2006.10.26
Nijrnegen, 26 October 2006 Dear colleague, Last August we had our 2oth annual ESPMH conference in Helsinki, Finland where we enjoyed the hospitality of our Finnish colleagues as well as the scholarly presentations. It is with pleasure that we can now look forward to our next meeting, scheduled to take place in Cardiff, UK, August 15-18, 2007. Enclosed please find a call for abstracts for this forthcoming conference. Serren Holm, who is the local organiser, will provide additional information concerning the accommodation, which you will need to arrange yourself. This additional information will be provided on the ESPMH webpage in due time. In order to register for the conference in Cardiff, please return the enclosed registration form to our secretariat. The deadline for abstracts is January 1, 2007. After the selection of the abstracts we will make a draft programme and distribute it by mail in February next year. For the third 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 within your own network. We have also initiated the preparations for the ESPMH conference in 2008, which will take place in Tartu, Estonia. 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 Cardiff conference. As a result of the election in Helsinki the composition of the Board will be as follows, as of 1 January, 2007: 1. Renzo Pegoraro (Italy) President 1/1/2005 - 31/12/2007 2. Serren Holm (UK) President-Elect 1/1/2005 - 31/12/2007 3. Zbig Szawarski (Poland) Member 1/1/2005 - 31/12/2007 4. Vilhjalmur Arnason (Iceland) Member 1/1/2005 - 31/12/2007 5. Tuija Takala (Finland) Member 1/1/2005 - 31/12/2007 6. Gerrit Kimsma (Netherlands) Treasurer 1/1/2006 - 31/12/2008 7. Eugenijus Gefenas (Lithuania) Member 1/1/2006 - 31/12/2008 8. Fuat Odcuncu (Germany) Member 1/1/2007 - 31/12/2009 9. Bert Gordijn (Netherlands) Secretary 1/1/2007 - 31/12/2009 The Cardiff conference will be the last conference with Renzo Pegoraro as President of the ESPMH. As President-Elect Smen Holm will automatically become the new President of the ESPMH. Hence, we will have to elect a new President-Elect in Cardiff. Furthermore, the three-year term of office of three board members will end by the end of 2007, which means that these three position will also be open for election in Cardiff. We will follow the procedure outlined in the By-Laws concerning the election procedure of the Board (see the annex of the final report of the Barcelona General Assembly meeting). 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. Thlrd, this proposal will be circulated prior to the General Assembly. In case members would not agree with the proposal of the Board, they are invited to prepare an alternative proposal (backed by 10% of the membership). This proposal must be sent to the Secretary or given to the Board prior to the beginning of the meeting at the latest. 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 4 vacancies in the Board (the position of President-Elect of the ESPMH as well as three positions 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 (President-Elect 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 April 17,2007. 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