Dear members,
The flagship event of our Society is close. The 15th International Symposium on Olfaction and Electronic Nose will take place on July 2-5 a the EXCO, in Daegu, Korea.
The programme includes three outstanding plenary lectures by former ISOCS president Prof. Julian W. Gardner (Warwick University; UK), Prof. Gabriele V. Ronnet (Johns Hopkins University; USA) and Prof. Kengo Shimanoe (Kyushu University, Japan).
There will be three parallel sessions covering all the traditional topics of previous ISOEN editions. I would like to highlight that a number of specific symposia have been organized within ISOEN. These symposia will cover the latest development in hot research areas in basic areas (e.g. Understanding molecular mechanisms underlying odor/taste perception), but also advanced technologies ( e.g Olfactory sensors on flexible substrates). For the full program please visit the webpage (http://www.isoen2013.kr).
Social and networking activities include the welcome reception, the Gala Dinner at the Daegu Museum Art Museum or a technical tour. If you have not done it yet, there is still time to register for ISOEN-2013 and learn about the latest results in the exciting area of research linking biology (olfaction and taste) with technology (chemical sensing).
ISOCS General Assembly
During next ISOEN, ISOCS General Assembly will take place on Wednesday 3rd July at 19:00. This meetiing will cover among other topics the renewal of the board of directors and the election of the new venue for ISOEN-2015. Additionally, a summary of past and future ISOCS events will be presented.
Call for Nominations: New members of the Board of Directors
Members of the Board of Directors are the policy makers of the Society. They are responsable for the oversight of the diverse event and dissemination actions carried out by the Society. Up to now, ISOCS Board of Directors consisted of four positions: President, Vice-president, Treasurer and Secretary. It is the intention of the current Board of Directors to enlarge this committee to include members from different regional areas (previously known as regional chairs) . A total of 7 members is targeted for the new board of directors.
Members of the Board of Directors are selected by the ISOCS members in a general election carried out in a General Assembly, typically during an ISOEN Conference.
For the next term, nominations for all positions are considered. Nominations should be sent to the ISOCS Secretary (jan.mitrovics at jlm-innovation.de) before 20 June 2013. Self-Nominations are encouraged. If you want to nominate someone else, please provide a letter of consent by the nominee. They should include the member data and their full affiliation, short CV including his/her history in the field, brief personal statement expressing his/her commitment to serve and fulfill the duties of the position sought. The Board of Directors Responsabilities for the different positions are described in the ISOCS Constitution and they can be obtained upon request.
Final election will take place a the next ISOCS General Assembly, following the conditions set-up by the current ISOCS constitution.
Call for Bids for Organizing the ISOEN 2015
ISOEN is held every two years. ISOEN is organized under theauspices of ISOCS. The next General Assembly will consider proposals to host fot ISOEN-2015. ISOCS contractually sets up the conditions under which ISOEN should be run. Once elected, is the joint responsability of the host and ISOCS to organize the Symposium – inlcuding developing the program, issuing calls for participation, publicizing the Symposium, facilitating information about suitable accomodation in the vicinity of the venue, arranging the social programme and looking for additional funding through public funds and sponsors.
Any current ISOCS member may submit a proposal for organizing next ISOEN. To establish the feasibility of hosting next ISOEN, proposals should include the following information:
- Is there a conference venue able to host 200-250 participants? This should consider spaces for plenary lectures, parallel and poster sessions, space for coffee breaks, and options for the lunch break.
- Are there sufficient and suitable (specify price range) hotel rooms close to the conference venue (or is transportation to the venue easy and frequent)?
- Is the city hosting the Symposium easily connected worldwide by international flights, or there is a frequent connection to a major hub airport?
- Options to rise sponsors or public funds.
- Options for social events and close touristic attractions.
- Rough estimation of the final fee.
Other factors that may be taken into account for the final election are: relevance of the scientific group presenting the bid, regional and country rotation, experience organizing previous events, size of the Scientific Community at the organizing country, letters of support from other national groups.
Proposals will be ranked at the General Assembly according to the votes of the present members. However, the bid acceptance can be withdrawn if the local organizer rejects to sign the contract with ISOCS setting up the exact terms to organize the Symposion, or if the local organizers is unable to present a draft budget within 6 months following the General Assembly Election. In that case, the applicant with the next highest number of votes will be selected.
If you decide to submit a bid, please send a formal letter of intent to the president of ISOCS, Dr. Santiago Marco (smarco at ibecbarcelona.eu) , expressing the willingness to organize an ISOEN for year 2015, before 20 June 2013. The applicant (or a delegate) should be prepared to do a brief (10 min) oral presentation to highlight the proposal at the General Assembly in Daegu Korea and be ready to answer questions from the Board of Directors, but also from any other ISOCS members.