IRGO Minutes 30 July 1988
MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH GROUP ON OSTRACODA, ON JULY 30, 1988, HELD IN ABERYSTWYTH, WALES, U.K.
Prof. J.E. Hazel was in the chair, Dr. M.C. Keen took the minutes of the meeting in the absence of the Secretary Dr. P. De Deckker, some 60 members attended the afternoon session.
Prof. J.E. Hazel opened the meeting by explaining the function of the IRGO. He then asked the meeting to accept the minutes of the last meeting (copies of which had been made available prior to the meeting) as a true record. Prof. R.F. Lundin proposed that the minutes be accepted as a true record, Dr. Dick van Harten seconded the motion, and it was passed unanimously by the assembly.
The chairman informed the assembly that the venue for the next symposium, in 1991, was no longer available. The Dutch and Belgian members were no longer in a position to be able to organise the meeting in Maastricht and had reluctantly withdrawn their offer. The "reserve" venue of Bordeaux was also no longer available. The only proposal put to the meeting was that of Dr. K.G. Mckenzie for Canberra, Australia, for late July-early August 1991. Dr. McKenzie addressed the meeting and distributed copies of his proposal. The scientific sessions would be planned to last about one week, with possible field excursions to the Palaeozoic of New South Wales, Mesozoic of Western Australia, Tertiary of Victoria and South Australia, Recent of the New South Wales coast, the Great barrier Reef; and a scenic trip to the Northern Territory could be arranged through travel agents. The likely costs (1988 prices) would be A$200 registration (including symposium dinner and publications), A$40-50 per day for accomodation, with field excursions within the range A$100-400. The symposium organisers would probably include Dr. McKenzie, Dr. P. Jones, and Dr. P. De Deckker. The motion that the next meeting of the IRGO be held at Canberra, Australia, was proposed by Dr. I.G. Sohn, seconded by Prof. R.F. Lundin, and passed by the assembly.
There were no firm proposals for the following meeting scheduled for 1994. Prof. Hazel reminded the meeting that it had been past practice to arrange venues 6 years in advance to allow organisation to go ahead. The Dutch and Belgian ostracodologists stated that they hoped to put forward a venue in Belgium, but had not been able to prepare a proposal in time for the meeting. There then followed a discussion on the nature of future meetings. Dr. A Lord suggested we needed to reach a larger audience and needed to attract specialists from other disciplines; he suggested a different format, with single day sessions on precise themes; these could perhaps be published in journals such as the Journal of Micropalaeontology; thus reaching a larger audience as well as producing smaller conference volumes. Other sessions would include talks on any aspect of ostracod or related work and would not be published. Fieldtrips could be organised around workshops on specific topics. He suggested University College London as a possible venue for 1994. He further proposed that if two proposals were put forward for 1994, a vote on them could be organised via the Cypris newsletter. Dr. D.J. Horne suggested joint meetings with other organisations; Dr. E. Kristan-Tollman suggested one possibility would be to join with the Shallow water Tethys meeting to be held in Vienna in 1993 with special reference to the Permian-Triassic boundary. Prof. Hazel argued that joint meetings were already covered by such organisations as the North American Palaeontological Conventionazel H. Prof. R.H. Benson believed we were becoming too inclusive and needed to be more outward-looking, citing the example of the planktonic foraminiferal group which has evolved into a paleoceanographic group. Prof. R.C. Whatley spoke strongly in defence of the present system, and while he agreed with Dr. Lord on the need to be more careful with themes for meetings, would not like to see much change.
Dr. I.G. Sohn showed some slides taken at the first meeting of the ostracod group’ held at Naples 25 years ago.
Prof. Whatley gave a short account on the progress of the Treatise. Certain sections were now well advanced, and a classification was being formulated. He hoped he was not being too optimistic by stating that the Post Palaeozoic part would be completed by 1991. Dr. D.J. Siveter reported on the progress of the Palaeozoic part; a 3 day meeting had been held at Leicester prior to the Aberystwyth Symposium; another meeting had been held at Maastricht in 1986, and a further meeting was planned for Gottingen in 1990. There were no questions from the floor.
The Chairman expressed his thanks on behalf of the IRGO to the Secretary, Dr. P. De Deckker, and to the past Chairman, Prof. R.C. Whatley.
The Chairman then expressed his opinion that the newsletter Cypris was the finest of its kind in the world, and thanked the editor Dr. M. Kontrovitz for all his work. Dr. Kontrovitz informed the assembly that the last part had been posted in June 1988, and the annual cost was now U.S.$3000; funds were guaranteed for a further year, possibly 2 years. He also thanked his predecessor Dr. K. Wouters for his work on the newsletter.
A letter was read to the assembly from Prof. Hanai wishing the meeting well and stating that the proceedings of the 9th Symposium held at Shizuoka in 1985 were now published. Prof. Hanai has now retired from Tokyo University although he does a limited amount of teaching at Osaka Gakuin University.
Dr. A.J. Keij has also retired and Dr. Van Harten informed the assembly that he does not wish further reprints to be sent to him.
The Chairman informed the assembly that contacts with the International Palaeontological Association were being maintained through him.
The chairman then thanked the organisers of the Aberystwyth Symposium for the meeting, in particular Prof. R.C. Whatley and Caroline Maybury, as well as all the students who had helped and other colleagues in the U.K.
The election of the new Chairman and Secretary of the IRGO then proceeded. Three people had been nominated during the Symposium for the position of Chairman (R. Kaesler, E. Kempf, and R. Lundin)., and two for the position of Secretary (A. Honigstein and K. Wouters). Drs. Van Harten and Rosenfeld were appointed as tellers; Prof. Kempf was elected Chairman, and Dr. Wouters Secretary. Prof. Lundin was elected Vice Chairman, the other position of Vice Chairman being occupied by the past Chairman, Prof. Hazel. The Palaeozoic group elected Dr. D. Siveter as Chairman and Prof. Lundin as Secretary.
Prof. Kempf then took the chair. Dr. McKenzie proposed a vote of thanks for the retiring officers which was passed unanimously. Prof. Kempf then expressed his thanks to the assembly for electing him, and closed the meeting.
Michael C. Keen
Acting Secretary.
(Thanks to Dick van Harten for providing these minutes from IRGO archives! )