Minutes of the Seventh Council Meeting

Asian Crystallographic Association (AsCA)

Held in association with AsCA'98, Bangi Malaysia

Date: 13 October 1998;20.30

Venue: Hotel Equatorial, Bangi

Attended by National and/or Regional delegates from:

 

Australia

DrC.J. Howard (Vice-President)

cjh@ ansto.gov.au

Bangladesh

ProfessorA. Hussein

Ban01@bangla.net

China

ProfessorZ. Zhang (President)

zhang@image.blem.ac.cn, zhangze@east.org.cn

 

Professor Hui Liu

 

 

Professor Wang Tieliang

 

Hong Kong

(absent)

 

India

ProfessorJ.K. Dattagupta

jiban@cmb2.saha.emet.in

 

Dr T.N. Guru Row

ssctng@sscu.usc.emet.in

Indonesia

DrM. Hikam

hikam@makara.cso.ui.ac.id

Japan

ProfessorH. Toraya

torava@crl.nitech.ac.ip

Korea

ProfessorPark Young-Ja

vjpark@sookmvung.ac.kr

New Zealand

ProfessorW.T. Robinson

w.robinson@chem.canterbury.ac.nz

Malaysia

ProfessorA H. Othman

hamie@r)krisc.cc.ukm.my

 

Dr Chen Wei

 

Pakistan(absent)

 

 

Philippines(absent)

 

 

Singapore(absent)

 

 

Sri Lanka(absent)

 

 

Taipei

ProfessorYu Wang

yuwang@xtal.ch.ntu.edu.tw

 

Professor Shih-Lin Chang

slchang@phys.nthu.edu.tw

Thailand

Professor P. Phavanantha

phatana.p@newton.phvs.sci.chula.ac.th

Vietnam

Professor N. Van Tri

 

 

Ex Officio

New Zealand Professor J. Simpson (NewsletterEditor) jsimpson@alkali.otago.ac.nz

1        Apologies:

Apologies were accepted from:

Professor D.Creagh (Australia)

Professor J. White (Australia)

Professor T.C.W. Mak (Hong Kong)

2        The minutes of the Sixth Council Meeting held on 14th August 1996 in Seattle were confirmed with one minor amendment.

3        There were no matters arising from these minutes.

4        The President, Professor Zhang, presented a verbal report in which he emphasised that the AsCA conferences were the major focus of the organisation. He also stressed the importance of good communication between the AsCA countries concerning such matters as academic developments in the region and the exchange of equipment and expertise in the contributing countries.

5        Financial report: In the absence of the Secretary/Treasurer, Professor Simpson presented an interim report based on information provided by Professor Hall, the Trustee for AsCA funds in Australia.

The balances in the Australian accounts were:

Savings 6054650967                                 $A 3,981.28

Term 036054122235                               $A 12,067.75

Term 036054100837                               $A 11,301.34

Total                                                       $A 27,360.37

The report also noted that $A 5,000 had been transferred to Professor Othman, Chair AsCA'98 Local Organising Committee (LOC),as bridging finance for the conference. It is anticipated that this amount, plus any surplus funds from running AsCA'98, will be returned to these accounts. Professor Simpson agreed to obtain information on the status of funds held by the Trustee AsCA funds in Japan and to update this interim report to Council members. It was considered unlikely that the balance of JY 670,448.00 reported at the previous meeting, would have altered significantly.

The President expressed concern that invoices for membership fees from category 2 and 3 countries may not have been sent for the current year. Dr Guru Row undertook to contact the Secretary/Treasurer to find out the current situation and if necessary Professor Simpson would send the appropriate invoices to the member countries. Professor Robinson agreed to investigate the payment of membership fees with Royal Society of New Zealand.

The Council agreed that the Financial Report represented the financialstatus of the Association as accurately as possible.

6        Interim reports on AsCA'98

The Council received two interim reports on the 3rd AsCA conference. The first, tabled by Professor Chang, chronicled events leading up to the AsCA'98 meeting from the perspective of the International Programme Committee (IPC). The second from the LOC, tabled by Professor Othman, detailed the local arrangements, including decisions concerning the conference fee, and the choice of venue. He also indicated that the meeting would be run within budget projections. The Council noted that very good communication had existed between the IPC and the LOC throughout the preparations for the meeting andthat this had contributed significantly to the smooth running of the conference.

In discussion it was noted that support for students attending AsCA'98 came from the IUCr, SCA and CrSJ. The Council expressed its delight at seeing such a good attendance of young scientists at the meeting.

7        Location and organisation of the 4thAsCA Conference, AsCA'0l.

The Council discussed possible venues for the next AsCA Conference to be held in 2001. It was agreed that the meeting should be located reasonably close to the geographic centre of the AsCA region in order to provide maximum opportunity for participants from less affluent countries in the region to attend the meeting.

Two possible sites were proposed:

Bangalore, India.

Professor Dattagupta and Dr Guru Row agreed to scope possibilities for this venue with crystallographers from Bangalore and elsewhere in India

Hong Kong

Hong Kong crystallographers had previously expressed an interest in holding an AsCA meeting but unfortunately, there were no representatives at the Council meeting.

It was agreed that Professor Simpson would coordinate e-mail discussions with crystallographers from Bangalore and Hong Kong with a view to the final decision on the location for AsCA'0l being made at the next Council meeting.

The current length of the AsCA conference was raised. In the light of the continued growth in attendance at the meetings, it was asked if the Council should consider adding an extra day to the present format of the meeting. In discussion it was noted that, at AsCA'98, the IUCr'50symposium had reduced the time available for general oral and poster sessions. It was also suggested that a recommendation on the length of the meeting could be sought from the International Programme Committee. The Council agreed to hold further discussions by e-mail on the subject prior to the next meeting.

8        Other business:

The question of redistribution of equipment through the region was raised, particularly as CCD technology replaced older but still functioning diffractometers in many laboratories. It was suggested that the AsCA website could be used to advertise equipment available for relocation.  It was emphasised however, that relocation expenses would have to be borne by the recipients of such equipment.

It was noted that an attempt was being made tore-establish and E-mail list of AsCA members to facilitate communications. Ane-mail distribution list had been used successfully for communications associated with AsCA'98 and it was hoped to get an even more comprehensive listing in the near future.

The admission of member countries from eastern parts of the former Soviet Union was raised. Approaches had been received from countries such as Ukraine, Uzbekhistan and Khazakhstan. It was agreed that membership of AsCA by these countries, or by individuals from these countries, should be encouraged, but an amendment to the present AsCA constitution would be needed to allow such membership. It was further agreed that a proposal for such a constitutional change should be put on the agenda for the next Council meeting.

9        Location and date of the next meeting

It was agreed that the next Council Meeting should take place in association with the XVIIIth lUCr Congress and General Assembly in Glasgow, Scotland, in August 1999. Professor Simpson agreed to liaise with the Congress organisers to arrange an appropriate date and venue for the Council meeting.

The meeting closed and 22.05.