efisGeneral Assembly,

Rio de Janeiro ,

23, August 2007.

Attendants:

EFIS Board Members:
S.H.E. Kaufmann (president), Catherine Sautés-Fridman (vice-president), F.Y.Liew (past president) Hannes Stockinger (treasurer), Anna Erdei (secretary general)

Official Delegates by the National Societies:

(List of Attendants with Signatures in Appendix# 1)

 1. The Agenda was adopted and the Minutes of the last GA held in Paris were approved

 2. President's report  (S.H.E.Kaufmann. see Appendix #2)

 3. Secretary General's report (A.Erdei)

A.E. mentioned that communication with most EFIS-members is going smoothly and thanked for the cooperation of the officers of the societies. She encouraged EFIS-members to use the EFIS-homepage (www.efis.org) and apply to various supports offered by EFIS – such as Short Term EFIS-EJI Fellowship, EFIS – IL Lecture Award.

 4. Treasurer's report (H. Stockinger - see Appendix #3)

No comment was made following the report.

 5. Matters arising - none

Appendix #1:

Appendix #2:

Currently EFIS represents more than 17,000 individual members from 27 member societies in 31 European countries (all European Union member states and all other European states) and reaches beyond the classical European boundaries to Russia, Turkey and Israel. At the recent Board Meeting two societies were adopted by EFIS: the Macedonian Society for Basic, Clinical Immunology and Allergology and the Immunology Society of Serbia.

The current Board of EFIS is composed of Professor Dr. Foo Y. Liew, Past President of EFIS; Professor Dr. Catherine Sautès-Fridman, Vice-President of EFIS; Professor Dr. Hannes Stockinger, Treasurer; Professor Dr. Anna Erdei, Secretary General; Professor Dr. Stefan H.E. Kaufmann, President of EFIS; and Arnd Hoeveler, acts as EFIS-EC liaison officer. All in all, between 2004 and 2007, more than 450,000 Euros were spent to support organizations, speakers, young scientists, DoI activities, and others.

In the last 12 months, EFIS has witnessed several major achievements.

1. Congresses:

EFIS has held its 16^th EFIS Congress in Paris from September 6–9 in 2006. This Congress was a major novelty and therefore received a new name, European Congress of Immunology (ECI): For the first time, the ECI included the joint meetings of European national societies of Immunology.  Moreover, in Paris the first EFIS Schering-Plough European Immunology Prize was awarded and the winner received a 50,000 Euro cash award. The prize winner was Alberto Mantovani from Italy. Forty-one symposia, 61 workshops, with 482 oral communications and 2,942 posters were presented. With over 5,000 participants including more than 1,000 students, this congress was the strongest EFIS congress ever and we feel strongly encouraged to continue in this line. Thus, the second ECI will take place in 2009 in Berlin.

2. EJI:

EFIS has joined forces with the European Journal of Immunology (EJI). This means that the EJI is now an official journal of EFIS. Immunology Letters remains the other official journal of EFIS. The liaison between EFIS and EJI further strengthens financial capacities of EFIS. EJI has now created a News and EFIS forum where political and societal issues as well as scientific highlights of interest for immunologists are presented. This also provides a forum for national European societies as well as for EFIS to inform readers about important issues such as the Day of Immunology, congresses, workshops, the role of the EU in funding of immunologic research, etc. This forum is not restricted to European immunology issues. For example, in the July 2007 issue of EJI, the Japanese Society for Immunology described numerous highlights of their Day of Immunology.

3. DoI:

The Day of Immunology (DoI) went international. The aim of the DoI is to promote greater communication between the public and immunological societies. The first DoI took place April 29, 2005 in more than 30 European countries. Media coverage was widespread enhancing public awareness of immunology and reaching decision makers in the fields of science, politics and administration. Several scientific journals including Nature Immunology, Immunity, Immunology Letters, and the European Journal of Immunology have reported about different aspects of the DoI. A prize was awarded to the winner of the second DoI in 2006 at the ECI in Paris under the theme, Partnerships in Immunology and Education (PIE).

The International Union of Immunological Societies (IUIS) has endorsed the international DoI from 2007 on which was received with great enthusiasm by numerous national societies all over the world. A website (http://www.dayofimmunology.org/) reflecting the relevant society-related activities has been created and will be continuously updated with newly received information. EFIS has also produced a film, which has been available since 2006 to all EFIS members and is now available to all members of the IUIS. EFIS has also dedicated financial support to a series of new films which are aimed at politicians, decision makers and lay persons, to further strengthen public awareness about immunology.

4. Support:

EFIS continues to support young scientists by providing travel grants and short-term lab visits, meetings and workshops on immunology. Fifty nine stipends of 1,000 Euros each were awarded to younger researchers to visit the 13^th International Congress of Immunology (ICI) in Rio (August 21–25, 2007).

Between 2004 and 2007, 17 conferences and meetings were supported with a total of over 225,000 Euros; moreover, bursaries for young scientists to attend meetings were supported by over 170,000 Euros; 16 EFIS fellowships were awarded to young scientists in an amount of over 50,000 Euros; in 2006, short-term laboratory visits by young researchers were supported with more than 20,000 Euros; and 120 stipends of 400 Euros were awarded to younger researchers to participate in the 16^th EFIS Congress/1^st ECI in Paris (September 6–9, 2006).

5. Future activities:

i) With the increased financial resources available to EFIS, we will further support and sponsor congresses, EFIS conferences, workshops and summer schools with the intention of bringing together fresh minds of younger researchers with more experienced minds of senior scientists.

ii) We will also increase our support for short-term visits of younger researchers to top laboratories in Europe for learning or improving relevant technologies.

iii) We will support activities towards a European immunology curriculum which would increase free mobility of young researchers in universities and research institutions all over Europe. Here it is particularly important that the EFIS Board includes an EC-EFIS liaison officer.

iv) EFIS is also strongly active in strengthening immunology in Framework Programs of the EC and supports the European Research Council (ERC) as appropriate funding organization. We are proud that immunology is well-represented on the Board of the ERC by Professor Rolf Zinkernagel. Moreover, the EC-EFIS liaison officer will be of great help.

v) We will continue to strengthen our activities to raise awareness of immunology in the public. The DoI, therefore, will be further strengthened, notably, since the IUIS has agreed to support and strengthen the DoI worldwide.

Professor Dr. S.H.E. Kaufmann

President of EFIS

Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology, Department of Immunology

Charitéplatz, 10117 Berlin, Germany

Appendix #3: