Newsletters

EMS NEWSLETTER 4

EMS Secretariat, October 2, 2002

Dear EMS member,

     Several important microscopy conferences have been held during the past months. With regard to EMS, these were the multinational meeting in Lille, France and the international microscopy meeting in Durban, South Africa. During the Lille meeting, the annual General Assembly of EMS was held, and in Durban the Executive Board of EMS had a meeting. The following text contains a report on these two meetings. We would appreciate hearing your opinion!

Minutes of the General Assembly of the European Microscopy Society

Lille, 27 June 2002

     The annual general meeting (AGM) of the EMS was held during the Joint Microscopy Meeting in Lille, which brought together members of the French, Belgian, Dutch and Swiss microscopy societies and had been selected for European extension by the EMS. The AGM was presided by Dr Jose CARRASCOSA in the presence of Prof L. Ginsel, treasurer and P.W. Hawkes, former president.

1.    Presentation of the activities of the EMS. After listing the various activities of the Society since the last AGM (in Lecce, September 2001) and evoking the problems of voting at forthcoming elections via Internet, J.L. Carrascosa announced that the congress selected for European Extension in 2003 is the Sixth Multi-national Congress on Microscopy, to be held in Pula (Croatia). Dr Milat was then invited to present this congress and the first circular was distributed.

2.    Membership and accounts. L. Ginsel announced that the EMS has at present 3,300 members and that the credit balance is at present 28,525 euros. Further details of income and expenditure were shown.

3.   Yearbook and Newsletter. P.W. Hawkes described the situation of the Yearbook and insisted on the need to maintain an up-to-date membership list, including e-mail addresses. No firm decision has yet been taken concerning the printed newsletter, which is already being distributed by e-mail to all members with a current address.

4.    European Microscopy Congress, 2004. The sequence of events that led to the withdrawal of the bid for EMC-2004 by the Israeli Society for Microscopy, in the hope that an EMC can be held in Jerusalem at a future date, and the acceptance of the bid by the Belgian Society were described succinctly by J.L. Carrascosa. The dates of the meeting are unchanged. EMC-2004 will be held in Antwerp, with D. Schryvers as principal organizer. The first circular will be distributed at ICEM in Durban.

5.    Any other business. In reply to a question from a member, concerning the role of national societies in the affairs of the EMS, J.L. Carrascosa recalled that the EMS has individual members, although close liaison is maintained with national societies.

Attempts continue to involve the commercial companies in the activities of the EMS

Efforts are continuing to organize EMS specialized workshops, summer schools and similar events.

Minutes of the EMS Executive Board meeting

Present: Carrascosa (Madrid), Ginsel (Nijmegen), Wisse (Brussels), Frank (Brno), Hebert (Huddinge), Hutchison (Oxford), Hax (Eindhoven), Schryvers (Antwerpen) Excused: Hawkes (Toulouse), Vittori (Rome)
Chair: Carrascosa
Report: Wisse

Agenda

1. EMS extension in Lille 2002
2. EMS extension in Pula 2003
3. EMC 2004 Antwerpen
4. Coordination of multinational microscopy meetings in Europe
5. Yearbook and its future
6. EMS Newsletter and G.I.T + future
7. EMS Foundation
8. Membership and administration of members
9. Yearly contributions and finances
10. Ernst Ruska Prize
11. Corporate membership
12. Electronic voting
13. Server and website should probably be moved summer 2003
14. Any other points to be discussed

1.    The meeting in Lille, organized by the French, Belgian, Dutch and Swiss Societies for microscopy was successful. After the signing of an agreement between the Organizers of the meeting and EMS, EMS supported this multinational meeting by sponsoring two invited speakers. Through the EMS Newsletter and announcements on the EMS website, participants from other countries in Europe were encouraged to attend this meeting and its "EMS-extension" on the same conditions as the participants of the organizing societies. During an EMS-General Assembly meeting to which all participants were invited, the main activities of EMS were explained and discussed. These concerned: the second edition of the Yearbook, the EMS Newsletter, the transfer of EMC 2004 from Jerusalem to Antwerpen and corporate membership of EMS.

2.    The agreement between EMS and the Organizing Comittee of the 6^th Multinational Congress on Microscopy in Pula, Croatia, June 1 - 5, 2003 has been signed. Again, EMS will support the meeting by sponsoring (the equivalent of) two invited speakers. An International Advisory Board has been composed, together with a list of session chairmen, invited speakers and topics for sessions. A daily time schedule has been composed for the meeting, which will start on Sunday June 1st and will end on Thursday after lunch time. A web site is in operation, where further details can be obtained: < http://www.6mcm.kbsm.hr >.

3.    The European Microscopy Congress (EMC) 2004 has started its organization. The Organizing Committee, chaired by Dr. Nick Schryvers, has produced an attractive first announcement. The change of names, from EUREM (European Electron Microscopy Congress) to EMC does not seem to be obvious to many delegates and in future announcements of the meeting it should be made clear that EMC is the future equivalent of the past EUREM meetings and that the meeting is an EMS meeting (EMS logo!), EMS being the successor of CES(E)M. The dates for the meeting have been fixed: August 22nd till 27, an International Scientific Advisory Board has been established, the venue for the meeting has been chosen, the Organizing Committee and its sub-committees (e.g. for the Programme, Exhibition and Proceedings) have been formed. A web site is operational: < http://www.emc2004.be >. A second circular will be distributed September 2003. Student rooms will be available, as well as two computer class-rooms with 2 x 50 PC's, providing many internet connections for the participants. Open labs and discussion panels are planned, as well as a historical exhibition of old microscopes. The pre-registration fee will be EUR 350,- for members of the EMS.
Further information can be obtained at:

     EMC 2004
     University of Antwerp RUCA
     Groenenborgerlaan 171
     2020 Antwerpen
     Belgium
     fax (+32)-3-218.08.00
     e-mail: information@emc2004.be

4.    Various plans for organizing multinational microscopy meetings in Europe have been launched. EMS feels the need for a discussion on the effectiveness of such dispersed and in fact competing activities. For instance, the multinational microscopy meeting in Lille, June 24 - 28, 2002, was only a few weeks and a few kilometres / miles distant from Microscience 2002 (International Conference and Exhibition) in London, July 9 - 11, 2002, organized by the Royal Microscopy Society. Next year, the multinational meeting and EMS extension in Pula (June 1 - 5, 2003) will be followed by a Microscopy Conference (International Forum for Advanced Microscopy) organized by the German Society for Electron Microscopy (DGE) in Dresden, September 7 - 12, 2003. Furthermore, from 13 - 16 April 2003 the city of Genoa, Italy will host the 15^th edition of the Focus on Microscopy (FOM) Conference, at which 350 microscopists from all over the world are expected to participate. EMS is not in a position to suppress any of these activities, but strongly feels the need to coordinate future multinational microscopy meetings in Europe. This point of view is supported by representatives of the Trade, who strongly express the need to have one big annual microscopy meeting in Europe instead of scattered initiatives. Trade representatives will produce a statement before the end of the year and will cooperate with EMS to see what can be done to streamline multinational microscopy initiatives in Europe. A discussion between the "major players in the field" seems to be necessary and unavoidable.

5.    Regarding the EMS Newsletter and the cooperation with G.I.T Verlag, the secretary reports that only about 50% of the 3,300 individual members of EMS can be contacted by email. It is our intention to send regular EMS Newsletters to all individual members of EMS who can be contacted by email. Since many email addresses seem to be faulty or abandoned, an operation is in hand to improve the EMS membership database. Most National Societies have been very helpful in providing their electronic data, but completeness and accuracy is a major problem in the present EMS membership database. We therefore welcome the cooperation with G.I.T. Verlag in Darmstadt, Germany, who printed the EMS Newsletter 3 in their August volume of Imaging & Microscopy (The Scanning Issue), a special edition of G.I.T Laboratory Journal & Bioforum International. Further contact: < m.friedrich@gitverlag.com >. We hope to continue this cooperation to offer the EMS Newsletter also in printed form to our membership through this subscription- free, specialized microscopy journal.

6.    In order to create a legal body for EMS, it is proposed to establish a Foundation according to Dutch law (Stichting), with a legal seat and official registration in Nijmegen. This Foundation is necessary to have a legal bank account under the name of EMS for the Treasurer. Such structure also reduces the personal risk of EMS officers when they engage themselves in EMS activities and sign documents as officials of EMS. The Treasurer and Secretary of EMS will discuss this issue further with the notary in Nijmegen, who has provided a draft text of an official document serving this purpose. We will specifically try to avoid clashes between the EMS Constitution and By Laws and the rules of this EMS Foundation. The draft document will be subjected to critical reading and approval by the EMS Executive Board.

7.    The Ernst Ruska Prize has developed into a European Electron Microscopy Prize. After a short discussion it was agreed that the present draft text for the Prize will only mention the names of three sponsors, i.e. F.E.I. Leo or Zeiss and EMS. The new draft text will be made available soon.

8.    After a first attempt to elicit a response from industry concerning corporate membership of EMS. only one or two responses (out of 25 invitations) were received. Manifestly, this was not a good result. Nevertheless, EMS thinks it is necessary to organize representatives of the Trade into a structure that gives a voice, a vote and a face to industry during all activities of EMS. Our trade-representative, Dr. Werner Hax, promises to help EMS with this problem.

9.    EMS thinks it is advisable to try and establish electronic voting in the near future. Obviously, only about 1,000 participants come to the major microscopy meetings, whereas the EMS membership presently amounts to 3,300 members. In order to communicate and include as many opinions and votes as possible, an electronic system for voting seems to be attractive. Some societies have already installed such a system.

10.    We have to take into account, that the EMS server, containing the web site, membership database and email facilities, has probably to be transferred during the summer of 2003 to some other site. The space and technical assistance at the present Secretary's laboratory might no longer be available. Any candidate webmasters?

11.    Recent experience reveals that EMS is not a member organization of IFSEM, the Federation of Societies for Electron Microscopy. This Federation has national societies as members, which have one or two representatives and one to four votes, depending on the size of the society. EMS is considered to be a "Regional Society" and these regional societies have no official representatives and no vote(s) at the IFSEM General Assembly. Other regional Societies are the Committee for Asia-Pacific Societies for Electron Microscopy (CAPSEM) and the Interamerica Committee for Societies for EM (CIASEM). These other Regional Societies coordinate activities in organizing Regional EM Congresses at four-year intervals, alternating with IFSEM (ICEM) congresses. These Regional Societies, however, do not have individual members like EMS. Most EMS members are also members of national societies, and an obvious argument against giving voting rights to EMS is the fact that it will give two votes to one member. On the other hand, EMS members pay a yearly fee of EUR 5. The EMS Executive Board wants to open the discussion with IFSEM to obtain the right of i) proposing candidates for IFSEM Executive Board functions, ii) proposing venues and dates for combined IFSEM/EMS congresses and iii) having an official representative and a vote during the General Assembly of IFSEM. This initiative has already been brought forward by the EMS chairman Carrascosa during the IFSEM General Assembly meeting in Durban.