International Congresses of Dipterology

All serving Council Members attended the virtual meeting: Rudolf Meier (Chair), Daniel Bickel (Vice-Chair), Ashley H. Kirk-Spriggs (Secretary/Treasurer), Dalton de Souza Amorim, Xiaolin Chen, Netta Dorchin, Stephen D. Gaimari, Valery Korneyev, Carlos José Einicker Lamas, Kazuhiro Masunaga, Erica McAlister, Thomas Pape, Shaun Winterton, Adrian R. Plant and Jeffrey Skevington.

There were no apologies for absence as the meeting was fully attended by all 15 Council Members.

1. Approval of minutes of business meetings at ICD9 (25/28 November 2018)
   Minutes of the previous Council meetings held on the 25th and 28th November 2018 at ICD9 (Windhoek, Namibia), as prepared by the Secretary/Treasurer and posted on the Council’s website (http://www.nadsdiptera.org/ICD/Icd9min.htm) were approved. Stephen Gaimari proposed acceptance of the minutes as written, which was seconded by Thomas Pape and Erica McAlister, and all Council members endorsed acceptance through no further comment.

2. Chair’s report
   Rudolf Meier noted that the meeting would be recorded and requested permission from Council Members to do so, noting that the recording would only be passed to the Secretary in order to prepare the minutes of the meeting. He began his report by thanking the Secretary/Treasurer for making preparations for the meeting and attending the other Council duties and gave special thanks to Jim O’Hara for continuing to maintain the ICD website and for making the changes promptly. He went on to thank the Organizing Committee of ICD10 for keeping in touch with Council Officials and highlighted the difficulties of arranging a congress during the Covid-19 pandemic and the logistical difficulties of so doing when an International Society of Dipterology is not yet established, especially in the U.S.A. He noted that the Midterm Meeting has only one major item on the Agenda, which is the progress report for the ICD10 Organizing Committee, and emphasised that although changes to Council would be discussed during the meeting, formal nominations and voting would only take place at the First Business Meeting at ICD10 in 2022. He remarked that this was being discussed earlier than is normally done in order to make the process of selecting new Members of Council more transparent than has been done in the past.

3. Secretary/Treasurer’s report and ICD11 bids
   As Secretary I dealt with all correspondence related to potential bids for ICD11 in 2026. Two approaches were made to Council since the last meeting in 2018: the first from Krzysztof Szpila who is planning to submit for bid for Toruń (Poland) to host the Congress and the second from Marija Ivković, who is preparing a bid for Zagreb (Croatia). I made both aware that there would be competing European bids for ICD11, but both were adamant they wished to proceed. The last Congress to be held in Europe was ICD8 in Potsdam, Germany in 2014, so a return to Europe for ICD11 would be appropriate. I distributed my previous PowerPoint bid presentation for ICD9 to both as an example and directed them to the list of guidelines for preparing bids on the ICD website. I stressed the importance that these guidelines be followed as closely as possible (in this case), so Council can adequately compare bids and judge them fairly.

   As part of my duties as Secretary/Treasurer I made all preparations for the ICD midterm meeting, liaised with the Chair, distributed the minutes and handled all correspondence. I also informed the international Diptera community of the death of one of our Honorary members (Monty Wood), and with Jim O’Hara’s assistance updated the contact details of serving Council Members on the ICD website.

   Since the tasks involved no expenses and since the Organizers of ICD10 did not access these funds for start-up funding, the assets of Council stand unchanged at 3237.55 € (4336.67 US$), which originated from the ICD6 surplus. These funds were passed to me by the previous Secretary/Treasurer in Euros cash and cannot be deposited in a bank account, until such time as one is established by ICD.

   After the report was read, Shaun Winterton noted that it is very pleasing to hear that there were two competing bids for ICD11 and Rudolf Meier noted the Council has been in recent contact with both parties and they were very keen to proceed.

   The Secretary confirmed that no vote was required for acceptance of the Chair’s and Secretary/Treasurer’s reports at this time, as that would be done with acceptance of the minutes of this meeting during the First Business Meeting of ICD10.

4. Report on preparations for ICD10 (2022)
   As noted above, a detailed report on progress with ICD10 was distributed to all Council Members prior to the meeting, and Shaun Winterton (as co-Chair) provided the following summary:

   All activities outlined in the Suggested Timetable for Congress Organisation as per the ICD website by the time of the Midterm Meeting have been accomplished. The Organizing and Scientific Committees have been combined for ICD10 and are as follows: Drs Shaun Winterton (co-Chair), Stephen Gaimari (co-Chair), Martin Hauser, Christopher Borkent, Michelle Trautwein, Alessandra Rung, Peter Kerr and Brian Brown. The Congress will be held during 24–29th July 2022, in Reno, Nevada, USA. The Silver Legacy Resort has been chosen as the Congress venue and has hotel accommodation, numerous entertainment experiences and eating options. The meeting area provided comprises a large exposition hall for plenaries and ceremonies that is then subdivided for separate sessions. Poster areas are available in the common meeting area and four meeting rooms are available for concurrent symposium sessions. The congress organizer retained for the meeting is a company called Helms Briscoe. The ICD10 congress logo is based on the Delhi Sands flower-loving fly (Rhaphiomidas terminatus abdominalis (Mydidae)). This distinctive species is native to southern California and is on the brink of extinction as the sandy habitat it is found in is under threat from development. Proposed symposia include: Agricultural Dipterology (including Pollinators), Phylogeny, Palaeontology, Medical and Veterinary Dipterology (including Forensics) and Ecology and Inventory (including Urban and Insect Apocalypse). Plenary speakers have been discussed and candidates will be approached once decisions are made. A comprehensive social programme is planned, including a congress banquet and receptions. Registration costs will likely be approximately USD$350 for early registration, USD$400 for regular registration, USD$450 for late registration, and USD$200 for student registration. Success in soliciting sponsorship for the meeting may offset registration costs and make them less expensive. The first circular for ICD10 is planned for the Fall issue of Fly Times after the Midterm Council Meeting has been convened. Council is requested to vote on their continued support for ICD10 preparations made thus far and for continued support for the congress planning as outlined in the report.

   In addition to the above, Shaun Winterton explained the rationale for the selection of Reno as location for the Congress, which was largely based on cost considerations. He outlined details of Reno as a small city and the conference facilities available. He discussed the Congress logo, symposia options, the social calendar, tours for accompanying persons and post-Congress tours. He highlighted the dipterological collections available for scientific visits, most of which are in California and flight options with likely routes to Reno and car rental facilities at the Congress hotel. The predicted lodging costs were provided and it was noted that these are significantly lower than the original plan to hold the meeting in Sacramento or elsewhere in California. It was noted that the difficulties of establishing a Congress in the U.S.A. with issues of legal indemnity had been resolved through association with the North American Dipterists Society. Shaun went on to discuss the Covid-19 situation and what affects this has had on arrangements but is hoping that this will be resolved by 2022. A move to a virtual meeting platform is extremely unlikely, given that contracts had been signed based on a physical meeting with no contingency. Collecting permits were discussed and details will be provided on the website, together with links to collecting localities. Entry requirements to the U.S.A. were outlined and no visa difficulties were envisaged. It was noted that the detailed report distributed to Council Members will be used as the basis for the first circular and for the forthcoming website.

   After the presentation, the following discussions took place: Erica McAlister asked two questions:

   (1) if it was possible to have a simultaneous physical and virtual meeting, as the number of delegates attending recent virtual congresses were very high. Shaun Winterton responded that the issue was cost recovery, but stated that he expected that there would be a virtual element to the meeting, and as a minimum every session should be recorded. Rudolf Meier noted that a virtual element to the Congress could be considered later, but that the interaction between colleagues at physical meetings is an important aspect of our congresses, and if physical meetings are not maintained it would be harmful to science in the long term. Erica stressed the need to consider virtual student attendance, as the next generation of dipterists. Rudolf noted that this could be discussed nearer the time in another meeting, which would be easily arranged with Zoom. Netta Dorchin raised the issue of legal considerations of making presentations available digitally and noted that delegates would need to give permission beforehand. Shaun noted that an option to give permission to do so could be added as part of the registration process. Steve Gaimari remarked that it is fine to make talks available, but that as Congress organizers they do need to fill rooms and, if not, this would create financial problems. Dan Bickel noted that those who can afford to attend do so, while many others never do. He remarked that if virtual attendance was an option at reduced rates, we would get many more attendees than normal. Jeffrey Skevington commented that he had attended a virtual meeting recently, but due to other office commitments was unable to attend many of the sessions as would be the case with a physical meeting. He further remarked that many government employees would not be able to attend if a virtual meeting were one of the two options and suggested this only be considered later, after the number of required delegate to meet costs had been reached. He concluded that if there were to be a virtual element to the Congress, then it should be fully interactive. Shaun noted that a social media "guru" was also required to promote the meeting in a strategic way during attendance. Dalton de Souza Amorim noted that a virtual element to the Congress would open this up to more delegates, but that a decision should not be made at this time. Rudolf noted that due to the Covid-19 situation we need to hold an extraordinary meeting of Council one year before the next Congress where we re-visit these issues and discuss them further. Steve mentioned the accommodation options and the need to hit 70% room usage in order to be eligible for certain concessions. Netta indicated that room usage at the hotel in Potsdam during ICD8 was about 90% and Ashley Kirk-Spriggs indicated about the same for the hotel in Windhoek during ICD9.

   (2) Erica asked if the forthcoming Congress was likely to conflict with any other conferences or meetings that might impact on the number of attendees. Shaun noted that because of the timing of the meeting it is unlikely to conflict with other entomological meetings. Ashley noted that ESA organised a meeting 10 days before the start of ICD9, despite the dates being decided two years prior to this and suggested contacting other major organizations to inform them of the projected dates to avoid any conflicts. Shaun also noted that term times in various parts of the world as well as public holidays, etc. had been considered when determining the date of the Congress.

   (3) Jeff made the comment that more could be done to room-share in double rooms and this could be done in a more regulated way, which would help attendance and fill more rooms. Steve noted that this could also be done as part of the registration process or through a forum on social media. Netta raised the issue of proposals for workshops and symposia and Shaun noted that these would be invited in the usual way and this would be added to the circular.

   Following these discussions, the following vote was called, with Steve Gaimari and Shaun Winterton (as co-Chairs of ICD10) being moved to the "waiting room":

   Vote: "I am satisfied that ICD10 is being effectively organised on the basis of the report supplied."

   The vote was carried unanimously (13 votes in favour).

5. Proposals for new Council Members
   As background: according to our Constitution, Members of Council can only serve two consecutive terms of service (although Officers can stand for a third term) and Rudolf Meier’s, Thomas Pape’s and Shaun Winterton’s terms of service come to a close in 2022. This means we will need to elect a new Chair of Council in 2022 and Ashley Kirk-Spriggs will also step down as Secretary/Treasurer in 2022. The first terms of service of five serving Council Members (all of whom were elected in 2014) come to an end in 2022, namely Valery Korneyev, Carlos José Einicker Lamas, Kazuhiro Masunaga, Erica McAlister and Adrian R. Plant. These were contacted by the Secretary ahead of the Midterm Meeting to assess their willingness to stand for a re-election: Valery Korneyev, Kazuhiro Masunaga and Erica McAlister indicated that they wished to stand for re-election, while Carlos José Einicker Lamas and Adrian R. Plant indicated that they did not. This means that five places need to be filled for Council Members in 2022.

   Rudolf Meier stressed that formal nominations and election of Council Members, Officials and Honorary Members of ICD only takes place at the First Business Meeting of ICD10 in 2022, but in order to make the process more transparent, the Secretary requested suggestions of who might replace the five vacancies that are coming up before the meeting and that these proposed candidates will be discussed openly at this meeting. He went on to remind everyone of the rules for nominations and the election process from the Constitution and the criteria for selecting new Members of Council. He noted that as each position needs to be voted for separately, we would need to have five elections and that the person elected must receive eight votes. He went on to outline the constitutional goals of the election of Members of Council and noted that the emphasis in the past has been on geographical coverage, rather than dipterological discipline. He further noted that we are paying attention also to goals that are not included in the Constitution, such as gender balance (currently 3 females and 12 males), and representation of younger dipterists (currently none). He noted that a change in the Constitution may be required to address these two aspects in the future.

   Rudolf noted that the proposal was to collect names for candidates that we generally agree would be good Council Members, but he also urged to be cautious with the nominations, because a large number of nominations would increase the probability of ties. The Chair and other elected Officials made the proposal that this be discussed at the Midterm Meeting, with the caveat that any Council Members can propose alternative candidates prior to the next Business Meeting of Council at ICD10 (as clearly specified in the Constitution). Currently we have 23 names on the preliminary list for only 5 vacancies, so there was a need to narrow down the list given that all candidates must first agree to be nominated and provide paperwork (a C.V. and an explanation of what they could do for the Council). This means that without narrowing down the list, 18 candidates would not be elected as Council Members and may see this as a rejection. For this reason, the Officers agree that it would be better to have a smaller list of candidates, so that others listed remain friendly candidates for future election. The second issue with a large list of candidates is the way voting is conducted, i.e., by calling one vacancy at a time and if there is a ballot list of 23 names the person who gets the largest number of votes will have only marginally more votes than someone who is in second position and the likelihood of a tie for first place is very high, as there are only 15 votes for 23 names. The randomness that would result, would mean the goals of geographical balance and gender representation may not be met. As a way of reducing the list the Chair and serving Officials can first make suggestions and explain the rationale behind those suggestions, and if Council Members do not agree they can then propose additional candidates when the time comes. This is a more transparent process involving the active participation of all Council members.

   A table was then shared which summarised current and outgoing Council members and suggested names for new Council Members broken down into the following geographical regions: Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America and South America, which were then discussed separately.

   Rudolf began by noting that we currently do not have a representative from Africa since Ashley Kirk-Spriggs' move to Europe, and filling this was a priority. In South America there are currently two Council Members, but as Carlos is stepping down that vacancy should be filled by a South American, given the large number of active dipterists in the region. For Asia two people are stepping down, Adrian and Rudolf, and given there are three other representatives for Asia one of these positions should probably move to Africa, leaving one opening for another Asia representative. In regard to Australia, Dan is staying on until 2026, so there is probably no need for a replacement yet. For Europe, Thomas' term of service comes to an end and the position should probably be replaced, as Europe is a very active dipterological region. In North America Shaun is stepping down, so there is also an opening there. Rudolf then went on to outline what he would like to see happening in terms of narrowing down the list practically, highlighting those candidates which he felt would be most suitable. He stressed that this is only the suggested way forward and that Council Members are free to nominate any candidates they wish. A lengthy discussion then followed and it was widely agreed that this approach was acceptable. A preferred list of potential candidates was agreed upon, who will be approached by the Secretary to request relevant documentation.

6. Proposals for new Council Officials
   Rudolf noted that his term of service ends in 2022, having agreed to serve one term as Chair, the idea being that the Chair and Vice-Chair should not retire at the same time for more continuity. Dan Bickel has indicated that he does not wish to stand for Chair but wishes to remain as Vice-Chair. As a solution, Ashley Kirk-Spriggs was approached and has agreed to stand for Chair, but it was noted that alternative proposals can be made at any time. The position of Secretary/Treasurer also comes up for election in 2022, and Erica McAlister has provisionally agreed to stand. It was stressed that these are only suggestions at this point and Councillors are free to make other nominations before the First Business Meeting of Council at ICD10.

7. Honorary Members of ICD
   Rudolf noted that ten Honorary Members of ICD are allowed according to the Constitution and there are essentially two vacancies, although these do not need to be filled. He noted that there are often problems with suggested candidates not filling all the requirements as outlined in the Constitution, specifically that candidates must have made significant contributions to the International Congresses of Dipterology. There must, therefore, have been active involvement in Congresses and it is not enough just to be an excellent dipterist. He stated that if there are proposals for new Honorary Members, Councillors should inform the Secretary and these will be nominated and voted on at the next Business Meeting at ICD10. Ashley Kirk-Spriggs noted he interpreted significant contributions to ICD as being delivery of plenaries, organizing Congresses, workshops and symposia and serving on Council, with regular attendance at Congresses being the minimum requirement.

8. Any other business
   Rudolf noted that acceptance of the report on progress with ICD10 was unanimous. There was no other business.

Closing

Thomas Pape thanks Rudolf for very effectively leading us through the meeting. The meeting was closed at 13.45 (GMT).

Ashley H. Kirk-Spriggs
21 November 2020