ACTIVITY REPORT 2013 Presented to EPS Council, 4-5 April 2014
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
ACTIVITY REPORT 2013 presented to EPS Council, 4-5 April 2014 European Physical Society more than ideas ACTIVITY REPORT 2013 presented to EPS Council, 4-5 April 2014 EPS Report CONTENTS 01 introduction from the President 08 Secretariat 02 Executive Committee Activities 09 EPS Committees 03 Highlights from 2013 12 Publications 07 Financial Report 2013 14 EPS Divisions and Groups ACTIVITY REPORT 2013 John Dudley, EPS President INTRODUCTION FROM THE PRESIDENT It is a privilege to introduce this 2013 broad support and interest in the com- 2013, and as we work through 2014 and Activity Report in which the many and munity include the Emmy Noether look forward to 2015, there are many op- varied actions of EPS over the last year Distinction for Women in Physics, portunities to push home the message of are presented. and of course the highly successful the importance of basic research to ad- The foundations laid by my predeces- EPS Historic Sites programme which dress challenges in energy, sustainability sors in preparing and implementing the inaugurated 10 new sites in 8 countries healthcare and improved quality of life. EPS Strategy Plan 2010+ have placed since the last Council. The convening power of EPS is at us in a wonderful position to cement On the strategic level, EPS has the service of all its members, and our place as a society that can both worked hard to promote the report we have seen several examples dur- support European physicists in their on the Importance of Physics to the ing 2013 of how bottom-up propos- careers, as well as effectively influence Economies of Europe. There have been als by EPS members have led to very and initiate high-level actions on the thousands of internet downloads of the successful initiatives: the Inspiring international stage. report from around the world, EPS has Science Education European project This becomes apparent when review- distributed hardcopies to many differ- has starting running in April 2013, ing the many different EPS activities ent organizations, and EPS Executive and a project led by the Committee since the last Council. EPS has contin- Committee members have delivered on European Integration in collabo- ued its leading role in organizing some personal presentations to key leadership ration with UNESCO, SEENET-MTP of the world’s premier conferences in within the European Commission, at the and ICTP has received funding to run physics, and the list of different meet- OECD Global Forum on the Knowledge meetings in preparation of Horizon ings in 2013 (described later in this Economy, at CERN Council and at 2020 proposals. I can only encour- report) is extremely impressive. EPS the American Physical Society March age all EPS Members to consider the has complemented its conference or- Meeting 2014. added value that EPS can bring to your ganization during 2013 through high- The influence of initiatives driven by own activities and not to hesitate to level Roundtables on specific areas of a regional scientific body such as EPS make suggestions. interest, and 2013 saw discussions has also been apparent during presenta- In closing this brief introduction to take place on the Transition to Open tions of the International Year of Light our year’s report, I would of course like to Access, the International Year of Light, 2015 at UNESCO in Paris and at the UN thank the EPS Executive Committee, the and International Strategic Planning, General Assembly in New York during Secretary General and all the Secretariat and Challenges in Education and 2013. The International Year of Light staff for their help and support over the Outreach at Large Research Facilities. resolution was formally proclaimed at last 12 months. I look forward to another Other actions that have attracted very the UN General Assembly in December exciting year ahead! n 01 ACTIVITY REPORT 2013 Martina Knoop, Honorary Secretary, Executive Committee EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE ACTIVITIES The Executive Committee regularly (Secretary, Treasurer) meet with the editorial decision tree and discussions meets face to face to discuss EPS ac- Secretary General twice per year to about a structural change are on-going. tivities, programmes and projects. assess staff evolution and other issues. After a mandate of 8 years, The EiC Executive summaries of regular These meetings (in 2013: September and of Europhysics News, Claude Sebenne, Executive Committee meetings are pub- December) held at the EPS Secretariat retired at the end of 2013. The appoint- lished on the EPS-website (available to also provide the opportunity to discuss ment of the new EiC, Victor R. Velasco, Individual Members only) and system- on-going activities and provide time- has presented the Executive Committee atically highlighted in the e-EPS news- ly input. with the opportunity to revise the long- letter. Activities of Executive Committee During 2013, two major items have term strategy of the magazine. Various members are now reported monthly in been predominant in the Executive options are still being discussed, one of the e-EPS newsletter. Committee discussions: EPS publica- them being a transition to an electronic- Since council 2013, the Executive tions and the preparation of a supple- access only magazine. Committee has met three times: on mentary secretariat in Brussels. Regarding the installation of a supple- 8 June 2013 at the EPS secretariat in 2013 has seen the appointment of mentary EPS secretariat in Brussels, a Mulhouse (FR), on 26-27 October in two new Editors-in-chief (EiC) for EPS' location has been found in an area where Budapest (HU) in conjunction with publications: EPL and Europhysics many major European research actors the 3rd European Energy Conference News. The new EiC of EPL, Giorgio and organisations are located. The choice and EPS General Meeting, and at the Benedek, presented a draft Action Plan of human resources and representation IOP premises in London, (UK) on 30 to increase the visibility of the journal. as a function of the available budget is a January 2014. A more dynamic response of the jour- more critical aspect, and many options In addition to the full meetings, the nal to its readership could eventually be are being explored, with much progress officers of the Executive Committee facilitated by a change in the journal's being made. The financial plan may MEMBER CONTACT FOR DIVISIONS AND GROUPS CONTACT FOR MEMBER SOCIETIES Caterina Biscari - Accelerator Group Italy, Georgia, Russia Luisa Cifarelli - Technology and Innovation Group Vice-President - Division of Physics in Life Sciences Els De Wolf - Statistical & Nonlinear Physics Division Belgium, Netherlands, Luxemburg - Computational Physics Group Goran Djordjevic - Physics for Development Group Bulgaria, Romania, Moldavia, Macedonia, Serbia, Croatia, Albania, Slovenia, Montenegro John Dudley President Zsolt Fülöp - Nuclear Physics Division Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia - History of Physics Group Carlos Hidalgo - Plasma Physics Division Spain and Portugal James Hough - Environmental Physics Division UK and Ireland Martina Knoop - Quantum Electronics & Optics Division France, Nordic countries Secretary - Experimental Physics Control Systems Group Colin Latimer - Atomic Molecular and Optics Division Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia Treasurer Jonathan Lister - Energy Group Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein - Condensed Matter Division Thomas Müller - High Energy Particle Physics Division Germany, Poland, Ukraine Sophocles Sotiriou - Physics Education Division Greece, Turkey, Armenia, Israel - European Solar Physics Division 02 ACTIVITY REPORT 2013 require investing a portion of EPS’ re- Discussion items were the Karlsruhe In an on-going process, the serves in order to allow the supplemen- Physics course, a European initiative Executive Committee regularly ex- tary secretariat to begin running during on education, the position on reforms amines EPS structures in an effort to 2014, and to evaluate and reallocate re- being made internationally regarding improve communication and efficien- sources in the medium-term. Different the Canadian NRC and the Russian cy. After the beginning of the review job descriptions with corresponding Academy of Sciences, and the multi-soci- of the Action Committee structure budgetary solutions are under consid- ety statement as follow-up of the Learned in 2012, the modified procedure is eration. The input of member Societies Societies Round Table on Open Access almost finalized. Most of the com- and Divisions and Groups into both the organised during the last EPS council. mittees now have written terms of viability and the work plan of the sup- The Executive Committee has also reference, a renewed panel of mem- plementary secretariat is essential. As made the proposal for two additional bers with a fixed 3-year mandate (re- a result of the strategy review process prizes: last-year's revision of the grant newable once). Discussions are still in 2011, a Strategy Review Group will scheme has allowed to re-orient some on-going about the eventual creation be appointed in Sept 2014 to report to financial resources. The creation of a of a Political Affairs Committee, and council 2016. Among the tasks of this re- (prestigious) early career award will a Communications Committee. view group will also be the evaluation of fill this budget line. The Executive Every Executive Committee mem- the success of a Brussels representation. Committee also proposed to the Physics ber is the direct contact person for The Executive Committee is involved Education Division to install a Physics a very small number of Member in the preparation of statements and po- Teaching award, which will be given Societies. The same principle has been sition papers. A longer discussion was every other year, alternating with the introduced to install privileged con- devoted to various EPS statements and award of the PED, dedicated to research tacts with the Divisions and Groups, the general EPS policy on issuing them. in physics education. shown in the table. HIGHLIGHTS FROM 2013 INTERNATIONAL an International Year of Light in 2015 85 countries. This impressive number YEAR OF LIGHT 2015 adopted by the UNESCO Executive of co-sponsoring nations and institu- Board in October 2012.