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Minutes of the
Meeting of the newly elected EFMC-Executive Committee, October 22, 2000,
NOVOTEL, Brussels Attendees:
H. Timmerman, F. Sanz, W. Froestl, E. Differding Invited:
E. Kyburz, D. Buckle Excused: F. Dall’Acqua1.
Transfer of duties and documents to the newly elected
EFMC-Executive Committee: All documents and folders will be transferred to the new secretary (from E. Kyburz) and the new treasurer (from R. Giger), respectively. The secretary will be in charge of archiving all relevant documents, such as minutes of meetings, programs of ISMCs and EFMC sponsored events, as well as all important historical documents. Current and past MC and EC members are invited to contribute relevant documents to the archive. Post-meeting note: E. Kyburz, during a meeting in the Basel area on
December 18, has transferred all documents to EDi, and stays available for
help and advice, if needed. It
is agreed and decided to transfer signature and access to the EFMC bank
account to the treasurer (WFr) and the president (HTi). 2.
EFMC Finances 2.1.
Financial
auditing of the EFMC accounting books The
treasurer will instruct Jean-Pierre Loew (NOVARTIS, also accountant of the
New Swiss Chemical Society) to do an annual financial audit of the
accounting books (done). The first audit is scheduled for the first
quarter of 2001, and is intended to clear the previous treasurer’s
accounting period. 2.2.
Payments of
national adhering organisations (AOs) Payments
of national AOs are not well tracked. They should include a mention about
the year for which they are paid. The treasurer will send letters to all
AOs which have not paid their dues for 1999 and 2000 (done). 2.3.
Budget 2001 The
treasurer will prepare a budget for the year 2001 (done), and will contact
the organisers of the Bologna ISMC for a preliminary report. 2.4.
Sponsoring
campaign The
current list of companies to be contacted needs an update, and is
nonexistant for most countries. Beyond obvious targets such as
pharmaceutical companies, it is important to identify companies for which
the EFMC as well as AOs are potential clients. But first and above all, it
is essential to have a convincing action plan on a European level, before
companies can be contacted with a reasonable chance of success. 3.
Future of the EFMC 3.1.
Objectives According
to our regulations, the objective of the EFMC is to advance the science of
medicinal chemistry in Europe by promoting cooperation between adhering
organisations. These
objectives should be targeted by promoting meetings, international
schools, and by fostering contacts with other scientific organisations,
such as ACS, AFMC, etc… The activities of the EFMC should be publicized
by awarding Prizes, by maintaining an up-dated website, and by publishing
minutes and activity reports. Several of these EFMC activities merit an
up-date and an improvement, as discussed below. 3.2.
Contact with
AOs and visibility of the EFMC AOs
should be vividly encouraged to apply for EFMC sponsorship for local
meetings in order to increase the visibility of our federation. The EFMC
should seek, in particular, to promote transnational meetings. 3.3.
Contact with
inactive countries It
is decided to look for contact with all inactive countries. This should
include the identification of relevant scientific societies active in the
field of medicinal chemistry. 3.4.
Individual
membership The
EC proposes to improve circulation of information between AO members and
the EFMC by setting up a database of individual members. Local AOs are
asked to inform the EFMC-EC under what conditions e-mail addresses of all
members can be made available. This might include legal aspects, such as a
formal agreement by individual members. 3.5.
Corporate
membership It
is decided to postpone contacting companies until a program and action
plan are available. 3.6.
EFMC
delegates and correspondents EC
and MC members will receive, during the coming weeks, a table with all
currently available information on EFMC delegates and correspondents. All
MC members are invited to update their addresses, phone and fax numbers,
as well as e-mail addresses Post-meeting
note: The EC has received updated information from the Netherlands
and from Germany, which will be included in the table. 3.7.
Communication and information The need for a professionalisation of the EFMC
office is discussed: a.
