Outline of Euroseas Board Meeting in Goteborg

Funding for Goteborg conference: Jorgen reported that they are awaiting a decision from the Swedish National Research Committee re funding, including for 5/6 speakers. Are also applying for funding from Swedish Association for Asian and Pacific Studies. They'll have an idea of the budget they'll have by Nov/Dec. They are sure of funding from SNRC but not SAAPS. Discussion ensued about money to invite SE Asian delegates. Pietro pointed out that they had money (from the region of Naples) which enabled 65 people from SE Asia to be paid for last time. Suggested that we might approach Asia Europe Foundation (ASEF) for funding - in Paris ASEF provided funding. Need to approach as single country organisation (Swedish in this case) - won't fund organisation like EUROSEAS. However tend to try to control how money is spent. Possibility of money from Singapore or Brunei discussed. Brunei currently expanding research profile; Singapore concerned about lowering of research profile of SE Asia. People from different disciplines to investigate possibility of seeking money.

 

Publicising Goteborg conference: Jorgen has advertised conference on various websites (unspecified) and in newsletter of International Institute for Asian Studies. Has sent notice to Japanese institutions involved in study of SE Asia. Will contact these again and ask them to publicise more widely.

 

Panels for Goteborg conference: Discussion of length of papers and panels. Decided that papers should be allowed half an hour, including 10 minutes' discussion. This implies 8 papers in a day. It was decided after some discussion that panels should have a minimum of 6 and a maximum of 12 papers, but that some flexibility would be allowed if panels had as few as 4 or as many as 15, if this could be justified. This would not be announced publicly, however.

 

Monica L said that some members of EUROSEAS had not had call for panels.

 

More than 53 received, some weeded out. Those on website have been reviewed and accepted by local organizing committee. A letter of acceptance has been sent to all these. Discussion ensued regarding desirability of involving board in reviewing panels for future conferences. It was decided that we would review the panels and decide whether there was scope for asking some of the panel organizers to consider merging or linking their panels. This was discussed and it was decided that the following panel organizers be put in touch with a view to merging or linking their panels: Maran and Antweiler; Hoffstadter and Rodemeier; Hornidge, McElwee and Fortier. Amita, who has not funding, to be encouraged to become a paper presenter within Amirell's panel.

 

Decided that participation in more than one panel would be discouraged but not banned. The organizers would clearly state that they are not responsible for ensuring that individuals can be physically present in more than one panel, although they will try to be flexible.

 

Deadline for receipt of papers for Goteborg conference: date to be 30 January 2010, the same for all panels. This would allow consultation with panel convenors whose panels do not attract sufficient interest.

 

Next conference after Goteborg: the next conference venue was agreed as Leeds, following the suggestion from Terry King.

 

Future of EUROSEAS and function of board: When EUROSEAS set up 14 years ago intention was that it would do more than organize conferences; however this has not yet happened. 

 

It was felt that board could usefully take a more active role in guiding the focus of the conference. At present a lot of responsibility placed on panel organizers and the result is a rather serendipitous and unfocused conference.

 

It was also felt that other activities would help to increase the profile of EUROSEAS. A summer school on the island of Procida was suggested by Pietro; he has access to free facilities on the island, and very cheap accommodation. Funding could be obtained from the ERASMUS intensive programme, for training of Ph.D. students. Would cover costs of students and lecturers. Idea of offering extended accommodation to lecturers in return for teaching on summer school decided upon. Silvia Vignato agreed to take the lead on this. Needs names of Ph.D. students and has asked that these be sent to her. 

 

Action from the UK: names of Ph.D. students and possible lecturers for summer school to be sent to Silvia.

 

The possibility of publishing opportunities linked to EUROSEAS were discussed. The idea of a series of books will be pursued with NIAS Press and Routledge by Pietro. The idea of a journal was rejected as too much work for someone; a new journal would need to be set up, as established journals would not be attracted by link to EUROSEAS.

 

Location of secretariat. Pietro said that he would ask his university whether it would be possible for it to remain at Naples. The university has been paying Stefania's salary recently, not EUROSEAS. He suggested that it might be sensible for the secretariat to move to Leeds, as this was to be the venue of the next conference and much of the website-related work and organizational work relates to the conference. Monica said that she would consult with Terry and others in ASEASUK on this question.

 

Action from the UK: Terry and others to give their views on this.

 

 

 

Conference and membership fees: it was decided that the membership would be increased to 100 euros from January 2010, payable in conjunction with the conference fee and covering three years' membership. Membership could also be paid separately, but the conference fee could only be paid in conjunction with membership. 

 

This would enable (according to Pietro's calculations back of the envelope calculations) sufficient funds to be available to pay for the expenses of one representative from each country to attend three meetings over the three year period, and an assistant to be paid to work on the website. This was felt to be important to enable the board to be active in planning and focusing the next conference and to enable EUROSEAS to become more active in other respects (summer school and publications).

 

It was decided that for the next conference the unemployed, retired and those earning under 1000 euros per year (self-certified) would pay half of the full fees - in other words a total of 100 euros, made up of 50 euros conference fee and 50 euros membership fee.

 

ASEASUK members and AFRASE members would no longer be able to pay for joint EUROSEAS and ASEASUK membership. In recognition of their contribution towards EUROSEAS towards their joint membership over the past few years, members of these organizations would be allowed a 20 euro reduction in the conference fee - in other words would pay 80 euros rather than 100 euros.  Whether this would apply for all future conferences or just the Goteborg conference was not discussed.

 

Monica