RC34 Board Meeting, 16-17 February 2002, Walddorf, Germany
Present: Board: LAC, HH, JH, LKN, SK and CF (Hispanic Coordinator);
Advisory Board: CL, ST
Minutes
1. Minutes of the last official Board meeting (Milan, September 2001)
Accepted
2. Matters arising from Milan minutes (unless addressed below)
None
3. Brisbane World Congress: finalising the RC34 programme
The Board wished to place on record its thanks to LAC for all the work she had invested to date as Programme Coordinator, emphasising that RC34’s programme has benefited greatly from the high standard of conceptual and practical preparation and management on her part.
Reminders on deadlines
• Everyone must be registered with the Congress Secretariat by 28 February 2002.
• Everyone must have paid their Congress participation fees by 30 April 2002.
Those who do not pay by this date will not appear in the official programme book and will therefore not be included in the RC34 programme, even if the session organiser has previously accepted an abstract. Formal registration and payment are the preconditions for participation at the Congress AND for inclusion in the official programme book. In addition, RC34 does NOT support the practice of payment of Congress fees in return for appearance in the programme book. Counting abstracts as publications for CV and career purposes does not conform to the principles and standards of the international scientific community.
– Final session allocations/transfers and consideration of additional abstracts
Session coordinators will receive an updated set of documents as soon as possible after the Board meeting. This is the information that LAC will forward to the ISA Congress Secretariat, which they will use to crosscheck when individuals register.
The final deadline (15 February 2002) for proposals has now expired. No further proposals will be considered and session organisers should not accept any proposals arriving with them from now on. In exceptional cases, session organisers must consult with the Programme Coordinator and abide by the decision taken.
– Assuring formal acceptances
Session organisers should issue Email acceptances to all paper-givers included in the updated session lists sent out after the Board meeting, unless they have already done so.
Session organisers should also send a formal acceptance letter by post as soon as possible – this is important for applying for visas. LAC will send a standard text for everyone to use. However, it will be impossible to send out such letters if paper-givers do not provide their full postal addresses to session organisers (several have not done so despite explicit requests and reminders).
– Session planning proposals
All lead organisers except CW (Session 4.7) have delivered in written or verbal form their provisional session plans. The Board discussed all plans and LAC will forward the outcomes to session organisers.
– Programme schedule and sequence of sessions
The Board agreed the following schedule, which LAC will forward to the ISA Congress Secretariat:
Mo 8 July 13:30-15:15 Session 0*
*New opening session: LAC keynote, chaired by OS and with a panel discussion of 4 – 6 participants drawn from those accepted in other session – details will be forwarded to session organisers together with the updated session lists
Mo 8 July 15:30-17:15 Session 1.2 (Intergenerational relations)
Mo 8 July 20:00-21:45 Session 1.1 (Social/cultural construction of youth)
Tue 9 July 13:30-15:15 Session 3.5 (Inclusions and exclusions)
Tue 9 July 15:30-17:15 Session 3.6 (Old and new economies)
Tue 9 July 20:00-21:45 Session 5.10 (Life management)
Wed 10 July 13:30-15:15 Session 2.4 (Responses to social change)
Wed 10 July 15:30-17:15 Session 2.3 (Youth, power and knowledge)
Wed 10 July 20:00-21:45 Business Meeting and Board Elections
Thur 11 July 13:30-15:15 Session 4.8 (Hybrid identities and plural worlds)
Thur 11 July 15:30-17:15 Session 5.9 (Time, space, place)
Thur 11 July 20:00-21:45 Session 13 (Research programmes/networks)
Fri 12 July 13:30-15:15 Session 4.7 (Participation and citizenship)
Fri 12 July 15:30-17:15 Session 11 (Past, present and future)
Fri 12 July 20:00-21:45 Session 12 (Australian youth research)
– Language issues
• Session organisers should all consider the issues raised in the guidelines document sent to them recently by LAC, and, together with paper-givers themselves, agree on practical solutions, given the lack of resources for professional implementation of ISA policy. The Board has agreed:
• Translation assistance between EN-ES-FR will be provided in each session so that participants may ask questions in their preferred language, which can then be translated as required. We shall set up a rota of competent Board and Committee members (and other programme participants as willing) to ensure this facility at each session.
• If the original abstract was submitted in ES or FR, an EN version of the abstract must also be made available. For the official programme book, the ISA has agreed to ensure translations of abstracts submitted in ES or FR if overall numbers warrant this. However, this will only become clear in early May, once the final Congress payment deadline has passed. Therefore, session organisers who cannot read ES or FR should request paper-givers in their sessions that have sent in abstracts in these languages to provide them with at least a summary of their abstract in EN. Paper-givers who are unable to do so for competence or financial reasons should be referred to LAC, who will find a practical solution.
