APSN Council Meeting at the Berlin ISN

Present. Dr Peter Dodd, Australia (President), Dr Stephen Bunn, New Zealand (Secretary), Prof. E. Miyamoto, Japan (Treasurer), Prof Keiichi Uyemure, Japan, Dr Alfreda Stadlin China-Hong Kong, Prof. John Rostas Australia, Prof. Yoo-Hun Suh, Korea, Dr Wipawan Thangnipon, Thailand. A number of apologies for absence had been received by email and were duly noted.

Minutes of previous APSN Council Meeting. The minutes of the precious APSN Council meeting at Seoul were presented and discussed. These minutes will now go forward for approval at the next full APSN Council to be held during the Brisbane APSN meeting in 2001.

President’s Report.

APSN 2001. All those present noted the success of the 1998 Seoul meeting. With over400 delegates from 16 countries this was the largest and most extensive APSN meeting so far. It was also acknowledged that this would be a very hard act to follow for the next APSN meeting to 2001 in order to avoid problems of clashing with the 2000 Olympics was discussed and approved. The suggestion was made that a local organizing committee should now be formed under the chair of Peter Dodd and that this should enter into negotiations with the Australian Neuroscience Society with the view to holding some form of joint meeting in Brisbane during early February 2001. It was recognized that there were likely to be significant advantages for both societies if such a joint meeting could be arranged. It was also decided that the local organizing committee should make great efforts to obtain support for younger overseas investigators to attend the Brisbane meeting (particular reference was made to the increased funding likely to be made available by the ISN for such events).

ISN meeting in 2003. At the Seoul APSN meeting it was agreed that Singapore should make a bid to host the 2003 ISN meeting. This subsequently turned out to be very difficult and the local Neuroscience Society had to decline the opportunity. Hong Kong had however agreed to present a bid to the ISN Council to host the 2003 meeting. Dr Alfreda Stadlin provided the APSN Council with a preview of the presentation she would be making at the ISN business meeting. The presentation was enthusiastically supported by the APSN Council and was subsequently approved by the ISN Executive.

Future development of the ISN. The discussion document for future development of the ISN was considered by the APSN Council. It was recognized that the structure of the APSN was quite different from that of the ESN or ASN and that alterations in for example the frequency of ISN meetings would have major implications for the APSN. The Council wishes to encourage all members of the APSN to contribute to the debate regarding the future of the ISN. Please contact the ISN directly or forward your comments to the APSN Secretary.

Treasurer’s report. A written report was provided by the treasurer and will be made available to all Council members at the next meeting. Any Council member wishing to obtain a copy of the report prior to this meeting should contact the APSN Secretary. There was some discussion as to how best to minimalize the handling fee incurred for overseas cheques although this issue was not resolved at the meeting.

Secretary’s report. The secretary was pleased to inform the Council as to the availability of APSN pages in the ISN News and encouraged our member societies to provide information for the next edition. There was also a request for up-to-date information regarding Council membership for the APSN Web site and other publications

Other business. There was some discussion about the dates for future APSN meetings and their timing in relation to ISN meetings It was agreed that this issue would have to be discussed again after the outcome of the Hong Kong bid for the 2003 ISN was known. The meeting closed with, as noted above, a preview o0f the Hong Kong presentation by Dr Stadlin. The Council congratulated her for her efforts and wished her well with the presentation the next day.