PSA Association Affairs 75(3)
Prepared by Burke Burnett, PSA Executive Secretary 15 July 2021
PSA Update on the 24th Pacific Science Congress
As previously discussed here, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic continues to prevent the return to normal scientific conference planning or attendance. This has posed unprecedented challenges for the Pacific Science Association and all other scientific organizations that organize and hold meetings – especially international ones.
The 24th Pacific Science Congress (PSC-24) was originally scheduled for July 2020 at the campus of Shantou University in Shantou (Guangdong Province), China. After COVID became a global pandemic, the dates were changed first to late November 2020 (when it was still thought possible that it might be a short-lived phenomenon), and then moved yet again to late June 2021, and then that too became apparent as unrealistic.
We noted a few months ago that “While [PSA] remain[s] optimistic that the rollout of COVID vaccines will soon allow the world to return to something resembling more normal, we believe it will be a slow process without unambiguous, clear lines of what, where, and when constitutes a reasonable expectation of “safe” or “normal”.” That statement continues to be true, and is in no small part a reflection of the fact that the global rollout of vaccines remains very uneven and inequitable.
We announced here recently that the PSA Executive Board and Secretariat met in February 2021 to determine the best path forward, and that we had determined new tentative dates for the PSC-24. Those dates have now been made official.
The 24th Pacific Science Congress will be held from 27 June to 1 July 2022 at Shantou University in Shantou, China (China-Beijing). The Congress will be held in partnership between the China Association of Science and Technology (CAST), Shantou University (STU), and the Pacific Science Association.
The theme of the Congress remains “Articulating Visions of Sustainability in Asia and the Pacific”. Many keynote speakers had already been arranged, and we are working with them to confirm their availability for the 2022 dates. STU will open a brand new campus in December 2021, and so we will be able to enjoy these new facilities (even though the old ones were already quite nice).
More information on the Congress will be available, as always, on the PSA website ( www.pacificscience.org) or the official Congress website (currently psc2020.net, although that address may change for obvious reasons).
PSA Congratulations to China Association for Science and Technology
The China Association for Science and Technology (CAST), which is the Adhering Organization from China-Beijing to PSA, recently conducted its 10th National Congress in May 2021. PSA sent its greetings and congratulations, via letter and video message, to CAST members and to China's science, engineering, and technology community, on their several decades of success, and we reiterated our strong and unstinting commitment to work together through international scientific cooperation and collaboration to address the formidable challenges that still remain.
For more information about the Pacific Science Association please visit our website at http://pacificscience.org/
PSA Individual Membership Application
To order an individual membership to the Pacific Science Association (PSA) please subscribe to Pacific Science. All individual subscribers automatically become members of PSA.
Individual Member Benefits Include:
The quarterly journal Pacific Science
Discounts on PSA Congress and Inter-Congress registration fees
Discounts on PSA publications
Individual membership – $55
You may place your order online at:
https://uhpress.hawaii.edu/title/ps/
Or mail your payment and contact information to:
University of Hawai‘i Press, Journals Division 2840 Kolowalu Street, Honolulu, HI 96822 Tel. 1-808-956-8833 Fax 1-800-650-7811 (Toll-free U.S. and Canada) E-mail: uhpjourn@hawaii.edu
Pacific Science Association Membership Information
The Pacific Science Association is a regional, nongovernmental scientific organization founded in 1920. PSA’s objectives are to advance science and technology in the Pacific region by increasing interdisciplinary collaboration; to build capacity in science and technology; to encourage science for public policy and the common good; and to promote the “science of the Pacific” and Pacific Island involvement in regional and international scientific activities.
Through Congress and Inter-Congress meetings and ongoing scientific Working Groups, PSA provides an interdisciplinary platform for scientists to discuss and review common concerns and priorities in the region. PSA activities link scientists from developed countries with those from developing countries, including the archipelagic and more remote states of the Pacific. PSA facilitates research initiatives on critical emerging issues for the region, such as biodiversity, climate change, infectious diseases, and the social implications of globalization, in which science can provide crucial information in a way that is required by both society and policymakers to make sound and informed decisions. PSA is a Scientific Associate of the International Council for Science (ICSU).
National members of the Association are Adhering Organizations (e.g., the national academy of science or a like body) from a country or defined geographic area within or bordering the Pacific Ocean, or with scientific interests in the region. Individual memberships to PSA are conferred automatically via subscription to Pacific Science.
The Pacific Science Association is governed by the Pacific Science Council, which meets every two years and elects the PSA Executive Board. The Executive Board is the implementing body of PSA and meets annually to set policy and oversees the general activities of the PSA. The PSA Secretariat is responsible for running the day-to-day affairs of the Association and is based at the Bishop Museum in Honolulu, Hawai‘i.
The PSA Secretariat is located at:
E-mail: info@pacificscience.org
Website: http://www.pacificscience.org
