Annual General Meeting 2005

MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
Held at the University of Melbourne
Thursday, 25th August, 2005, commencing at 4.00pm

1. Present

J. Traeger, R. O'Hair, M. Sheil, P. Cullis, G. Khairallah, P. James, H. Lioe, H. Patsiouras, S. Wimala, Y. Xu, A. Lam.


2. Apologies

Noel Davies, Kevin Downard, Stephen Blanksby, Stewart Walker, Craig Trennery, Z. Harvey, S. Wilson.


3. Minutes of the Previous Meeting

The minutes of the 2005 General Meeting held at the Stamford Plaza Hotel, Glenelg, Thursday, 3rd February, 2005 and previously circulated, were accepted as a true and correct record of the meeting. (M. Sheil/R. O'Hair)


4. Business Arising from the Previous Meeting

See Items 7 and 8.


5. Society Reports
1. President's Report
   
   John Traeger acknowledged the success of the ANZSMS conference in Adelaide in February 2005 and thanked the conference organizers, in particular Stewart Walker. He reported that planning for the ANZSMS21 Conference to be held in New Zealand in 2007 was underway.

   Congratulations were offered to Professor John Bowie following his recent award of an IMSS Thomson Medal. Margaret Sheil proposed a vote of thanks to Richard O'Hair and Stephen Blanksby for their work in preparing the documentation in support of the nomination.

   The President noted that there were two forthcoming events of interest to ANZSMS members. During October, Professor Frank Turecek will be giving a series of mass spectrometry lectures at universities around Australia. Members will be provided with further information at a later date. The three-day Halpern Symposium, which is jointly sponsored by the RACI and ANZSMS, is to be held at the University of Wollongong from 28-30 November. Further details can be obtained from the Symposium web site.

   John Traeger offered his thanks to Kevin Downard for his contributions to the ANZSMS as Secretary over the past four years.

2. Treasurer's Report
   
   John Traeger presented the Treasurer's Report on behalf of Stephen Blanksby. M. Sheil/P. Cullis moved that the report be accepted.

3. ANZSMS20 Report
   
   John Traeger presented the ANZSMS20 Conference Report on behalf of Stewart Walker.

4. ANZSMS21 Report
   
   John Traeger presented a short report on behalf of Murray McEwan. He indicated that a small organizing committee has been formed and has chosen to hold the conference at Canterbury University (Christchurch) from Sunday 21st January to Thursday 25th January, 2007. Low cost accommodation will be available at the University and two motel complexes in the vicinity have been block booked for the conference dates.


6. Election of Office Bearers

The following members were elected to the committee:

John Traeger	President	(R. O'Hair/M. Sheil)
Richard O'Hair	Vice-President	(J. Traeger/G. Khairallah)
Simin Maleknia	Secretary	(J. Bowie/K. Downard)
Stephen Blanksby	Treasurer	(M. Sheil/J. Beck)
Margaret Sheil	Committee Member	(J. Beck/S. Blanksby)
Carolyn McKinlay	Committee Member	(J. Traeger/M. Sheil)
Stewart Walker	Committee Member	(J. Traeger/R. O'Hair)


There being no further nominations, all of the above were elected unopposed.

Carolyn McKinlay was reappointed as the Public Officer.

Margaret Sheil was reappointed as the ANZSMS representative on the IMSS Governing Committee.


7. ANZSMS Medal

Margaret Sheil made a presentation of three possible ANZSMS awards:

1. "Gold Medal" (to be called the ANZSMS Medal) for distinguished contributions to mass spectrometry. This is to be a 'late-career' award, awarded every two years, provided there is a suitable candidate.

2. "Silver Medal" (for the existing Morrison Lecture). This is to be a 'mid-career' award, awarded at each ANZSMS Conference.

3. "Bronze Medal" (to be named after a yet to be decided eminent mass spectrometrist) for promising researchers no more than 10 years since their most recent academic qualification. This is to be an 'early-career' award, awarded every two years.

It was proposed that the gold and bronze awards be decided by a specially formed committee, including the ANZSMS President and invited international scientists. The silver award is to continue to be decided by the ANZSMS executive committee.

Richard O'Hair and Margaret Sheil have agreed to finalise the draft wording for the awards.


8. IMSC19 Conference Bid

There was general support for placing an Australian bid for the IMSC19 Conference. It was suggested that ANZSMS reserve funds could be used to underwrite the Conference bid. Margaret Sheil offered to investigate which Australian States might be able to offer financial incentives for subsidising the Conference bid.


9. On-Line Credit Card Transactions

John Traeger noted that an on-line credit card facility needed to be in place by the end of 2005 to facilitate renewal of annual ANZSMS memberships. Margaret Sheil will investigate possible providers of such a service.


10. Corporate Membership Fees

John Traeger noted that there had been no increase in Corporate membership rates when Individual memberships were increased from $15 to $25. He proposed that annual Corporate membership rates be increased from $30 to $50. This was endorsed by the meeting. (J. Traeger/R. O'Hair)


11. Any Other Business

There being no further business, the President thanked those who had attended the meeting.

The meeting closed at 5.40 pm.


Richard O'Hair
Vice President