ISI President and ISI Director’s Message – April 2012
At the end of March, the ISI Executive Committee (EC) met in Hong Kong. We had excellent meetings with Mrs. Lily Ou-Yang, Hong Kong Commissioner for Census and Statistics, and the enthusiastic team of the Local Organising Committee for the 2013 ISI World Statistics Congress in Hong Kong.
ISI President Jae C Lee gives tulips to Mrs. Lily Ou-Yang
Mrs. Lily Ou-Yang informed us about the progress in the organisation of the Congress and unveiled some of the special events and plans for social gatherings for the participants in Hong Kong. A visit to the famous Convention Centre with its superb views over Hong Kong Harbour completed the picture.
Hong Kong Convention Centre
At the same time, the Scientific Programme Committee, chaired by Xuming He and with Kai Ng, Local Programme Committee Chair, met in Hong Kong. With enthusiasm, expertise and hard work, they succeeded in determining the scientific programme for the invited paper sessions. All those who have submitted a proposal for an IPS will soon receive the information about the status of the application. Also, the development of the WSC theme Youth is becoming more concrete. 'Youth' will be the leitmotiv for the WSC and we have seen many proposals for sessions that are linked to this theme.
The EC itself went through a lengthy agenda. One item that is always high on the list concerns the acquisition of ISI members. The new category 'regular members' is paying off as we have received many applications for this type of membership. We have set an ambitious goal of 250 regular members by the end of 2012 and we will intensify the recruitment for regular membership. It goes without saying that the category of the elected members remains crucial for the ISI as well as the institutional membership. If you want to revitalize the ISI, please do so by recruiting new regular and elected members!
An initiative strongly supported by the ISI concerns the International Year of Statistics 2013. At the time of writing this message, already 300 associations, universities and organisations from 55 countries have registered themselves through the website showing their interest in celebrating the International Year of Statistics 2013. It shows broad support of the initiative's goals:
The ISI is an active member of the Steering Committee and we are open to any suggestions you may have for the celebration of the 2013 year.
It is of vital importance that the ISI reaches its members and the wider ISI community by several means. From May onwards you will receive the electronic e-mail messages with news items in a new format, including more information in the body text. This will add value to the messages you receive from the ISI Permanent Office.
The Executive Committee and the Council will meet in July at the ISTAT office in Rome. Also the ISI General Assembly will be formally called together there, although this General Assembly is only a formal requirement by Dutch law. The important items will be kept for the General Assembly in Hong Kong in 2013. In July, ISI members are formally asked to approve the Annual Report 2011. However, we do not expect members to come to Rome for this one agenda item and therefore we will organise an electronic consultation about the Annual Report before the July meeting. In that manner, we ensure that all members can have their say about this report without travelling to Rome!
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