Minutes from the SSP Board Telephone Meeting, 19th September 2001
Present: Tellervo Valtonen, Jorun Tharaldsen, Tor Atle Mo, Ingela Krantz, Karl Skirnisson, Mats Wahlgren, Eskild Petersen and Maria Vang Johansen.
Agenda for the Meeting:
1. Election of chairperson of the General Assembly
2. Election of Secretary of the General Assembly
3. Election of two Members to approve the minutes of the General Assembly
4. Report of SSP activities over the last two years
5. Report of the Editor of the Bulletin
6. Report from the Treasurer with the Auditors' comments
7. Election of Board members
8. Election of Deputy Board members
9. Election of Auditors and Deputy Auditors
10. Membership fee for the next two years
11. Honorary Members
12. Time and location of next Symposium
13. Other business
Tellervo welcomed all to the Board meeting.
Ad 1- 3) Tellervo asked for suggestions to the first three points on the agenda. Jorun suggested Jørn Andreassen as chairperson of the General Assembly. Maria volunteered to ask Jørn. (Following, Maria informs that Jørn has accepted to be the Chairman)
Ad 4) Maria went through the points on the drafted biannual report of SSP (1999 - 2001).
On the 26th October, 1999 Professor Peter Nansen, one of SSP's most prominent and honoured Members passed away. It was agreed to have one-minute silence in honour of late Professor Peter Nansen at the General Assembly.
Three Board meetings have been held during the past period and the minutes of the two meetings held in 2000 have been published in the Bulletin (Vol. 10, no. 1 and 2).
Karl Skirnisson represented SSP at the Board meeting of European Federation of Parasitologists (EFP) in Poznan, Poland in 2000. At the meeting, Tor Bakke was elected as SSP's new representative in EFP's Board.
SSP and the Russian Society of Parasitology jointly organized a meeting in St. Petersburg in July 2000. A total of 121 persons from 25 countries participated. The abstracts from the meeting were published in the SSP Bulletin, Vol. 10, No. 2, 2000. The meeting was financially supported by The Russian Academy of Sciences, Nordic Academy for Advanced Studies (NorFA), The Russian Foundation for Basic Research, "Ekteparet Soerlies Fond for Viltlevende Fulger", Norway, The Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, The St. Petersburg State University, "Nevatrans", Russia and "IRVI" Ltd., Russia.
Professor Christian Kapel has been appointed to take over the task after late Professor Peter Nansen as Editor of The Bulletin of the Baltic Society of Parasitology.
Number of members of the SSP Society 2001 are 125.
Tellervo suggested that Karl should say a few words about the meeting in St. Petersburg at the GA, which he accepted to do.
Ad 5) Jorun reported that she had got the Congress Abstracts from Sweden. Volume 11of the Bulletin will be a combined issue of 1 and 2 of about 48 pages. It was decided to have it printed in approximately 250 copies, as SSP at the moment has 125 members and around 100 have signed up for the congress of which probably half are members of the SSP. Jorun will bring some of the Bulletin with her to Sweden and Karin Andersen and Tor Bakke will assist with the rest.
Ad 6) Tor had received financial reports from Denmark and Finland but is still waiting to hear from Sweden and Iceland. Tor will prepare the treasures report for the GA. Tor informed that the Society has approximately 40.000 NOK at the moment.
Ad 7 - 8) It was accepted by the Board to suggest the nomination of Karl Skirnisson as new President, Maria Vang Johansen as Vice President, Katja Pulkkinen as Treasurer, Charlotte Maddox Hyttel (former Christensen) as Secretary and Cecilia Thors as Board member from Sweden. Mats Wahlgren was suggested to remain as Deputy Board member. Tor accepted to try and find a Norwegian candidate, as the Board agreed that it is important to have representatives on the Board from all Nordic countries. Norway would also need to find a new local Treasurer, which Tor will look for.
Ad 9) Election of Auditors and Deputy Auditors will be decided in Stockholm.
Ad 10) The Board decided to suggest that the membership fee will continue to be 25 EUROS for ordinary members and 10 EUROS for students.
Ad 11) Six candidates were suggested to be Honorary Members: Jørn Andreassen, Sven Nikander, Göran Bylund, Odd Halvorsen, Jorun Tharaldsen and Clive Kennedy. For each of the candidates there needs to be a promoter and the suggested persons have to be asked if they accept to become Honorary Members of the SSP. Tellervo and Maria will take care of this.
Ad 12) The suggestion of joining the Baltic Society for Parasitology (BaSP) and the SSP was discussed. It was agreed that this suggestion should be addressed at the General Assembly for the members to discuss. Depending on the reaction from the members, the new Board should take action to proceed according to the conclusions. Any formal decision will have to wait until the next General Assembly, most likely in 2003.
The proposal from the Baltic Society for Parasitology to make a joint meeting in 2003 in Vilnius was also discussed and will also be put forward at the General Assembly in Stockholm.
Mats informed that about 100 participants have registered for the meeting and funds have been raised to support all invited speakers.
Ad 13) It was decided to have the next SSP Board Meeting in Stockholm on Saturday 6th October from 12.00 - 13.00 (during lunch). Points to be discussed will be: Status and future for the Bulletin, Set-up of a web page for the SSP, Meeting announcements and Candidates for General Assembly meeting according to point 2-3 in agenda. Tellervo ended the Board Meeting by thanking Jorun, Mats and Johan for their efforts and significant contributions.
20.09.01 - Maria Vang Johansen, Secretary of SSP