Minutes of the General Assembly Meeting
International Society for the History of East Asian Science, Technology, and Medicine (ISHEASTM)
* Time: 14:00-15:20 P.M., 9 July 2015
* Place: Auditorium of the École des hautes études en sciences sociales, 105 Boulevard Raspail, Paris, France
* The meeting took place during the 14th International Conference for the History of Science in East Asia (ICHSEA).
- Opening
Secretary Jeff Jian-Ping CHEN called the meeting to order at 14:00 P.M., President Prof. Jianjun MEI opened the meeting.
2. Minutes of Previous Meeting
Secretary Jeff Jian-Ping CHEN briefed the minutes of the 2011 assembly and received no comments or objections from the current Assembly. The detailed minutes have been pre-circulated. The Assembly approved the minutes unanimously.
3. Working Reports by the Outgoing Officers
The President, MEI Jianjun, reported the Society’s work during the years of 2011-2015. He began by introducing the members of the current board and their responsibilities. He especially thanked the Secretary for organization of the participation of Society members at the 2013 ICHST in Manchester, to the Treasurer for keeping the books in surplus and reacting promptly to all requests, to the Vice-President SHI Yunli and to Catehrine JAMI, who has been very supportive as Secretary General of the IUHPS-DHST.
His report included:
(1) President MEI highlighted the successful participation of Society members at the 2013 ICHST in Manchester, where the Society in its capacity as the East Asia Commission of IUHPS-DHST organized eight symposia attended by many scholars from other areas, and the meeting of the Commission was also well attended, contributing to the Society’s visibility. IUHPS-DHST provides a yearly grant to the Society, which is mainly used for subsidies for young researchers travelling to the Society’s meetings.
(2) President MEI reported on the Zhu Kezhen Award, created thanks to the generosity of the Institute for the History of Natural Sciences, Chinese Academy of Science in Beijing, during the tenure of its previous director Liu Dun. The Zhu Kezhen awards are given to young scholars for excellent papers published within the past three years. The award nominees were evaluated by an awarding committee of several outstanding scholars, under the leadership of Professor Francesca BRAY. The committee recommendations were accepted and will be announced later in the meeting.
(3) The society’s Journal EASTM: It is because of the editor Hans-Ulrich Vogel’s untiring efforts that the society enjoys financial support by the German Research Foundation, DFG, in addition to individual and library subscriptions. Professor Ulrich, who delivered his report in absence, suggested sending a formal letter to DFG expressing our gratitude for its support. The journal is now available online, including back issues. Enough articles are now in store for the forthcoming issues through the end of 2016. Professor Ulrich expressed his thanks to all his collaborators.
(4) The Society website has been migrated by Vice-President SHI to a new address www.isheastm.org and managed throughout the past four years. With the help of assistants from the University of Science and Technology in Hefei, China, a platform for the publication of members’ research has been created.
(5) The membership is increasing, with more than 300 members attending the present conference. This has also raised the contribution to the Society’s treasury. The Society is in financial surplus and will continue to be able to support young scholars thanks to the funds.
Professor MEI concluded his report by thanking the local organizing committee, headed by Catherine JAMI, Frederic OBRINGER and Caroline BODOLEC for their immense efforts to prepare the conference, select a suitable venue, organize an attractive supporting program, and direct a devoted staff of helpers on the campus. He reiterated his gratitude to other board members for making a successful term.
Professor MEI’s report was unanimously approved.
Treasurer’s report: Professor Caroline BODOLEC reported the financial state of the society as healthy. She explained that the Conference and Society bank accounts have not been technically separated, but that her report correctly reflects the accounting items of the Society separately. The total income was 31,364 thousand euro, the expenditure 29,176 euro. The balance of years 2011-2015 was a surplus of 2187.91 euro. Individual subscriptions from the 14th ICHSEA exceeded 16,000 euro. The report was approved unanimously.
4. Presentation of the Zhu Kezhen Award
The award was presented by Professor LIM Jongtae on behalf of the Award Committee, President MEI, Professor XU Fengxian of the IHNS, and Secretary CHEN. Secretary CHEN introduced the award certificates and Citations of Merit prepared for the awardees.
The awardees are Jung LEE from the Academia Sinica, Taiwan, CHU Longfei from the University of Science and Technology, China, and Michael STANLEY-BAKER from the Max Planck Institute, Germany. As Dr STANLEY-BAKER could not come to Paris due to family reasons, his colleague CHEN Kaijun received the award on his behalf.
5. History of the Society on its 25th Anniversary
Catherine JAMI presented a short history of the Society based on her personal memories and material she has collected for this purpose. She appealed to all members to help establish a lasting collection of historical material related to the Society, and to sign a greeting card to Professor Nathan SIVIN, one of the founding members of the Society.
6. Presentation of Honorary Lifetime Members
Secretary CHEN thanked Catherine JAMI for her presentation and announced the creation of Honorary Lifetime Memberships for distinguished scholars of the Society, whose achievements were presented by President MEI. The four recipients of the honorary lifetime memberships are Professors Christopher CULLEN, KIM Yung Sik, LIU Dun and Paul UNSCHULD.
7. Introducing the new Board of Officers
Secretary CHEN proceeded with the introduction of the new Board of Officers of the Society: President Marta HANSON, Johns Hopkins University. Vice President Alexei VOLKOV, National Tsing-Hua University, Taiwan. Secretary Jiří HUDEČEK, Charles University, Czech Republic. Treasurer Florence BRETELLE-ESTABLET, SPHERE team (UMR 7219), CNRS & Université Paris Diderot.
The new President Professor Marta HANSON read out a short statement, promising service to the Society and appealing on Society members to support its activity.
8. Presentation on the Venue of 15th ICHSEA (Chonbuk National University, Jeonju, South Korea, Professor SHIN Dong Won)
President HANSON invited Professor SHIN Dong Won to introduce the proposed venue for the 15th ICHSEA at Chonbuk National University in Jeonju, South Korea, in 2019. Professor SHIN screened a short film introducing South Korea, Chonbuk National University and its research on the history of East Asian Science.
9.-10. Other business and comments + Adjournment
Since there were no comments or requests for further information, Professor CHEN proclaimed the General Assembly adjourned.
Recorded by
Jiří Hudeček