The IUGG Electronic JournalVolume 3 No. 3 (March 1, 2003)This short, informal newsletter is intended to keep IUGG Member National Committees informed about the activities of the IUGG Associations, and actions of the IUGG Secretariat. Past issues are posted on the IUGG Web site. Please forward this message to those who will benefit from the information. Your comments are welcome. Contents
1. IUGG General Assembly News The deadline for abstracts for the June 30-July 11 XXIII IUGG General Assembly is now past. The Local Organizing Committee reports that more than 6600 abstracts have been received. 5626 scientists from 111 countries have preregistered. The abstracts are now being arranged in programmes by the Association Symposia Conveners. The Scientific Programme Committee, chaired by Dr. A. Nishida, will meet in Tokyo from March 6-8 to coordinate the final programmes and travel grant requests. Notification of the programmes and travel grant awards will be sent as soon as possible following this meeting. Registrations and hotel reservations are now being accepted on the General Assembly web site: http://www.jamstec.go.jp/jamstec-e/iugg/index.php, which can also be accessed from the IUGG home page: http://www.IUGG.org. A discounted "early bird" registration fee applies to registrations paid before March 31. 2. IUGG Associate Members An IUGG member in Observer status may become an Associate member if the regular Adhering Bodies vote to accept the change. Recently, a vote by correspondence was held for Serbia and Montenegro (formerly the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia) and Nigeria. The transfer of both countries to Associate status was agreed. IUGG is pleased that these countries will remain members of IUGG and will continue to work through the Associations to promote the studies of geodesy and geophysics in their countries. 3. IUGG Adhering Organization Quadrennial Reports are due In a formal letter sent on 4 November 2002 to all IUGG Adhering Bodies, a request was made for a Quadrennial National Committee report. Although not a requirement, it has been the custom for many General Assemblies for each National Committee to prepare a Quadrennial Report that summarizes national activities in geodesy and geophysics and showcases the accomplishments of the past 4 years. However, recently it has become more difficult for Adhering Bodies to find the resources to produce printed reports, and it has been noticed that the printed reports are a burden to bring the General Assembly, and to carry home. In response to this reality, the IUGG Bureau has decided that all national reports should be posted on the internet. The IUGG Secretariat will assist those national Committees who are not able to provide an electronic copy by scanning and uploading the printed material they provide. Each national report, or the link to each national report, will be placed on the IUGG web page for easy access and reference by not only IUGG members, but by the scientific community at large. National Committees are urged to submit their quadrennial reports as soon as possible. 4. Science for Health and Well-being At the recent International Council for Science (ICSU) General Assembly, several of the member Unions agreed to discuss an initiative on the general topic of Science for Health and Well-being. On February 10-11, a meeting chaired by Dr. M. Wake, President of the International Union of Biological Sciences, was held at ICSU Headquarters in Paris, France. Drs. Pierre Hubert and Jo Ann Joselyn attended on behalf of IUGG. After exploring the various aspects of the topic, the Unions present strongly recommended that ICSU should consider the general topic of the relationships and contributions of science to maintain and increase the health of the populace and the environment as a primary focus for funding for 2005. 5. ICSU Call for Emerging Issues and an on-line discussion on Science and Technology in the Information Society At the recent General Assembly of the International Council of Science (ICSU), the Committee on Scientific Planning and Review (CSPR) was asked to identify emerging scientific issues as part of a process that could potentially define new ICSU initiatives. They have issued a call to the Unions for emerging issues, with the deadline of 30 April. All IUGG scientists are encouraged to respond by reporting potential issues to Association or inter-Associations bodies, or to the IUGG secretariat (secretariat@iugg.org). On February 10, ICSU/CODATA opened an on-line discussion forum "Science and Technology in the Information Society" on the ICSU web site (www.ICSU.org). The overall aim of this open-access forum is to collect input that will help form the basis for the negotiations that will take place at the World Summit on the Information Society in Geneva in December 2003. Four themes have been selected for discussion. All members of the international science and technology community are invited to contribute either as individuals or organizations. The themes are
The electronic forum will remain open until March 10, 2003. 6. IUGG-related meetings occurring during March - May 2003 A calendar of meetings of interest to IUGG disciplines (especially those organized by IUGG Associations) is posted on the IUGG Web Site [ www.IUGG.org ]. Specific information about these meetings can be found there. Individual Associations also list more meetings on their web sites appropriate to their disciplines.
End of IUGG Electronic Journal Volume 3 Number 3 (March 1, 2003) |
