ECM 120 was held on Sunday, April
19 at Hotel Das Weitzer, in Graz, Austria. In his report, the President of the
Union, Mariano Anderle gave an overview on his Actions concerning the Union and
he also announced that, starting September 2015, he will act as the Scientific
Attaché for the Italian Government at the Italian Embassy in Hanoi, Vietnam. He
stressed that this two years Appointment would in no way interfere with the top
priority he promised to give to IUVSTA matters during his presidential period
giving more opportunities for enlarging the international relation of the
Union. The Secretary General, Christoph Eisenmenger‐Sittner expressed his
thanks to the Croatian Vacuum Society for organizing an excellent ECM 119 and
also for hosting a memorable ICTF 16 in Dubrovnik. Thanks were also expressed
to the Austrian Vacuum Society for providing the excellent facilities in which
ECM 120 was held as well as for the flawless organization.
As
in the next ECMs several other exciting proposals can be anticipated, a major
point of discussion was to give the Scientific Director more financial
flexibility for funding events within the triennial financial framework. In ECM
120 and AGM 03 which immediately followed, the President proposed a motion to
allow the Treasurer to modify annual budgets by transfer of sums of money
between budget lines, which was carried unanimously by a show of hands in both
meetings. On next point on the agenda, the President announced that the
application for Membership from the Union of Physicists in Bulgaria was in good
order adding that they had applied for one share. He proposed granting them
Provisional Membership so that they could attend the Union’s meeting but
without voting rights until the General Meeting in Busan where their application
would be considered. This proposal received unanimous approval.
Finally, the Venue and date of ECM 122 was decided. There were two bids for ECM
122, one from Portugal and one from Argentina. The venue was decided by a
secret vote, which turned out to be quite close (20 votes for Portugal, 16 for
Argentina). According to this result, ECM 122 will take place in Braga,
Portugal, from Friday, April 15 to Sunday, April 17, 2016. Because of the close
vote it was also recommended to approach the Argentinean member Society to re‐
submit their bid during the next triennium, favorably for a meeting around
October or November.