MINUTES OF THE EUSJA GENERAL ASSEMBLY
15 March 2008 in Berlin

Present:  Istvan Palugyai (president); Hajo Neubert, vice-president; Vesa Niinikangas, treasurer; Barbie Drillsma, secretary; Kaianders Sempler, Florence Kohtz, Viola Egikova, Elisabeth Noestlinger, Jean-Paul Vankeerberghen, Velek Premysl, Anna Martinkova, Priit Ennet, Wolfgang Goede, Dirk Lorenzen, Raili Leon, Eric Glover, Michael Arvanitis, Akos Gozon, Anna Nolan, Paola di Paoli, Elmar Veerman, Mogens Bisgaard, Tomasz Rozekm, Alexandru Mironov, Merce Piqueras, Irene Dietschi and guests, Michael Kessler, Effrosyni Chelioti and Tomas Gozlig.

Apologies: Blanka Jergovic.

(Photos from the meeting can be seen at  http://eusja.sciencewriters.eu/GA-pictures_2008.htm

Introduction:  Istvan welcomed our new secretary, Florence Kohtz along with Tomas Gozlig and Effrosyni Chelioti from the Helmholtz Gemeinschaft Foundation, hosts of the 2008 meeting. Tomas gave a short outline of the work of the Foundation and was warmly thanked for its generosity.  Another short talk followed, given by Michael Kessler from ESOF, venue of the Barcelona meeting in July. All agreed that ESOF sounds amazing and all are trying to attend.  Istvan thanked the ESOF committee for allowing EUSJA a free stand which it will share with the WFSJ and ABSW. The Catalan Association is considering organising a study trip to co-incide with ESOF which would widen the numbers of EUSJA members travelling to Spain.

Minutes of last GA: Accepted with the following correction; Dirk Lorenzen said at the last meeting he had suggested an award for the worst European-funded science project and not the worst written science story. However, no progress has been made on this project.

Presidents’ Report:  A comprehensive report (posted in the virtual office) was given by Istvan as he ended his period of work on the EUSJA board.  He said it had been an honour to see EUSJA grow but stressed again the need to adhere to the original concept of EUSJA – networking and study trips. He also said that the Slovakian Association wanted to re-join EUSJA.

Treasurer’s Report:  Vesa said he has now changed the accounting system to include membership fees due to be presented.  The 2007 accounts show a surplus of 1972.27 euro, mainly as a result of WONDERS money.  He would now try and collect all membership fees during the current year. He said there were problems with collecting money from Norway (owe 420 euro from 20075 onwards) and Denmark 1260 (f4rom 2004).  Istvan pointed out the Norwegians asked that their fee be suspended from 2005 and this, along with the debt from Denmark, was agreed.  Vesa said the financial situation was quite good and we had more than 22,000 to spend!

Auditors and matters arising:  Elmar and Jussi are the two official auditors.  However, Elmar has been unable to meet with Jussi.  In Jussi’s absence, Elmar has scrutinised the accounts for both 2006 and 2007.  Irene said that in 2007, study trip support was increased from 3000 to 9000 but this hasn’t been accounted for in the accounts.  Elmar: 3000 euro for secretary and accounting was listed in 2007 but nothing spent.  There was, in the past, said Vesa a charge for Sabine but this was dropped.
Vesa intends to put between 5 & 10,000 euro in a high interest account.  
Anna said she would like to see the 1500 corporate membership of Euroscience in the accounts as she believed as we were using Florence’s services, we should join Euroscience.
Wolfgang said that although WONDERs was criticised it did allow us to spend money and were we able to continue with an expensive programme without WONDERS money.
Elmar asked where the half study trip funding for Eastern European countries was shown.  Vesa said it was included in the ear-marked 9000. As a final point Vesa said he did not agree that EUSJA should store money. It should be used for study trips and activities.
The accounts were accepted by the meting with one abstention – Dirk.

WONDERS:  Istvan stressed that after two years operating he believed the WONDERS project was not useless.  Wolfgang asked for our records, can our participation be recorded as a success story for EUSJA.

Elections:  
Nominations:    President                             Hajo Neubert
                         Vice president                    Barbie Drillsma
                         Treasurer                             Vesa Niinikangas
                          Secretary                            Viola Egikova
                                                                      Ricardo Garcial
                                                                     Marina Huzvarova

Possible votes – 19

President          Hajo Neubert                18 with 1 abstention
Vice president Barbie Drillsma            19
Treasurer         Vesa Niinikangas         19
Secretary          Viola Egikova              12 with 1 abstention
                          Marina Huzvarova         5                 
                          Ricardo Garcial             1


A nomination committee consisting of Viola, Liisa and Wolfgang handled the nominations.  There was confusion over both Ricardo and Marina.  Both were nominated but despite been asked, did not send in their proposals and details in time.  However, it was agreed to let then stand.  There was also a nomination for Barbie to stand as president as well as vice-president.  She chose to stand down from the presidential nomination.
Hajo, accepting the position of President said he would ensure that there was more email consultation between delegates.  Barbie said she would concentrate on raising the profile of EUSJA.  Hajo also thanked Istvan for his amazing work in Eusja over the years.  Paola also raised a vote of thanks to Istvan.

Elizabeth asked if there were any further plans for involvement with projects like WONDERS and if so, could all delegates be consulted before decisions were made?  Hajo agreed this would happen.

Study Trips: A general discussion on study trips included comments from Raili “excellent chance to show what good science is available in any one country”  Hajo “Each day a delegate should contribute something on the EUSJA blog”  Eric asked what language blogs should be written in.  It was agreed, English as there are always English speakers around to help.

Forthcoming trips:
June                Lindau
June                Finland –Millennium Prize Awards
July                ESOF and maybe a study trip in Seville
Sept/Oct         Netherlands
Dec                Lapland, climate change and Arctic Circle

EUSJA Award:  There have been problems deciding a format and finding a sponsor.  Istvan said he will investigate further.  However after a vote it was agreed to drop the subject.

New Members:  Greece has now submitted all paperwork and was unanimously accepted as a member.  Romani too has submitted all papers.  It has 20 members working under the umbrella of UNESCO.  Hajo said there should be a clear distinction between the work of science journalists and UNESCO.  Eighteen delegates with one abstention elected Romania as a member.

WFSJ:  Hajo and Barbie attended a meeting in Doha, Qatar with African journalists linked to the WFSJ.  Barbie is investigating the possibility of a fully-paid study trip to Qatar.

Newsletter and web material:   Kaianders was appointed communications director for a further term.  He and Barbie will continue producing the EUSJA News.
EUSJA website at Teli is free of charge but old fashioned.  Kai will look into this.  Istvan urged all delegates to ensure their own web sites are linked with that of EUSJA.

Any Other Business: EUSJA has written letters of support to other organisations which have no obligation to EUSJA but may be sources of future funding.  These include Alpha Galileo, ABSW/World Conference. Scan belt, Omni Communications and Prof. Svein Sjoberg.
Florence received just three replies to a questionnaire she distributed asking for members views on ????
Elmar asked if it was ok to post on the web site asking members where they would be on holiday and if they would like to meet up.  Barbie said this was a good idea.

Thanks to the on-going support of Paola and UGIS for EUSJA, the next General Assembly will be held in Trieste.


Posted 25 June 2008