Meeting of EACSL, 2006

Date and place: Wednesday, 27. September 2006, in Szeged, Hungary.
Reminder: By decision of the board of EACSL, all enrolled participants of CSL06 are voting members of EACSL.
Present: 34 members of EACSL (list with signatures on a separate sheet).

Agenda

  1. Confirmation of agenda.
    Approved without opposition.
  2. Choice of chairman of meeting.
    Proposal: L. Hella
    Approved without opposition. L. Hella thanks the assembly for choosing him.
  3. Choice of secretary (Minutes of the meeting)
    Proposal: Eyal Rozenberg
    Approved without opposition. E. Rozenberg thanks the assembly for choosing him.
  4. Report on General Meeting 2005 and Accounting
    T. Schwentick corrects his affiliation. Erroneously the minutes give his affiliation as Marburg, but this was wrong then. Furthermore, he moved to Dortmund in 2006.
    With this correction the mintes are approved without opposition.
    The treasurer's and the accountant's report were shown and approved without opposition.
    The treasurer, T. Schwentick, points out that EACSL needs additional income besides the membership fees of the annual conference. The board is asked to find other ways to finance the Ackermann Award.
    The board of EACSL was discharged for 2005.
    The accountants, M. Otto and N. Schweikardt, ask to be replaced as accountants for 2007. J. Adamek (Braunschweig) and A. Durand (Paris) are proposed as new accountants. They are elected without opposition.
  5. Confirmation of the members of the board ( Constitution of EACSL)
    Current members and duration of term. A. Razborov offered to free his seat on the board, or to stay on.

  6. Extension of the members of the board. In accordance with the bylaws of EACSL, we propose to extend the board by two more members. Change of the bylaws: The board consists of 11 members, the president, the vice-president and 9 more members (to be formulated in German accordingly).
    In particular now we would like to extend the board by one elected by the assembly, and one elected ex officio from the board of CiE (Computability in Europe).

    Election of one or two new members: Proposed candidate: Luke Ong and ex officio a member of the board of CiE, likely Barry Cooper or Benedikt Loewe.

    J. Makowsky gives a description of the conference series CiE (Computability in Europe). Their first conferences in 2005 (Amsterdam) and 2006 (Swansea) were very successful, with 300-400 attendees.
    T. Schwentick points out that we have to formulate the German version of the change of the bylaws carefully, in accordance to German law.
    The current board was confirmed without opposition. This includes the extension of A. Razborov's term by one year, till 2007.
    The change in the bylaws was approved without opposition and four abstentions.
    Luke Ong and a to-be-named member of the CiE board were elected without opposition and no abstentions. Luke Ong thanks the assembly for his election.
    It was confirmed in November 2006 by the CiE board, that Benedikt Loewe is their choice for the EACSL board.
  7. Jury of the Ackermann Award 2007 Due to conflict of interest E. Graedel has asked to be replaced.

    Proposal: Next year E. Graedel will be replaced by M. Grohe (Berlin).
    M. Grohe has expressed his willingness.

    The assembly elected Martin Grohe to the jury of the Ackermann Awara, starting 2007, without opposition and two abstentions.
  8. Report on CSL'06 presented by Z. Esik
  9. CSL'07: Presentation of Lausanne: Details,
    Picture, Picture, Picture, Picture, Picture
  10. CSL'08 and CSL'09: Candidates:
    Z. Esik pointed out that the competition for presenting papers was fierce, so the decision of the PC and notification had to be delayed by a few days.
    Z. Esik announces J. Adamek's proposal to publish a special issue of Logical Methods in Computer Science with selected papers from CSL06. Z. Esik agrees to be geust editor for such an issue.
    CSL07 will be collocated with GAMES07 in Lausanne with GAMES07 8-11 September 2007, CSL07 11-15 Septmeber 2007. The assembly discusses length of the overlap of the two conferences, and length of the CSL07. Possibility of parallel sessions within CSL is discussed but generally disfavorably. Parallel sessions CSL/GAMES are seen mor favourably. Recommendation to the organisers of CSL07 and GAMES: Make overlap as large as possible and overall length of CSL07 not too long (if changes are still possible).
    Presentation of candidacy for CSL08: Bologna by S. Martini.
    Presentation of candidacy for CSL08 or CSL09: Coimbra, prepared by R. Kahle and presented by J. Makowsky.
    Discussion of Bologna: Two options a) in town and b) in Bertinoro (30 minutes by bus from Bologna). Assembly favours significantly the out-of-town option.
    Discussion of Coimbra: Not so easily accessible, at least compared to Lausanne and Bologna.
    Proposal (with many seconding): CSL08 in Bologna, CSL09 in Coimbra. Accepted without opposition and two abstentions.
  11. The current situation of EACSL (J.A. Makowsky)
    1. Cooperation with electronic journal LMCS (Logical Methods in Computer Science).

      President of EACSL is on the scientific board
      Publish special issue with selected papers from CSL06
      Guest editors for CSL06: Z. Esik and R. Ramanujam

    2. Cooperation with CiE (Computability in Europe), a series of conferences
      initiated by B. Cooper (Leeds), and B. Loewe (Amsterdam).

      EACSL is an offical sponsor of CiE-07.
      EACSL contributes to cost of and co-selects one invited speaker.

    3. Cooperation with LICS

      Test-of-time Award
      Big Award to be created by some more encompassing body
      Proposal to create SIGLOG within ACM allowing also institutional members.

    4. Cooperation with FOLLI and ESSLI.

      We plan to approach FOLLI to have a CSL-track at ESSLI and further cooperation.

    5. Scientific council of EACSL.

      The council has to be reorganized.

      It contains a list of people who even are not aware of their membership.
      Former board members are for five more years on the council. Other members should be chosen by the EACSL board. The scientific council should participate in discussions initiated by the board. They can also initiate discussion on topics of their choice.

    6. Fees and membership of EACSL

      We propose to add to the 10 EURO annual membership a 10 EURO contribution for the Ackermann Award. So in the future 20 EURO per participant are paid to EACSL. We have to work out a way to distinguish non-members from members at registration.
      Collecting fees from non-attending previous members. We shall try to encourage previous members to renew their membership (10 EURO per year, 40 EURO for 5 years) and to allow for electronic payment of membership. The contribution to Ackermann Award for non-attending members is on a voluntary basis.

  12. The future of EACSL
  13. Varia
The sponsoring of CiE-07 and the contribution of money (1000 EURO) to CiE-07 for a EACSL invited speaker was put to the vote. It was approved without opposition and eight abstentions.
The plan of M. Vardi to create an umbrella organisation for Logic in CS within the ACM, a SIGLOG, was presented and discussed. SIGLOG's main purpose would be the creation of a big prize for Logic in CS. It was met with skepticism.
The president reports: No progress so far concerning cooperation with ESSLLI and FOLLI.
Proposal put to vote: The contribution of each participant of CSL to EACSL is 20 EURO, 10 EURO for membership, and 10 EURO for the Ackermann Award. Approved without opposition and three abstentions.
General discussion on the future of EACSL: Luke Ong asks about cooperation with EATCS. The president admits that no progress was made, due to other priorities. Z. Esik of the EACSL board is also on the board of EATCS. It was agreed to pursue the cooperation both with FOLLI and EATCS further.
Varia: J. Adamek gives a presentation of the electronic journal Logical Methods in Computer Science. In particular he advocates to use this jurnal for post-conference publication of selected papers.
Haifa, 18. March 2007 Signed:
Eyal Rozenberg (Secretary of the general assembly)

Signature:

Johann A. Makowsky (President of EACSL)

Signature: