Contents
Caracas Venezuela, Executive Committee Meeting
July 31 Tuesday
EC Meeting at the HotelTamanaco Intercontinental
| Morning Session | |
| 1. Welcome and opening remarksClaudio Bifano and Juan Pedro Laclette | 09.00 – 09.15 |
| 2. Approval minutes previous EC Meeting | 09.15 – 09.45 |
| 3. Status reports IANAS programsWater…………………………Energy………………………Women for Science………… | 09.45 – 10.45 |
| Coffee/tea break | 10.45 – 11.15 |
| Science Education……………Capacity Building……………..Ecuador Academy of Science ProjectWebPage | 11:15 – 12.00 |
| 4. IANAS Budget allocations2012Michael Clegg/Juan Pedro Laclette/Adriana de la Cruz | 12:00 – 13:30 |
| 5. Lunch | 13.30 – 14.30 |
| Evening Session | |
| 6. Efforts of the programs in raising external supportMarcos Cortesao/ John Boright/Michael Clegg/ | 14:30 – 15:30 |
| 7. Strategies to follow according the different contingencies. Decisions about IANAS options | 15:30 – 16:30 |
| Coffee/tea break | 16.30- 17:00 |
| 8. The General AssemblyMilciades Mejia | 17:00 – 17:30 |
| 9. Review to proposed changes in Statues and Rules of Procedure.Juan Asenjo/Claudio Bifano | 17:30 – 18:00 |
| 10. Any other business & Adjournment | 18:00 – 18:30 |
| Dinner at the Hotel | 19:00 |
August 1: Please be at the lobby of the hotel at 8:30 AM
AGENDA
August 1, Wednesday
Morning: IANAS-Academy Members / Evening: WfS Prize: Academy of Venezuela
| Morning Session: Members of the Academy, Distinguished Guests of the Academy and IANAS | |
| Welcome to the participantsClaudio Bifano | 09.00 – 09.15 |
| IANAS-The Inter-American Network of Academies of SciencesJuan Pedro Laclette and Michael Clegg | 09.15 – 09.30 |
| Open session for discussion between Members of the Academy, IANAS and other guests from the Academy | 09.45 – 10.45 |
| Coffee/tea break | 10.45 – 11.15 |
| Discussion Time conducted by Claudio Bifano and Members of the Academy | |
| Discussion Time conducted by Claudio Bifano and Members of the Academy | 12:00 – 13:30 |
| Lunch and transportation to the Hotel | 13.30 – 14.30 |
| Evening Session: IANAS Women for Science Prize CeremonyOn our arrival the Academy will confirm schedule and program for this sessionPlease Formal Business Attire. Thanks | |
BELOW MINUTES OF THE EC MEETING IN CHILE 2012
MINUTES (CHILE MEETING)
DRAFT MINUTES
IANAS EXECUTIVE COMMMITTEE
SANTIAGO, Chile
Jan 9-10th, 2012
Venue
The IANAS EC Meeting took place at the Chilean Academy of Sciences in Santiago de Chile on January 9th and 10th, 2011 hosted by the Chilean Academy of Sciences.
Participants
The Santiago de Chile Executive Committee was hosted by Juan Asenjo, President of the Chilean Academy of Sciences. Members attending were Roberto Cignoly Incoming President of the National Academy of Exact, Physical and Natural of Argentina (March 2012), Marcos Cortesao Barnsley Scheuenstuhl Office of International Affairs representing the Brazilian Academy of Sciences, Jeremy N. McNeil, FRSC, Foreign Secretary The Academies of Arts, Humanities and Sciences of Canada, Ismael Clark Arxer President of the Cuban Academy of Sciences; Milcíades Mejía President of the Academy of Sciences of the Dominican Republic; Arturo Alejandro Menchaca Rocha President of the Mexican Academy of Sciences, Juan Pedro Laclette Co- Chair IANAS Mexican Academy of Sciences and Adriana de la Cruz, IANAS-Secretariat Executive Coordinator; Michael Clegg Foreign Secretary of the US National Academy of Sciences and John P. Boright Executive Director Office of the Foreign Secretaries from the NAS and Claudio Bifano President of the Academy of Physical, Mathematical and Natural Sciences of Venezuela. Representatives from the Academies of Bolivia and Guatemala could not attend the meeting. A quorum the meeting was official since 10 of the Member Academies were represented.
