Report on Board meeting in Barcelona, December 14-15, 2012#

H. Maurer#

Photo gallery: Board meeting
Photo gallery: Young Academy of Europe (YAE)
Photo gallery: Signing of the agreement concerning the Barcelona Hub
Photo gallery: Ribbon Ceremony
Photo gallery: Barcelona Impressions


An important Board meeting took place in Barcelona Dec.14-15. Some of the main issues on the agenda were: (a) The conference 2013 in Wroclaw and the introduction of the new head of the Barcelona hub, Dr. Genoveva Marti; (b) The signing of an agreement with the Young Academy of Europe (YAE), represented by Andre Mischke and Thomas Schaefer (c) The signing of the agreement concerning the Barcelona hub (d) The official ribbon cutting to open the offices of the Barcelona hub.

Concerning (a), the meeting was held in a beautiful old building (at one stage a hospital); HQ/President will soon report details concerning the conference. However, the following issues are settled: The conference will start afternoon Sept. 16, 2013 including the ERASMUS lecture and a reception. (Prior to this there will be the usual nomination meetings, meeting of the board, of the council and general assembly). Sept. 17-19 will consist mainly of plenary talks by very famous researchers (at least 4 Nobel laureates among them), plenary discussions, but also (Tuesday and Thursday afternoon) parallel sessions organized by sections, and Wednesday afternoon short presentations of new members (i.e. members elected in Bergen). There will be events in the evenings and the possibility to sign up for post-conference trips. Dr. Genoveva Marti was presented as head of the Barcelona hub (part-time): she will have two full-time staff to support her. She presented her ideas, and the board suggested a number of items she might look into, like possibly organizing the annual conference 2014 (this mainly depends on funding and facilities in Barcelona).

Concerning (b), an agreement was signed with YAE confirming close cooperation between AE and YAE, and important step to make AE more inclusive. YAE presented a flyer.

Concerning (c), the signing was done by Lars Walløe and Dr. Enric Claverol, Director of the Catalan Foundation for Research and Innovation (FCRI), one of AE's partners in Barcelona.

This was followed by addresses by Prof. Enric Banda, Director Science, Research and Environment Obra Social, “la Caixa”, Dr. Salvador Giner, Presindent of IEC, Hon. Mr. Andreu Mas-Colell, Minister of Economy and Knowledge of the Government of Catalonia, Lars Walløe, president of Academia Europaea, Mr. Gerard Ardanuy, Councillor Education and Universities, Barcelona City Council and Dr. Antoni Esteve, president of the Catalan Foundation for Research and Innovation (FCRI).

The day was concluded by a festive dinner at the hotel Catalonia Plaça Catalunya.

On December 15, the official meeting ended around 3 pm, but the board was invited to a private and excellent tour of the Picasso museum afterwards.