Minutes of the YCG AGM 2013
29th August 2013, University of Warwick
Committee members present:
- Anna Warren (AW),
- Claire Murray (CM),
- Lauren Hatcher (LEH),
- Anthony Phillips (AEP),
- Helen Mason (HM),
- James Hall (JH),
- Kate Wittering (KW),
- Issy Kirby (IK).
1. Formalities
1.1. Acceptance of agenda
Accepted by Mark Warren (MW), seconded by Sam Horrell.
1.2. Apologies for absence
Allan Pang (AP), Soski Nagano (SN), Geoffrey Masuyer (GM), Duncan Sneddon (DS).
1.3. Minutes of the YCG AGM 2012
Accepted by IK, seconded by Jorge Sotelo.
1.4 Matters arising
None.
2. Reports
2.1. Chairman’s report (AW)
It was excellent to see such a great turnout for the first European Young Crystallographers Satellite Meeting. This was organised in collaboration with the YCG and the ECA General Interest Group – Young Crystallographers (ECA GIG-YC). The meeting was made possible by grants from the European Crystallographic Association and the International Union of Crystallography, for which we are very grateful. Special thanks go to Claire Murray for heading up the organisation of this meeting. It was no mean feat to take on this responsibility, and I’m sure everybody is grateful for all her hard work in producing such a fantastic and well attended meeting. We hope that this meeting has set precedence for similar meetings to be organised at future ECMs. We want to thank everyone who submitted an abstract to present at the meeting, we had a huge number submitted, and wanted to emphasise it was incredibly difficult to select speakers for our meeting. We would like to therefore encourage everyone to submit abstracts again for next year’s Spring Meeting to keep this momentum going.
At this year’s AGM there are a number of posts up for nomination. Claire Murray steps down as our vice chair having spent a number of years on the committee. I’m sure on behalf of myself and the rest of the committee that we would all in agree in thanking Claire for all her hard work and efforts over the past few years. She has made a fantastic contribution to the committee and without all her support we wouldn’t have been as successful as we have. Soski Nagano and Allan Pang are stepping down as BSG rep and Webmaster respectively, and Geoffrey Masuyer and James Hall are retiring as Ordinary Members. All four have put in huge efforts to the committee and we really appreciate all their hard work over the last few years. Particular thanks go to Allan on his re-creation of our website; he has done a fantastic job which we hope to continue with over the coming years. Final thanks go to Duncan Sneddon who had been co-opted for a year after retiring as chair. He did a great job in aiding with a smooth transition, and helping me out with any queries I had.
The YCG over the past year has been involved with a number of outreach events. The main one being the Big Bang fair in March at the London ExCel centre. This was a 4 day event which saw over 75,000 visitors some of whom visited our stall ‘The Structure of Stuff is Sweet,’ to learn about crystallography in a variety of exciting ways. This was funded by the STFC, Diamond and ISIS, and due to the huge success it is looking likely that we will be attending the Big Bang fair again in 2014 in Birmingham.
We have also for the past two summers be involved in the Diamond open days. Here we carried out similar activities to the Big Bang Fair to visitors coming to learn about the synchrotron. This has also been hugely successful and looks to be a collaboration which will hopefully continue over the next few years.
Finally, with coordination from Lauren Hatcher and Emily MacCready we managed to secure an activity to be included in the Kitchen Chemistry demonstration at the @Bristol Science Centre. The activities included 3D tessellations to teach children about crystal packing, chocolate tempering to describe polymorphism, as well as a number of other ideas.
We are involved in a huge amount of outreach activities and would be really interested to hear from anyone who would like to get involved. Myself, Claire Murray and Lynne Thomas have taken on the responsibility of BCA Outreach and Education coordinator and can be contacted on [email protected] or at our twitter account twitter.com/Whatsinacrystal.
Although it seems a long way off, meetings have already started taking place to organise next year’s Spring Meeting. In a similar manner to previous meetings, our satellite will precede the main BCA Spring Meeting, and we hope to see as many of you there as possible. The programme is already starting to look really exciting, including a joint session for the Industrial Group with jobs within industry, which may appeal to many young crystallographers looking for jobs.
2.2. Secretary’s report (LEH)
Following a suggesting from Elspeth Garman at the BCA annual general meeting in 2012, the YCG committee submitted an application to the Biochemical Society for funding to run a number of crystallographically-themed outreach activities, promoting biochemical research in particular. The application was successful, and in July 2012 the YCG bank account received a grant of £884. So far this year the YCG has been heavily involved in a number of outreach events, both BCA led and solely YCG ventures. These included both the Big Bang Fair in March, and participating in annual Open Day events at Diamond Light Source. These events were used as a platform to promote the Biochemical Society in light of the money awarded. A number of future outreach events are planned in the up-coming International Year of Crystallography and in preparation for this £51.44 was also spent on specialised diffraction gratings in April 2013.
