June 7, 2024, 13:00-13:30, University of Basel, Biozentrum. The minutes are published in CHIMIA 7-8/2024 and on the website.
1. Welcome; Approval of the Agenda
During the lunch break of the SCS Spring Meeting, Christian Bochet, President, and David Spichiger, Executive Director, opened the assembly and welcomed all members/attendees. The agenda was approved.
2. Election of the Vote Counter
At the beginning of the meeting, 34 SCS members were present and by the end of the meeting, 48 participants had attended the meeting. The meeting unanimously confirmed Marie-Désirée Schlemper-Scheidt and Richard Smith as vote counters.
3. Minutes from the 33rd GA from April 14, 2023
The minutes were published in CHIMIA (2023, 77, No. 5, A357f).
The minutes were approved unanimously and without abstention.
4. Annual Report 2023
The annual report was published in CHIMIA (2024, 78, No. 1-2, A90ff). It was approved unanimously.
5. Financial Report 2023 and Audit Report
David Spichiger presented the financial statement. Operating incomes of CHF 1’854’196 and operating expenses of CHF -1’958’332 result in an operating loss before taxes of CHF -104’136. The portfolio at Bank von Graffenried followed the trend of the financial markets and contributed a surplus of +172’739. Considering taxes, non-periodic income, cost allocation to the funds and the building of 100’000 asset fluctuation buffer an operating loss of CHF -58’133 resulted.
The assets of all SCS funds increased by CHF + 72’971, including the new fund from the dissolved SASP.
As of 31.12.2023 the assets summed up to CHF 4’879’768.
Audit Report:
In the audit report from May 10, 2024, provided by BDO AG, Bern, no inconsistencies are mentioned, and the financial statement fulfills the legal requirements according to the SCS bylaws and the Swiss Civil law.
The assembly approved the financial statement 2023 and the audit report unanimously with no abstention.
6. Discharge the Organs of the Society
The assembly discharged the board members and the financial audit unanimously with five abstentions (board members).
7a. Elections: SCS Executive Board, ExB (and BoD)
The assembly confirmed unanimously the re-election of the following ExB members for the period 2025-2026:
- Christian Bochet, University of Fribourg, as president and member with signing rights in twos
- Yves Auberson, Novartis, as vice-president and member with signing rights in twos.
7b. Elections: SCS Board of Directors, BoD, and Financial Audit
The assembly confirmed the proposal of the respective divisions and elected the following persons into the board as members without signing rights:
- Davide Bleiner, University of Zurich, DAS President
- Fides Benfatti, Syngenta, DMCCB President
- Niklaus Künzle, Lonza, DIAC President
- Maksym Kovalenko, ETH Zurich, DMC President.
All elected persons accepted their election.
The following BoD member stepped down and the entry in the commercial register will be deleted with immediate effect.
- Eric Bakker, University of Geneva.
- Jean-Louis Reymond, University of Bern
- Roger Marti, HEIA Fribourg
- Esther Amstad, EPFL Lausanne
By the end of 2024 the following person will step down:
- Christophe Copéret, ETH Zurich
Christophe Copéret's seat will not be appointed for the time being and will remain vacant from January 1, 2025.
The assembly confirmed BDO AG, Bern unanimously as audit instance for the financials 2024.
8. Membership Fees
The annual membership fees 2025 were approved unanimously:
- Regular member: CHF 150.00
- Student member: CHF 50.00
- Retired member / unemployed members: CHF 80.00
- Institutional member (institutions): CHF 800.00
- SCS Partnership (institutions): CHF 3’000.00
Additional Fees for Divisions
- Industrial & Applied Chemistry: Regular CHF 20.00, Company CHF 100.00
- Photochemistry Section: Regular CHF 40.00, Student CHF 20.00
15% discount on collective memberships for academic research groups.
9. News and Strategic Projects
The Board of Directors decided on the following, strategic initiatives that will be pushed in the coming months:
- Review event portfolio to ensure relevance and quality
- Digitalize CHIMIA journals 1947-1989
- Establish SCS mentoring program
- Collaborate with Apprentas for non-formal education curricula
- Push IRISS and SSbD in Switzerland
- Further develop Ilmac Basel/Lausanne as an international platform for chemistry and life sciences
- Replace SCS membership database
10.Event Outlook 2024
- In 2024 twenty-five conferences and symposia took place or will take place under the direct organization of SCS. In addition, five SCS Lectureship are planned and a dozen of smaller, local, events will be organized.
- The list of SCS events is available on https://scg.ch/events.
Planned Events 2025
- Swiss Snow Symposium, Jan 16-18, 2025
- EFMC-ISCB 2025, Basel, Jan. 29-31, 2025
- Swiss Industrial Chemistry Symposium, Basel, Jan 31, 2025
- Rigi-Workshop (SCNAT), