Changes in Council Structure

In 2005, under O. Poulsen and M. Huber, the EPS began experimenting with new formats for its Council meetings, in order to focus on issues of particular importance to the Society. Physics education, increasing the membership of national societies, gender equality and mainstreaming and the development of tools for the efficient management of EPS members were topics addressed in 2005 and 2006.

Further innovations were introduced in 2007 by F. Wagner, designed to increase the exchange among the various stakeholders in EPS. The overall organisation consisted of 2 plenary sessions for all EPS Council delegates, plus 4 parallel sessions. The plenary sessions were devoted to ordinary Council business, such as reports by the President, Secretary and Treasurer, approval of the accounts, elections, new members, etc. The parallel sessions allowed more in depth discussions on EPS organisation, strategy and activities. Moreover, Council members heard interesting and informative presentations on the Bologna Process (U. Teichler), Physics and energy (T. Hammacher), Physics publications in Europe (JM Raimond) and on the European Research Area (J. Rostop Nielsen).

Highlights 2006

O. Poulsen provided an overview of the main activities of the EPS in 2006. Publication in science is one of EPS’s main concerns not only because as physicists all EPS members publish their research, but also because many EPS Member Societies are also physics publishers. The EPS is leading a new initiative to bring together learned society publishers, academic publishers and physicists to address issues that are of importance to the European physics community. Among the proposal that will be followed up in 2007 is the creation of a physics publishing portal (P3) that is designed to provide tools for more effective physics research, and to increase the visibility of physics publications in Europe.

In 2006, the EPS received the first prize from the European Economic and Social Council for its contributions to the organised civil society in Europe. Using the cash prize received, the EPS has created a Forum Physics and Society which will bring together scientists and policy makers to discuss issues at the interface of science and society. These include education, technology, energy etc. The forum will meet yearly, and will draft recommendations which will be submitted to European institutions on appropriate science policy measures to be enacted.

The EPS has also been active in discussions regarding the establishment of the European Institute of Technology. O. Poulsen, and representatives of other learned societies met with the President of the European Commission, JM Barroso to discuss the basic configuration of the EIT. The viewpoints expressed by O. Poulsen and approved by Council are:

- The EIT should not be a funding body for research. Funds should be used to create networks and clusters and for administrative purposes;

- The EIT should not be a degree-granting body. Students successfully completing the course work in the EIT cluster should receive their degree from their home institution, with an EIT label;

- The EIT should define domains important for innovation in the EU, but the clusters should be built from the bottom up with interested and qualified participating institutions;

- The EIT should be decentralised, leaving the researchers and students in their respective universities.

Regular Business

In the regular business sessions, Council approved the creation of a new Grants Committee. EPS devotes around 30% of its activities budget to grants, mainly for travel, study and conference grants. The creation of a Grants Committee will allow the EPS to distribute grants as a complement to its other policy activities, such as the promotion of young physicists or increased membership.

Council also approved as new Member Societies: Liechtenstein Science Society, Physics Section; The Serbian Physical Society; The Physical Society of Montenegro. This brings the number of physical societies represented by EPS to 40.

Council also elected the following individuals as Fellows of the EPS:

Gerardo Delgado-Barrio

John Enderby

Gillian Gehring

Luigi Lugiato

Steve Meyers

Denes Nagy

Zenonas Rudzikas

Ann Thorne

Last but not least

Finally, Council confirmed F. Wagner as the President of the Society. O. Poulsen, the outgoing President, would remain on the Executive Committee for another year as Vice-president. We are all grateful to Ove and his hard work and dedication and welcome Fritz and look forward to (another) exciting 2 years.