is reflected in a
40% increase in article downloading in 2004 (813,450).
Editorial Offices
The two editorial
offices have continued to operate well together with the Editorial Board.
Some changes have occurred in the membership of the Board. Deputy Chief
Editor - Prof Sean Murphy retires in July 2005 on his move to Seattle
and Drs Jonathan Geiger, Louis Hersh, Naomora Miki, Daniel Monaghan and
Milt Teitler finished their terms of office in 2005. We thank them all
for their hard work. Drs Teresa Hastings (Pittsburgh), David Standaert
(Charlestown), Roxanne Vaughan (Grand Forks) and Prof Kazuaki Yoshikawa
(Osaka) join the Board.
A total of 1511 full papers were submitted in 2004 with slightly more
56% coming into the Eastern Office with the balance to the West. Acceptance
rates are similar (38-41%) and in excess of 99% of submissions are now
electronic.
Handling times - these have remained fairly static in 2004 [time to 1st
decision - 34 days East/26 days West]. However, preliminary data for 2005
show considerable improvement [29 days East/23 days West]
Rapids have decreased in 2004, (72 only) and have been phased out as of
2005.
Reviews have been handled separately by Michel Hamon (Deputy Chief Editor
Reviews) through the Eastern Office with the help of an advisory board.
Only 21 were submitted in 2004, compared to 34 in 2003 and insufficient
for our aim of 1 review/mini review per issue. This decline seems to be
continuing into the 1st quarter of 2005 and needs to be reversed. Members
are urged to consider submitting reviews or the names of potential authors
to the Editorial Board for consideration.
Citations and Journal Ranking
The 2003 impact factor
(4.825) was as indicated previously slightly down on 2002 (4.969) although
we retained our position in the top 30 Neuroscience journals (26/198)
and the top 50 Biochemical/Mol.Biol. journals (46/261). The decrease in
the impact factor whilst disappointing, was seen by other competitor journals
e.g. J. Biol. Chem. The 2004 citations have yet to be released.
Supplements
Supplements to the
Journal were published in 2004 containing abstracts for the APSN meeting
in Hong Kong in February, the Special ISN Meeting in Avignon in May and
the ASN Meeting in New York in August. Supplements are in hand for the
2005 ASN Meeting in Madison in June and the joint ISN/ESN Meeting in Innsbruck
in August.
As reported in the
last Council minutes (Osaka 2004), a subcommittee was set up of the officers,
Chair of Publications and Hermona Soreq (Council Member & Member of
Publications Board) to look at possible ways of improving the Journal's
citation image. This met in Barcelona (February 2005) and its deliberations
are being developed with a view to reporting them to Council in Innsbruck.
John B. Clark
Chair Publishing Committee
2005
Nomination Committee report
The procedures for the 2005 elections of the Treasurer and four Council
members were organized according to standing rules guidelines and previous
elections.
A call for nominations for the elections of the new ISN Treasurer and
new Council members was published in the December 2004 issue of Neurochemistry
News. Each suggestion of a candidate for Treasurer or Council required:
1) the signature of the nominated member;
2) the signatures of 1% of the number of ISN members (15 members and not
more than 5 from one country).
Before midnight of February 15, ISN Secretary received one nomination
for Treasurer and 10 nominations for Council members. All them received
the required 15 signatures and not more than 5 were from the same country.
Two nominated members did not reach the required number of signatures.
All documents were then transmitted to the Chairperson of the Nomination
Committee who informed the nominees. They were requested to provide a
short CV by completing the questionnaire on the most relevant information
concerning their activities as in previous elections. The Chairperson
of this Committee prepared brief biographical sketches for each nominee
on the basis of the information contained in the questionnaire which were
then sent to the ISN Secretary for their publication with the ballot.
Gianfrancesco Goracci
Chair of Nomination Committee
Report
of the "Membership Survey Committee"
The committee was formulated and commissioned by the ISN President and
charged with getting input from the membership concerning: The Annual
Meeting, the functioning of the ISN, the functioning of the society Journal-the
Journal of Neurochemistry, and obtaining demographic data of the respondents.
The survey was formulated by the chair and circulated to the council and
officers for input and revisions. The revised survey was posted on the
ISN website at the beginning of February. As of the writing of this report,
145 completed surveys have been returned.
There will be several reminders circulated to the membership to complete
the survey prior to the Innsbruck meeting. The cutoff date for turning
in the survey will be approximately one month before the meeting in July.
The Chair will then compile and analyze the survey results and present
them to the council and the membership at the Innsbruck meeting. The intent
of the survey is to provide meaningful input to the society officers and
council to make the society more amenable to the needs of the membership
and in this way to insure the vitality and viability of the ISN.
Respectfully submitted-
George H. De Vries
Chair of Membership Survey Committee
Report
of the ISN Liaison Committee
1. The Liaison Committee
aims at expanding and strengthening the ISN's interrelationships with
other relevant organizations. With the globalization and increasing multidisciplinarity
of scientific research, the role of International societies affiliated
with specific disciplines has changed. We believe that Neurochemistry
expertise is becoming increasingly important for various fields of research
and development, including genetics, environmental and physiological as
well as medical, agricultural and industrial biotechnology and drug discovery.
