Officers Meeting Notes
Wed 12th February 2014
The officers met by telephone. In attendance: John Hinde, Clarice Demétrio,
James Carpenter and Dee Ann Walker.
Minutes of last officers meeting were reviewed and all tasks are underway.
Sharon-Lise Normand has agreed to serve as the liaison to the Awards Fund
Committee and Vicente will cover Communications and Conference Advisory.
IBC Florence
29 registrants for IBC to date. 1,000 abstracts have been submitted and the
deadline is 15 March to complete reviews. All have been assigned.
Officers received a message from Strategic Initiatives Chair questioning the
quality and usability of the IBC website for registration, etc. The message was
sent to Adriano without the name of sender. The officers support making
changes to the conference manual which will make it easier for regions to host
and make the process better for our members. Registration should be handled
through the IBO.
Executive Board is booked at the Hotel Atlantic for the IBC. Kerrie will not be
able to attend the IBC due to a large statistical meeting in Australia where she is
presenting.
Dee Ann will write Angela in Florence to get visa requirements in Italy posted on
the IBC website.
JABES Showcase was discussed. One paper selected for presentation was
authored by a non-member. No one was sure if membership is a requirement.
Clarice and Dee Ann are doing some research about past presenters. Clarice will
contact Montse to see if there was another paper that could be presented,
authored by an IBS member. Biometrics requires membership for the showcase.
Procedures need to be written so each new editor knows what is expected.
John has secured two volunteer from Italy to work with others on
programs/communications during the IBC aimed at young statisticians.
We have 32 entries in the Young Statisticians Showcase. Judging will start after
abstract review is finished.
Next Executive Board Teleconference
The next meeting of the Board by phone will be 8 April at 20:00. Dee Ann will
notify the board.
IBS Committees
Committee appointment is almost complete. A complete list of chairs and
members will be sent to the Board for approval/disapproval of the entire slate.
ENAR is working on their appointments.
Once committees are approved, the Board members will need to
encourage/monitor progress of committees prior to the next teleconference on 8
April.
Journal Club
James will send Dee Ann information on the software used by the RSS to run
journal clubs, whereby the author of a paper from one our journals discusses the
paper online. This seems quite easy to do and reasonable and could possibly be
a start to our online presence. John is taking with Marie Davidian about a
number of things and will relay this as well.
Financial Support for Region’s Meetings
Henry Mwambi submitted a request for funding by the Education Committee to
support a Spatial Epidemiology Meeting in Johannesburg. This led to a
discussion about the purpose of the Travel Awards Fund vs Education Fund and
where should a region seek support. There are no written procedures for
awarding funds through the Education Committee, although SUSAN has received
funds previously from Education, possibly because SUSAN members knew of the
opportunity. This led to a broader discussion about how regions find out about
available funds and the process used to secure them.
Dee Ann will write Henry and ask for a one-page summary of the meeting’s
purpose, a budget for the meeting, and a clear indication of what support is
requested. The executive Board will be asked to discuss this further.
The Brazilian Region sought support from the Travel Awards Fund to support
travel expenses to bring a speaker to their regional meeting in 2014. The AFC
approved the expenditure in accordance with the guideline adopted by the
Board. However, it was unusual to receive a request like this in an IBC year. The
executive Board might consider setting up a line item in the budget for support
to regions for such purposes rather than use travel awards funds that are
donated, primarily to support travel to the IBC.
Membership
An updated membership list for 2013 was reviewed and the regions that did not
pay dues in 2013 were noted. Dee Ann will write a letter to the
President/Treasurer of each region asking if they intend to pay past dues, and if
not, to send a statement of extenuating circumstances. Also secure information
on what they propose to do for 2014. If the region does not reply, individual
members of the region will be made aware that the region has not paid their
dues.
A list of all regions with unpaid regions highlighted resides in the Board Room.
James will write regular members living in a developed country but paying
developing country dues to inform them of the proper way to be a member of
two regions. Melissa will send out.
We are waiting to hear back from Marc Strauss about continuing delivery
problems in India for Biometrics paper subscribers.
Meeting lasted 1.5 hours.
a. Comments from strategic affairs committee
b. EB Hotel
c. Abstract review
d. Programme / Sessions, especially JABES showcase
e. Young statisticians
2. Date of next EB telecon
3. Update on IBS committees;
a. Updating IBS website
b. Encouraging/monitoring progress prior to next EB telecom
4. Journal club
5. Request for support for November Johannesburg spatial epidemiology
meeting
6. Update on 2013 membership and dues
7. Update on members not resident in their region (list in dropbox)
8. Indian Region biometrics
9. Update on IBO activity not already covered (Dee Ann)
10. Any other business
JRC, 10 Feb 2014.