Meeting Program, Propositions and Resolutions
Tuesday January 10th, 2012. Full day meeting
- Welcome and Opening Remarks
Juan Asenjo (Chile) welcomed the EC after ringing the Academy´s Bell as is customary in the Chilean Academy. Professor Asenjo explained the history and organization of Chilean Academy that was originally modeled on Institute de France.
Co-Chairs Michael Clegg and Juan Pedro Laclette noted that IANAS was founded in Chile in 2004 and since its inception, IANAS has worked to strengthen working relationships among Academies of the Americas. During its existence IANAS has assisted in the establishment of new Academies of Science, it has launched programs on Energy, Women for Science, science education and water resources and it has developed an energetic capacity building program. In the past few months the capacity building program has initiated a Short-Term Fellowship program for visits to labs in the US and it held a successful workshop on Science Communication with journalists from throughout the Americas. The chairs greeted the participants and wished them a fruitful meeting.
- Approval of Minutes of the La Havana EC Meeting in May 2011
The conclusions and resolutions prepared by the EC in May 2011 in La Habana Cuba, were presented to the EC in Santiago the Chile and the Minutes were approved with all participants in favor.
- Out of Agenda Item: Discussion of the website and the goal to make it bi or trilingual.
-Proposition: 1) Roberto Cignoly (Argentina) felt that the Spanish version of the web site needs to be updated and made congruent with the English version at least in the basic information. 2) Arturo Menchaca (Mexico) moved to keep the record of meetings in English (language of record), but to try to maintain Spanish and Portuguese versions by relying on help from Academies to provide accurate translations. The translations should provide basic information that can explain the nature of the Organization.
-Decision: Proposition #1 and #2 approved
- Reports on Programs
- Water – Report prepared by Blanca Jimenez (Mexico) Jose Tundisi (Brasil) and presented by Marcos Cortesao (Brasil). Key goals of the water program are presented as bullet points below.
- Addressing gender-based differences in use and management of water
- Management of Urban Water cycle
- Capacity building training program in Columbia
- Surface water management in Central America – Capacity building training courses
- Publications – The book length publicaiton of the water committee “Diagnostico del agua en las Americas” will ready in March 2012
- Financial support for an English version of about $15,000 is needed to complete the project.
- Claudio Bifano suggested that the water and science education programs be connected.
- 2012 -2013 plans of the water program
o Management of Urban Water cycle – need support from Academies for travel of focal points, local Academy provides host costs
o Brasil meeting delayed
o Launch of Spanish and later English version of water book planned for March 2012 in conjunction with World Water Day.
o Capacity bldg.
Columbia – Neotropical resevoirs
Nicaragua – training course
o Proposal to IAI (Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research) submitted. Not successful, but will be used for other submissions.
-Propositions: 1) Claudio Bifano (Venezuela) proposed to help in the process of connecting the Water Program with Science Education. This offer will be extended to the Energy Program too. 2) Milciades Mejia (Dominican Republic) proposed to present the Water Book during the Day of the Water and suggested to make a simultaneous presentation of the Book by all the IANAS-Academies. 3) Jeremy McNeil (Canada) was going to look for money for the English version of the book to transfer to de Fondo Consultivo for its printing in Mexico. 4) Marcos Cortesao will write IANAS to update about the water meeting in Brasil where IANAS has allocated US $10,000 from the Capacity Building Program (FY 2011) for the organization of the workshop. 5) A free PDF version of the water book will be available for the public on the IANAS web page. 6) Voted to request the EC approval to send a congratulatory note to the Academies and their Focal Points for the Water book effort signed by the Chairs on behalf the EC.
-Decisions: #1) Approved #2) The proposition was approved by the Secretariat and the DR Academy. Secretariat will work to see coordinate the release of the book in conjunction with World Water Day; #3) Approved; #4) Approved ; #5) Approved; # 6 To Be Approved by the EC
Note: Please see complete report Appendix A
- Energy – Report prepared by John Millhone (US) and presented by John Boright (US)
- Energy Publication – Help from Foro in publishing a volume on energy was requested.