Part-time employee versus
alternatives Our current finances do not allow us to consider
hiring a part-time employee. It is therefore proposed to look for an
outsourcing strategy, provided a coherent business proposal is available
for discussion. b.
Website The Secretary is asked to explore possibilities for transferring the function of webmaster, and for keeping all information updated, under his responsibilities. Post-meeting
note: R. Giger, who has been in charge of creating and maintaining
the website, has transferred full access and control of the website to the
Secretary, and has stopped his activities as webmaster on December 16. c.
Newsletter The need for an EFMC Newsletter, as raised in
Bologna, is rediscussed, including its objectives and costs of
distribution. It appears interesting to draw a parallel between such a
Newsletter and “newsletters” and other publications of national
societies aiming essentially at informing their members about ongoing
activities (e.g. Chimia (CH), Chimie Nouvelle (B), etc…). It is proposed
to explore the possibilities for autofinancing such a publication with
commercial advertisements. The Belgian “Société Royale de Chimie”
having recently combined and outsourced both the publication of a
newsletter for members and an advertising campaign to “LD Organisation
s.p.r.l.” (Mrs. Ly Differding-Medinger), the EC invites Mrs. L.
Differding to propose her ideas for similar activities at the EFMC level.
This proposal will be on the agenda of the next EFMC-MC meeting in
Noordwijkerhoudt. 3.8.
EFMC Awards EC and MC members should actively explore
possibilities for new awards. Processes and procedures for the
announcement of the award(s) must be clearly defined and included in the
recommendations to ISMC organisers. 4.
Interactions with other
medicinal chemistry organisations 4.1.
ACS-Medicinal Chemistry Division The
ACS-MCD is a very efficient organisation with which our relations have
been very satisfactory. Since a number of years, ACS-MCD and EFMC organise
scientific sessions at each other’s meetings. The EFMC is also
represented on the Advisory Board of J. Med. Chem., and from 2001 will
also be represented on the Medicinal Chemistry Division long range
planning committee. This collaboration is complemented by representation
of the ACS Medicinal Chemistry Division on the MC of the EFMC. We should
be able to learn from the efficiency of the ACS-MCD, including an
improvement of the circulation of information, the long-range planning of
meetings and electronic registration of abstracts. The EFMC should
continue to seek increased visibility through the ACS and to foster
collaboration. 4.2.
AFMC The
modification of ISMC dates starting 2005, as decided in Bologna,
represents a potential conflict with AIMCS dates. The Secretary will
contact the AFMC to discuss this matter. 5.
Interaction with EUFEPS A meeting will be organised between HTi/EDi and
EUFEPS to explore possibilities of interaction. 6.
Contacts with the European
Commission The Secretary will explore the possibilities for funding EFMC and/or AOs’ activities by the European Commission. 7.
Clarification of EFMC
regulations: travel and hotel costs Regulations concerning reimbursement of travel and hotel costs should be clarified for EC and MC members. Symposium and meeting organisers are free to offer registration and accomodation (not travel costs) to invited speakers, but should mention that reimbursement of such costs by the speaker’s company is welcome and will be acknowledged. Such companies may appear as sponsors of that meeting. Travel costs may be reimbursed to invited speakers from academia. 8.
Other matters 8.1.
ISMC Barcelona F. Sanz, the meeting organiser, invites H.
Timmerman to be member of the Scientific Committee. The organisers will
contact the ACS and AFMC Secretaries in order to organise the
corresponding sessions. 8.2.
IUPAC E. Kyburz will continue his activities in IUPAC. 8.3.
Application for EFMC sponsorship The organisers of the “Hungarian-German-Italian-Polish Joint Meeting on Medicinal Chemistry” have applied for sponsorship from the EFMC, which has been granted. IMPORTANT
NOTE: Next EFMC MC meeting: Sunday, May 6, 2001, in Noordwijkerhoudt (The Netherlands) (invitations to all MC members, time schedule and agenda will follow before April 6, 2001) |