June 2004: fruitful meetings of the IIR’s statutory committees

Here are some highlights of the annual meetings of the IIR's statutory bodies (Management Committee, Science and Technology Council [STC] and Executive Committee): Strategic Plan of the IIR Four years after having adopted its Strategic Plan, the IIR has revisited this key guiding document. A committee, chaired by Arne Bredesen (Norway), met on May 14-15, 2004. The members are: Gerald Groff (USA), Eckhard Groll (USA), Robert Heap (UK), David Tanner (Australia), Ruzhu Wang (China), an observer, Henk van der Ree (President of the Executive Committee), along with 2 ex-officio members: Didier Coulomb and François Billiard, Director-Elect and Director of the IIR respectively. The committee's report was presented to the statutory committees. All 3 committees devoted ½ -day discussions to the report, and then approved it. The four major recommendations embodied in the report were adopted: 1. to work in concert with Delegates of Member Countries and national committees for the IIR in order to promote the IIR and its services at governmental and national organization levels; 2. to work with Delegates and national committees for the IIR in order to identify areas of synergism with national organizations and to set up partnerships where appropriate, with the emphasis on services and mutual benefits; 3. to undertake, at STC level, high-priority projects, including: -establish a publications sub-committee; -develop and regularly update a list of research priorities in the fields of cryogenics, refrigeration and air conditioning, with a view to advising governments, national and international organizations, research centres and the industrial sector; -promote theme-oriented conferences; -develop and regularly update a catalogue of research institutions; -prepare a listing of research projects and programmes underway; -review the role of commission members and the nature of their involvement in IIR activities; -review the effectiveness of partnership agreements; 4. to initiate urgent actions in order to enhance the IIR's involvement of young scientists. Meeting of the Executive Committee 31 countries were represented at the meeting of the Executive Committee on June 12, 2004, in Paris. This is a good score compared with 2001 (26 countries) and 2002 (27 countries). In 2003, 34 countries were represented at the Executive Committee meeting in Washington DC. This higher attendance, the year of the Congress, is due to the organization of the General Conference once every 4 years during the International Congress of Refrigeration. The International Journal of Refrigeration (IJR) Hein Auracher, Editor-in-Chief of the IJR, gave a presentation illustrating the highly positive evolution of the IJR. Hein Auracher highlighted the excellent citation impact factor of the IJR and emphasized that in 2003 172 articles from 35 countries had been submitted — a 27% increase compared with 2002. Lecture by Prof. Clark Bullard (US) Clark Bullard, President of Commission B2 (Refrigerating equipment) of the STC gave a remarkable lecture on June 11, 2004, on "Transcritical CO2 Systems: Recent Progress and New Challenges". The 130 participants enjoyed this lecture on state-of-the-art technology. Following the lecture, François Billiard gave a visual presentation retracing highlights at the IIR since 1999: contact iifiir@iifiir.org for copies of Clark Bullard's lecture (French and English versions are available) and François Billiard's presentation. The 22nd International Congress of Refrigeration A delegation led by Mr Pan Qiusheng (Delegate of China to the IIR), Prof. Yu Bingfeng, Mr Qiu Zhongyue and Mr Jing Huaqian attended the meetings of all 3 statutory committees in order to present salient features of the preparation of the IIR congress to be held in Beijing, China, on August 21-26, 2007. Science and Technology Council actions The STC reviewed future actions and those already underway. Four IIR conferences and several IIR-co-sponsored conferences are scheduled to take place in 2005 and a set of Guidelines for Organizers of IIR Conferences, prepared by Susan Phalippou, was adopted by the STC — these guidelines are designed to facilitate the task of organizers and to encourage IIR member countries to hold IIR conferences. Five new working parties had defined terms of reference, programmes, objectives and deliverables: Name of the Working Party (WP):President WP on Mitigation of Emissions of Greenhouse Gases in Refrigeration:Per Lundqvist (Sweden) WP on Data and Models for Refrigeration and Freezing of Foods:B. Nicolai (Belgium) WP on Cold Chain Optimization:N. Amos (New Zealand) WP on Magnetic Refrigeration:P. Egolf (Switzerland) WP on Refrigerating System Safety:L. Rolfsman (Sweden) A working party on the Cold Chain in Warm Countries is about to launch its activities. All readers of the Newsletter who are interested in taking part in these working parties are invited to contact the IIR: iifiir@iifiir.org The French version of a course on Refrigeration and Preservation of Fruit and Vegetables in CD-ROM form is on sale: iifiir@iifiir.org The English version is under preparation. Other courses will be available soon. Management Committee: election of Mr Mbesse Bolomiki Mr Philippe Mbesse Bolomiki was unanimously elected member of the Management Committee, which now has representatives from 4 continents: Africa, America, Asia and Europe. These fruitful meetings have enabled the IIR to plot its course of action for the second half of 2004 and the entire year 2005.