- Focal point Workshop is scheduled for Bolivia – April 2012
- Need Co-Chair – The Energy program needs a co-chair from a country in Latin America. It is the only IANAS program without a co-chair.
- Discussions emphasized the importance of a capacity building theme in energy
- An OAS program that might be appropriate for funding of some energy work is for training and education.
- There was also discussion of funding opportunities for an energy activity from a Spanish organization, but this will need follow up.
- Additional comment Chile, Argentina and Dominican Republic are going to pay more attention to the next Energy meeting.
-Propositions: 1) Juan Asenjo (Chile) Suggested that each Academy should send the name of a candidate that can Co-Chair the Energy Program along with John Millhone 2) The Program may need to focus on two of the six energy themes in 2012. John Boright (US) will talk with Energy Chair to collect his thoughts. 3) Because the program had just launched their first actions, the Secretariat already requested an extension of time from IAP until June 2012 to work on the Plan proposed by the Program. 4) Claudio Bifano (Venezuela) suggests a short report from each academy on their participation in the IANAS programs.
-Decisions: Propositions #1, #2, #3, #4 Approved
Note: Please see complete Energy Report Appendix “B”
- Women for Science – Report prepared by Anneke Sengers (US) and Judith Zubieta (Mexico) and presented by Juan Pedro Laclette (IANAS-Co-Chair)
- New co-Chair appointed – Judith Zubieta (Mexico)
- As part of the synergy started in Mexico, Dominican Republic and Venezuela are implementing and strengthening their relationship with their women colleagues at the Academies.
- Biography project – Lilian Alverez (Cuba) and Patricio Felmer (Chile) lead the project. Translation of interviews is in process.
- Woman for Science prize- this will likely be a one-time prize. The number of nominations from academies has not met expectations.
- The next focal point meeting will be Panama in February 2012.
-Proposition: 1) Juan Pedro Laclette (Mexico) is going to reconnect with the Instituto de la Mujer (Mexico); an organization interested in developing some activities with IANAS.
-Decision: #1) Approved
Note: Please see complete Women for Science Report Appendix “C”
- Science Education- Report prepared by Norma Nudellman (Argentina) and Maria de la Carmen Samayoa (Guatemala) and presented by Juan Pedro Laclette
- Focal point meeting took place in Mexico in June 2011
- OAS money over, need new sources of external funding.
- INDAGALA site to be maintained and moved to Mexico
- Mexican Ministry of Ed provided resources for support of program in 7 countries of Caribbean and Central America – funding renewed.
- Strategic planning meeting in Buenos Aires took place in November 2011.
- Questions were discussed about the IAP Ed program – How it relates to IANAS program? How to coordinate between programs – and with La main a la Pate, How to adjust the French web page to IANAS needs. Claudio & Norma will act as a bridge to La Main a la Pate program.
- The Academies were reminded about the agreement they signed with Indagala in order to provide material to download on the web page.
- Discussed poster on IANAS Science Education Program for the 2012 AAAS meeting in Vancouver – The Canadian focal point for Sci Ed will help present the poster.
-Proposition: 1) IANAS will contact the Program Co-Chairs about the possibility of inviting the Focal Point of Canada and as presenter of the IANAS Program at the AAAS meeting. 2) It is important to understand how much each Academy had achieved in science education in quantitative terms from 2004 to the present. The Secretariat with the help of the Co-Chairs will make an effort to collect this information from the Academies. 3) The Secretariat will send a note to the Academies reminding them of their commitment to Idagala. 4) Claudio Bifano (Venezuela) gave a special recognition to Carlos Bosch for his effort with Indagala 5) Claudio Bifano offered to contact the head of La Main a la Pate to serve as a bridge between them and IANAS-Idagala.
-Decisions: #1), #2) #3), #4) #5) Approved
- Capacity Building-Report presented by Michael Clegg (IANAS Co-Chair), John Boright (US) and Juan Pedro Laclette (IANAS Co-Chair) and Adriana de la Cruz (IANAS-Secretariat).
Report on Fellowship
- The IANAS Short Visit Fellowship has 28 participants from15 countries of the Americas.
- Thanks to John Boright for his efforts in securing support for the program.Can IANAS provide a coordinating service for scholarships and fellowships across the hemisphere – can IANAS provide a service that could provide sustainable support for the secretariat?
- The new PEER program of US AID to provide research support for collaborations between US investigators with NSF support and scientists in another country was described.
-Propositions:1) Academies should send to IANAS information on opportunities for exchanges of scientists being developed by each Academy and/or country, see for example, the information placed on the IANAS web page for Brazil. The information sent should be published on the web page. 2) Hernan Chaimovich (Former IANAS Co-Chair) suggested sending a letter of recognition and thanks to those nominees not awarded a short-term fellowship.
-Decision: #1) #2) Approved
- Report on Budget 2012-2013: The following points were reviewed as a preliminary to the discussion of the IANAS budget.
- History of budget and the recently introduced IAP Affiliated Networks process. The new IAP budget rules provide for a multi-year budget process but also cap budget requests for Affiliated Networks. Based on the IANAS budget request to IAP for 2012-13, we were informed in October 2011 that IANAS would receive $125,000 in 2012 and $100,000 in 2013, conditional on an acceptable budget report for 2012.
- IANAS decided to introduce an “allocation pool concept” to promote the effective utilization of limited resources in any given year.
o Under the allocation pool system, each of the five IANAS programs will be given a $15,000 line of credit sufficient to support one workshop or focal point meeting in 2013. Following expenditure of the initial $15,000 programs may submit requests to IANAS for additional support up to a maximum of $35,000 for the 2012 year. A criterion for evaluating additional support requests will be matching funds obtained by the program. All such requests must be received by the end of July 2012.
o This new system will be implemented on a trial basis for 2012 with the goal of making efficient allocations among IANAS programs. In the light of experience gained in 2012, the system will be revisited in 2013 for any changes or improvements.
-Propositions: 1) To implememnt the Allocation Pool Concept for every Program for the upcoming budget 2012-2013. 2) The Secretariat will send a letter to program co-chairs explaining the allocation rules and giving budget limits; stating clearly that the programs should let us know when they do not think they will be able to carry out an activity; and emphasizing the importance of integrating capacity building into their program goals. 3) IANAS will provide funding of $15,000 for first key activity up front and will attempt to provide supplemental funding for additional activities subject to the conditions noted above (i.e. $35,000 maximum for 2012 and supplemental funding will be based on evidence of matching funds). 4) Every Program will start with a similar amount of money, if the allocated money is not used for whatever reason, the money could be applied for other activities of IANAS; 5) The Secretariat will endeavor to provide a financial report every four months on the status and progress of each one of the Programs in using their budgets. 6) The Secretariat should send a letter to the Academies asking that they plan for their own budget at least four air tickets (+- USD$1,200 x 4) to support the focal points meetings
-Decision: #1), #2), #3) #4), #5), #6) Approved
Report on Supplemental Allocation of $37,000
- Discussion of the Inter-American Medical Panel IAMP joint IANAS meeting to be organized by Brasil. IANAS will provide $20,000 in support of the meeting from the IAP supplemental allocation.
- Marcos presents question of whether we should allow medical academies to affiliate with IANAS
- Discussion of the lack of IAMP support for the joint medical meeting.
Propositions: 1) To contact IAMP and discuss the bases of good inter-institutional cooperation. Michael Clegg (US) will contact them.
Report on Science Communication workshop held in Buenos Aires in November 2011.
- Juan Pedro Laclette (Mexico) gave report on the conference.
- Issue is how to do follow up activities that are not too expensive.
- Future collaboration with SciDevNet will be developed for 2012
- Claudio Bifano (Venezuela) presented what his academy is doing to follow up on science communication
Report on Strategic plan issue, key elements of ongoing EC discussion
- Juan Pedro Laclette (Mexico) proposes getting input on key issues from member academies.
- Jeremy MacNeil (Canada) thinks we have enough on our plate already and IANAS should be focus in the five programs.
- Juan Asenjo(Chile) thinks academies should communicate the purpose and accomplishments of science.
- Discussion of the Strategic Planning exercise held in October 2011 at the Beckman Center in Irvine, CA.
o Juan Pedro Laclette (Mexico) remarked that the earlier strategic planning session in Washington DC in March 2011 was deeper and more introspective.
o Jeremy McNeil (Canada) “Although some good ideas came as a result of the work group sessions, the Irvine meeting was more focused on training about a particular system that does not necessarily suit an organization like IANAS”.
o Ismael Clark (Cuba) felt that the mechanics of Strategic Planning for a corporation are slightly different than those of and organization like IANAS that works more from the concept of a cooperative network.
o John Boright (US)– thinks that we should get feed back from academies about what is most valuable to them.
o Claudio Bifano (Venezuela) – felt that education, communication and capacity building are the most important activities of IANAS.
o Juan Pedro Laclette – Suggested that we think about the complexities of the future. A major issue is future funding. Ismael agreed with this perspective.
o John Boright – Suggested that one goal be to try to hold a significant event in each IANAS country over time
o Michael Clegg and Jeremy MacNeil remarked that IANAS should emphasize its accomplishments more aggressively.
o It was agreed that IANAS is a hub which brings the academies together to work on common interests
The EC broke into teams to evaluate key parts of the strategic plan during this segment of the meeting.
A subcommittee will be asked to write down IANAS’ accomplishments and impacts; How have we helped academies with a problem – eg Bolivia; (Subcommittee membership: Marcos Cortesão, Claudio Bifano, Juan Asenjo, Adriana de la Cruz)
A Fund raising subcommittee was appointed composed of – John Boright, Juan Pedro, Milceades, Mike Clegg
A subcommittee was appointed to review the vision, mission, preamble etc of IANAS strategic plan and to approve it or to suggest modifications: (Subcommittee membership: Jeremy MacNeil; Roberto Cignoly, Ismael Clark, Arturo Menchaca)
-Decision: Action plan accepted
Wednesday January 11, 2012. Half day meeting
Review groups worked on element of the strategic plan described above.
An important discussion of fund raising opportunities followed the strategic plan discussion. The EC developed a matrix of possible funding sources (below) and identified IANAS programs that might be of interest to potential funders. Individual EC members were assigned responsibility for contact with particular funders.
Fund raising Group
Source Topics Contacts
OAS Training courses + ??
IADB Women for Sci Flora Painter (JB)
State Dept Fellows program, Intl visitors Steven Lebens + ? (JB)
Women program Sharon Hrynko (JB)
National Gov’ts
(Ministries)
SEP (Mexico) SEP Rodolfo Tuiran (Juan Pedro)
Instituto de la Mujer Women Sci Amilia ?? (Juan Pedro)
AID Alex Deghan (JB)
IDRC (Canada)
CONACYT Core support Enrique Villa (Juan Pedro)
FABESPI
FINEP
CNPq
UNESCO
French Embassy Sci ED
Foundations
CARSO (Slim)
LOUNSBERY
ETC
Next steps:
- Each EC member should to add at least one source and contact to the above list
- Each EC member should make at least one contact with a potential funder
- Send progress reports to secretariat
- Report back at next EC meeting in July in Venezuela
Strategic Plan review committee suggestions:
- Sub committee on IANAS accomplishments report back- action list of accomplishments to be circulated to program co-chairs for their corrections and additions.
- Fund raising – scheme presented
- Strategic plan recommendation
- Try to abbreviate preamble statement and make it more concise
A committee was appointed to review the IANAS Statues & Rules of Procedure in preparation for the 2013 IANAS General Assembly. (Committee membership: Juan Asjeno (Chair), Claudio Bifano & Jorge Huete)
Presentation by Milcíades Mejía on the planning for the next General Assembly meeting in Dominican Republic – Scheduled for late June- early July, 2013
- Meeting in Punta Cana with its own international airport
- Hotel – Punta Cana resort & Club
- Conference facilities discussed
- Participants can visit National Park in Isla Saona prior to or following the GA
Discussion of possible scientific themes for the General Assembly
- Possible Key note speakers
- Eco tourism preservation angle on event
- Climate change sea level angle – Andrew Weaver Canada and Ocean biodiversity (Jeff Hutchins) Canada could pay for both.
- Jeremy on insects
- Other themes – Ocean acidification, Census of the sea
New Academies
- Priorities – Panama, Ecuador
- Discussion of Honduras,
Next EC meeting – Claudio
- July 23 – 25 in Caracas, Venezuela.
- The EV meeting will also feature one session with the Members of the Venezuelan Academy
END OF THE MINUTES—————————————
