2005.10.24
Dear colleague,
Last August we held our 19 th annual ESPMH conference in Barcelona , Spain where we enjoyed the scholarly presentations as well as the hospitality of our Spanish colleagues. It is with pleasure that we can now look forward to our next meeting, scheduled to take place in Helsinki , Finland , August 23-26, 2006.
Enclosed please find some basic information regarding this forthcoming conference. Pekka Louhiala, who is the local organiser, will provide additional information concerning the accommodation, which you will need to arrange yourself. This additional information will either be provided by a special conference webpage or you will receive this information in due time in a regular ESPMH mailing
In order to register for the conference in Helsinki , please return the enclosed registration sheet to our secretariat. The deadline for abstracts is December 1, 2005. After the selection of the abstracts we will make a draft programme and distribute it by mail in February next year.
For the second time we will have the ESPMH essay contest for Young Scholars. Please find the announcement for this contest and the prizes enclosed. It would be much appreciated if you could distribute this information appropriately.
We have also initiated the preparations for the 2007 conference, which will take place in Cardiff , UK . The Call for Abstracts for this meeting will be launched early next year .
Finally, there will be elections for positions in the Board at the Helsinki conference. As a result of the election in Barcelona the composition of the Board will be as follows, as of January 1, 2006:
• Renzo Pegoraro ( Italy ) President 1/1/2005 - 31/12/2007
• Soren Holm ( UK ) President-Elect 1/1/2005 - 31/12/2007
• Gerrit Kimsma ( Netherlands ) Treasurer 1/1/2006 - 31/12/2008
• Bert Gordijn ( Netherlands ) Secretary 1/1/2004 - 31/12/2006
• Zbig Szawarski ( Poland ) Member 1/1/2005 - 31/12/2007
• Eugenijus Gefenas ( Lithuania ) Member 1/1/2006 - 31/12/2008
• Vilhjalmur Arnason ( Iceland ) Member 1/1/2005 - 31/12/2007
• Tuija Takala ( Finland ) Member 1/1/2005 - 31/12/2007
• Vacancy Member
Thus there is a vacancy for the position of board member. Furthermore, the secretary's three-year term of office will end at the end of 2006, which means that this position will also be open for election in Helsinki .
We will follow the procedure outlined in the By-Laws concerning the election procedure of the Board.
The first step in the procedure is to invite nominations from the membership. Second, the Board will make a proposal on the basis of received nominations. Third, this proposal will be circulated prior to the General Assembly; if members do not agree, they are invited to prepare an alternative proposal (backed by 10% of the membership). The proposal of the Board, as well as such proposals of the membership, will be open for voting during the General Assembly. At the same time, members who are not able to attend the General Assembly can request postal ballot sheets.
With this first step, we would like to invite you to make nominations for 2 vacancies in the Board (the position of Secretary of the ESPMH as well as a position of regular member of the Board).
For a valid nomination please follow these rules:
• specify the name of the person nominated as well as the position (Secretary of the ESPMH or a regular member of the Board). Only members of the ESPMH can be nominated;
• we need the written consent of the person nominated (in a letter or via email to the secretariat);
• we need 2 signatures of members who will be making this nomination (names and signatures, either through fax or letter);
• the nominations must be received at the secretariat before March 1, 2006.
In making its proposal, the Board will consider as criteria: geographical diversity, professional diversity, gender diversity and European residency. If you are considering making nominations, it would be helpful if you could also take into account the above criteria.
Best wishes,
Bert Gordijn, PhD
Secretary of the ESPMH