2. ISN's interactions with other organizations currently involve the support
of sessions in such organizations' meetings. However, societies we approached
were glad to provide details of their websites and future meetings, but
not more than that.
3. An exception was FEBS, which expressed an interest in adding an ISN
symposium to their 2005 Prague meeting. Having consulted with Tina, it
was agreed to propose a multinational young lecturers symposium which
was principally accepted by FEBS, and was subsequently submitted to the
ISN committee of small conferences which confirmed the program and approved
its support. This symposium will take place in the first week of July,
2005.
4. The committee also considered the possibility of developing shared
activities with other organizations (e.g. laboratory courses, running
special joint conferences, etc. with other societies). This may be particularly
important for fields that are partially overlapping yet, complementary
in nature (e.g. physiology, toxicology or pharmacology) but also for relatively
diverse disciplines (such as, for example, combinatorial chemistry).
5. To promote joint activities, and to facilitate the support of shared
sessions in other organizations' meetings, it is suggested to discuss
the allocation of independent funds to the Liaison Committee.
With best regards,
Sincerely yours,
Hermona Soreq
Chair of Liaison Committee
Report
of the Travel Award Committee
2005
Applications for travel award to attend the 2005 ISN/ESN Joint meeting
in Innsbruck were sent to Vera Adam-Vizi, the chairperson of the committee
with a deadline of January 31, 2005.
Applications were evaluated by seven members of the committee and the
selection was based on the criteria used in previous years. Priority was
given to those under the age of 38 years, in the first 4 years of their
postdoctoral career and to those who have not received previous support
from ISN and who did not hold permanent position.
The number of applications this year (166) was somewhat smaller than that
in 2003 (203) or 2001 (206).
117 applicants were awarded from the total budget of 150.000 USD with
a balanced geographical distribution (American Continent 34; Europe 35;
Pacific Region plus Asia, Australia and New Zeland 44; Africa 4).
Standard amount (in USD) were given to applicants from different geographical
regions (American Continent 1200; Europe 670; Pacific Region 1000; Africa
1200).
In addition, the registration fees of successful applicants were also
covered from the total budget.
Applicants were notified about the decision before the deadline for submitting
an abstract to the meeting, and all of them referred back and, except
one, accepted the award.
It would be useful if in the future, applicants should indicate on the
application form whether they are i) students or ii) members of ISN or
the regional society organizing the meeting. This information would help
the chairperson of the committee and the treasurer of ISN in calculating
the amount that can be distributed among the applicants.
Vera Adam Vizi
Chair of Travel Award Committee
Report
on recent activities of the Advanced School Subcommittee
We are in the middle of organizing the 7th Advanced School of Neurochemistry,
which will be held from August 17-21, 2005 in Obergurgl near Innsbruck,
Austria. Title of the School is: "Watching the Invisible: The Impact
of Molecular Imaging, Proteomics and Functional Genomics on Modern Neuroscience".
We have recruited 17 faculty members, all of them outstanding scientists
of international reputation, who agreed to spend 3 full days with us at
a rustic site in the Austrian Alpes. Please, find the tentative program
of the School attached to this document. Further updates will be provided
at the School's website
http://www.neurochemistry-school.de/
Deadline for application
for the School was January 31, 2005. Most applicants have used the online
applications system, which was provided and run by Carsten Reissner, a
former collaborator of mine. Altogether we had more than 90 applications,
some of which were incomplete. All members of the School subcommittee
have contributed to the selection of 40 applicants, who meanwhile all
have accepted their invitation. The students are coming from various countries
from all over the world: Argentina (2), Australia (4), Belarus, Brazil
(3), China (3), Germany (3), Hungary (2), India (3), Israel (2), Japan
(2), Mexico, Nigeria (2), Turkey, UK (3), Italy, Slovacia, Spain (2),
Switzerland (2), USA (2).
The meeting budget
is pretty tight primarily due to the unfortunate current USD to EURO exchange
rate. However, with the valuable help of Alois Saria and Christiane Riedl
we managed to get the meeting venue, the 'Universitätszentrum Obergurgl',
at a reasonable prize (approx. 20.000 USD) and thanks to Tina and Roger
who agreed that the ISN grants the student's fees for the main meeting
from different budgets.
Calculated support
for speakers: 15.000 USD
Students travel grants: 20.200 USD total for 24 students
This leaves some buffer for various items, i.e. bus transfer, website
etc.
Some of the participants
have applied for both ISN Travel Awards and the travel support from the
School. Together with Vera we decided to support 8 students out of these
from ISN Travel Awards and 8 students from the Advanced School budget.
Due to the tight budget 8 students from "rich countries" like
Germany, Switzerland, U.K. or the U.S. were asked to apply for travel
support at their home universities.
Eckart Gundelfinger
Chair of the Advanced School Committee
Magdeburg, May 10, 2005
P.S. I should indicate
already at this point that I am not in the position to chair the School
Subcommittee after August 2005. This is mainly due to too many other obligations
that I had to take over recently. Moreover, the IfN is facing a period
of major review, which exactly coincides with the selection period of
students for the next School (2007). Therefore I cannot reckon on any
support and infrastructure of the Institute during this period. If requested
I might stay as a member of the School Subcommittee and pass on my experience
with recent Advanced Schools.
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