In September 2012, the YCG also received a £500 donation from Allan Pang, of the prize money he won from that year’s “I’m A Scientist” competition. Allan has requested that this money be used to help finance future outreach events also, and it has been ear-marked assist YCG members’ participation at the British Science Festival, held in Newcastle on 9th – 12th September 2013, where the BCA will be running a stall. The money will be used to cover travel expenses for YCG member participants and also to help cover the cost of materials needed for this outreach event.
Despite all of these great events and organisation, the YCG bank account is still extremely healthy and the committee welcome any volunteers and ideas for future outreach events that the Group could contribute to, particularly those with some relation to Biochemical research so that we may continue to promote the Biochemical Society in light of their contribution to our activities.
3. Elections to the committee
3.1. Vice Chair
CM steps down from the position of Vice Chair after her 2 year term. Two nominations for this position were received:
- Nick Funnell, Oxford. Nominated by AW, seconded by CM.
- Scott McKellar, Edinburgh. Nominated by MW, seconded by Andrew Maloney.
A close vote saw Nick Funnell elected to the position.
3.2. BSG representative
SN steps down as BSG representative on completion of his term, having also moved to the USA. Two nominations were again received:
- Anna Polyakova, Leeds. Nominated by AW, seconded by Sam Horrell.
- Ruben da Silva, Keele. Nominated by KW, seconded by Charlotte Jones (CJ).
Another close vote saw Anna Polyakova elected to the position.
3.3. Webmaster
AP retired from this role at the end of his term, having also moved to the USA. One nomination was received:
- Pascal Parois, Oxford. Nominated by KW, seconded by Lucy Saunders.
The nomination was accepted with no objections.
3.4. Ordinary Members
3 nominations were received for Ordinary Member positions:
- Lucy Saunders, Bath. Nominated by MW, seconded by CJ.
- Sarah Gurung, Reading. Nominated by JH, seconded by CM.
- Sam Horrell, Liverpool. Nominated by JH, seconded by Ruben da Silva.
As 3 positions were available on the committee, all three nominations were accepted with no objections.
The new YCG committee is therefore comprised as follows:
- Chair: Anna Warren
- Vice Chair: Nick Funnell
- Secretary: Lauren Hatcher
- Webmaster: Pascal Parois
- BSG Rep: Anna Polyakova
- CCG Rep: Helen Mason
- IG Rep: Kate Wittering
- PSG Rep: Anthony Phillips
- Ordinary Members:
- Issy Kirby
- Lucy Saunders
- Sarah Gurung
- Sam Horrell
4. YCG and Outreach
4.1. Recent Activities
The recent outreach collaborations involving the YCG were mostly outlined in the Chairman’s report. CM requested feedback from those YCGs who have been involved in these events, to help tailor and improve events in the future. Also, any ideas for new activities would be beneficial for future events.
4.2. Future Activites
The YCG will be assisting with a BCA led activity at the British Science Festival in Newcastle on 9th – 12th September.
Additionally the BCA will again hold a stall at the Big Bang Fair 2014 in Birmingham next March, and any interested YCG members should contact AW, CM or Lynne Thomas.
5. YCG Finance
The societies current financial position was outlined in the Secretary’s report. Members were asked to let the committee know of any potential funding avenues that might be open to the YCG in particular for the support of the YCG satellite meeting held annually at the BCA Spring Meeting.
After the meeting, a suggestion to investigate funding opportunities from Rolls Royce was put forward.
6. YCG Satellite Meeting 2014, University of Loughbourgh
The next YCG satellite meeting will be held on Monday 7th – Tuesday 8th April 2014, prior to the start of the main BCA Spring Meeting.
YCs are encouraged to submit abstracts for both oral and poster presentations, in the hope of continuing the high standards and quality of research set by previous satellite events.
7. Date of YCG AGM 2014
The next YCG AGM will be held during the YCG Satellite Meeting 2014 at the University of Loughborough. This will most likely be held in the early evening on Monday 7th April.
8. Any Other Current Business
KW advised that the IG Group will hold their Autumn Meeting on 12th – 13th November 2013, at Diamond Light Source. Support is available in particular for YCs to attend this meeting, and details will be available via the IG webpage and from KW via email.
Details of the autumn / winter meetings for the other Groups will be made available to the membership by the committee.
The committee requested that any YCs who do not regularly receive emails from the Group should provide their email address at the end of the meeting, so that an accurate membership email list can be created.
Additionally, CM requested that YCG members keep in touch with their committee and in particular express their views on the work of the Group for the interest of the YC community. This feedback is vital to ensure the committee are working towards the correct goals for YCs as a whole.