By Patrick Schmidt, Chair of the newly created Conference Standing Committee.
Updated May 2017, from March member newsletter.
As part of continued efforts to provide on-going support to conference organisers and to ensure that oversight for the ISME World Conference is more widely shared, the ISME Board approved the establishment of a new Conferences Committee. I was asked to head the initial work for this committee, which will be composed of the following individuals:
- Patrick Schmidt (Chair)
- Ugur Alpagut (Co-chair and 2018 Local Committee)
- Lee Higgins (ISME President)
- David Forrest (Submissions/Abstracts/Proceedings –Sub Committee Chair)
- Petri Aarnio (2020 Local Committee)
- Ramona Mohd Tahir (Member at large)
- Angela Ruggles (ex officio)
- Ian Harvey (ex officio)
The purview and charge for the committee is wide and flexible and includes:
- Providing consultancy and guidance regarding ISME’s World and Regional conferences - lending support and direction to local organizing committees
- Overseeing submissions to and programming of the conference (David Forrest, who has done amazing work in this area for the last two conferences, will head up a sub-committee)
- Aiding the early planning for the 2020 conference in Helsinki
- Advising the Board on the process for choosing future venues and considering bids for future conferences
It is my intention, as the work of this new committee gets underway, to closely collaborate with leadership organising our various conferences, particularly the next two world conferences, and to have dialogue with the membership at large to better understand current best practices and identify innovative ideas and strategies for enhancing future ISME Conferences.
If you would like to provide your feedback please send your email to: isme@isme.org