• We know that a number of paper-givers from Russia have poor command of spoken English. Session 1.1 (lead organiser OS) is likely to be particularly affected. LKN will negotiate practical solutions with the assistance of Julia Zubok.
• At present, the following sessions are likely to require creative multi-lingual solutions:
Session 3.6 (Lead organiser JH) both ES and FR
Session 5.9 (Lead organiser CL) both ES and FR
Session 5.10 (Lead organiser HW) FR
Session 13 (Lead organiser LC) ES
Session organisers should negotiate proactively with paper-givers on this point.
– Encouraging paper-givers to become RC34 members
Current official ISA records (membership list forwarded by ISA HQ on 11 February 2002) show that the majority of prospective paper-givers in our programme are not members of RC34. This is also the case for some session organisers.
We know that there may be inconsistencies between the ISA lists and our own lists maintained by CW. These can and must be clarified as soon as possible.
Action:
• CW to match her list with that of ISA HQ, follow up and resolve the differences.
• LM to send to ISA HQ, CW and LAC a list of those Committee members who have paid their RC34 fees directly to him since 1998: These funds will have been paid directly into the RC34 account in Vienna, but it is possible that ISA HQ has not received the information needed to update the official membership lists. LM should indicate which members are regular members (i.e. also members of the ISA) and which are affiliated members (i.e. members of RC34 only).
In addition, the Board agreed:
• Session organisers should strongly encourage paper-givers in their session to take out membership in RC34 when they register for the Congress – which is when many will also take out or renew their ISA membership overall. LAC will forward an updated resume of the session participants that indicates latest known membership status.
• All session organisers MUST be members of good standing in the ISA and in RC34 by 1 May 2002 at the very latest (the final Congress deadline for registration and payment).
– Board and session organisers: travel and accommodation plans; meeting point in Brisbane
• After looking at the hotels offered through the Congress Secretariat, it was agreed that LKN would make rapid inquiries with her travel agent to see if other suitable options at a lower price might be available. She will inform the Board, Advisory Board and session organisers of the outcome. It is possible to register for the Congress without booking a hotel at the same time – accommodation can be booked later.
• LKN will also see whether her travel agent can offer a reduced rate for a block travel booking, flying out from London.
• There will be a get-together for all RC34 programme participants on Sunday evening, 7 July, from 20:30. The venue will be made known nearer the time.
4. Elections 2002
– Nominations
Several nominations have already been received by CW in her capacity as Elections Officer.
– Procedures and timetable
It has become clear that many Committee members have not received the notification for nominations sent out in December 2001 by CW. This appears to have been due to technical problems with Email channels. In addition, the text of the letter may not have been fully clear, given the changes to the RC34 Statutes that were accepted at the last World Congress in Montreal in 1998.
The Board therefore decided to accept the nominations received to date by CW (as long as those nominated have accepted and they are eligible to stand), but to re-issue the call for nominations.
In conformity with the Statutes, the deadlines are:
20 February 2002 Letter of invitation to nominate to all Committee members (as on the ISA list dated 11 February 2002) by Email (or post if no Email address); accompanied by the list of all members in good standing and including the relevant extracts from the Statutes; and including a nomination form that can be duplicated as needed by recipients and returned to CW by post (personally signed by the proposer and the nominee).
Action: LAC will stand in for CW (illness).
12 April 2002 Deadline for receipt by CW of signed nomination forms and accompanying information (short cv of the nominee). This information will be posted on the IBYR site after the deadline has passed.
1 May 2002 Ballot forms to be sent out to all members in good standing by CW.
26 June 2002 Deadline for receipt by CW of all postal ballots. Members attending the World Congress in Brisbane may vote in person at the election during the business meeting on Wednesday 10 July at 20:00.
Activity Plan
3.1 Events since September 2001
§ M.A. Youth Policy and Youth Research – progress report (University of Lleida)
CF, LAC and CL reported on the continuing success of this course, which is scientifically co-sponsored by RC34.
Board and Committee members are invited to consider the possibilities for developing the course into a European M.A. in Youth Studies. This will be discussed in practical terms at the next Board meeting in May 2002.
CF will forward the M.A. website address to Board members; HH will enter the site as a link for IBYR and NYRI.
3.2 Forward planning
§ Youth and the Information Society. Globalisation and Anti-Globalisation in Europe and Latin America, 20–25 May 2002, Lleida and Barcelona
CF explained that resources are available to cover the travel and accommodation costs of LAC, CL and an RC34 Committee member (J. M. Pais), all of whom teach on the M.A. course in Lleida. Funds to cover accommodation costs of further RC34 Board members may well become available after negotiation with the Generalitat de Catalunya, the main financial sponsors of this event. It was decided to hold – if possible – the preparatory meeting for the Moscow seminar (see below) concurrently with the Lleida seminar, which would enable the participation of a wider group, including our Russian partners.
The working language is Spanish, but interpretation into English will be available in plenary sessions.
The seminar also offers the opportunity to make links between RC34 and the recently established network of Latin American childhood and youth researchers (REIJAL).
The seminar programme foresees a time slot to hold Board meetings of the two networks involved (RC34 and REIJAL).
§ 4th Young youth researchers training seminar, 9–14 September 2002, Moscow
The Board was delighted to hear that the Council of Europe’s European Youth Fund has awarded 17,000€ to RC34, in cooperation with the Russian Sociological Society (ROS) and the Russian National Youth Council, to hold this seminar. Congratulations to LKN, who spearheaded the application process and who will direct this event on behalf of all the participating organisations.
RC34 would also like to extend its sincere thanks to ROS, who have agreed to donate an additional US$2,000, and to Hart Group Ltd, which has donated UK£200 and whose Managing Director, Chris Hart, enabled us to present a budget to high professional standards (on which we were explicitly congratulated by the Council of Europe).
In its turn, the RC34 Board agreed to donate a further 500€ to this venture.
HH proposes to arrange for the additional participation of 15-20 doctoral students participating in the Nordic-Baltic youth research network.
As noted above, it was also decided to hold the preparatory meeting in Lleida rather than in Moscow, as originally planned. This will both cost less and will save precious time in team members’ work schedules.
LKN will forward the application documents to all Board and Committee members involved.
LAC/SK will draft an application form together with a list of selection criteria as a matter or urgency.
• 6th International Symposium on Asian Youth Studies, 15–20 November 2002, Hangzhou/P.R.China
We have once more been invited to send a delegation to this important event. Participants must find their own travel funds, but the organisers will cover accommodation and food during the Symposium. Committee members who wish to join the RC34 delegation should send abstracts to LAC by 30 March 2002. These will be forwarded as a group to the symposium organisers. Details of the symposium will be posted on IBYR shortly.
To date, the following Committee members have expressed interest in participating in the Symposium as members of the RC34 delegation:
LAC, HH, SK, CL, JH, CF; Petar-Emil Mitev (Bulgaria) and Pam Nilan (Australia).
We encourage Committee members to consider joining in on this initiative.
6. Publication projects
History of RC34 brochure
LKN reported that she has almost completed a first draft of the text based on the information available to her. When LKN circulates her draft to the Board and Advisory Board, everyone is asked to fill in gaps, add more relevant items, and make general comments. In particular, Petar-Emil Mitev, Sybille Hübner-Funk, Ola Stafseng and Lynne Chisholm (past and current RC34 presidents) should provide information and additions to the text. SHF is already working on her contribution to this initiative. Sylvia Trnka, as longstanding RC34 Organisational Secretary and now member of the Advisory Board, will also look carefully at the text to optimise factual accuracy.
It was decided that the texts received/planned on overviews of youth research in different parts of the world should be included in the book project (see below). The ‘history brochure’ should return to its original, more focused concept.
The Board wished to place on record its thanks to LKN for the consistency and energy with which she had pursued this initiative and kept it alive and well over the past two years.
Book project: progress report
HH will produce a revised outline proposal based on comments received from Board members since the Aylesbury meeting in spring 2001. It will be proposed to selected publishers before the World Congress, to avoid the rush of publication proposals that will ensure after this event.
The review committee for contributions to this volume will be: HH and GH (volume editors), LAC, CL and/or CF, DE, LKN.
Family Forms and the Young Generation in Europe (Milan, September 2001)
ST reported that the EU-financed Vienna Family Observatory will soon produce a report that includes revised and edited versions of the conference plenary papers, together with an synthesis overview and an introduction jointly prepared by LAC, CL and Prof. Ritter on behalf of the three sponsoring organisations.
The best of the papers presented in the conference workshops will be considered by the new journal European Societies, for which CW has taken over the editorship.
7. AOB
CF has prepared and sent out a letter in Spanish in the interests of recruiting new members from Spain, Portugal and Latin/South America. One serious problem is that many Latin/South American countries are classified as Category B by the ISA, but this no longer reflects the economic situation, which has deteriorated in many cases, sometimes dramatically (for example, currently Argentina).
LAC received an invitation to a meeting of the WTO Task Force against sexual exploitation of children in tourism, which was passed on to RC53 (Sociology of Childhood) via ST.
LKN urged all Board and Committee members who would be interested in expert consultancy contracts in the fields of youth, education and social policy at international level to forward cvs for consideration by Hart Group Ltd (via Lyudmilanurse1@cs.com).
8. Date and location of next meeting
University of Lleida, alongside the Europe-Latin American workshop (20-25 May 2002). Further details to follow nearer the time.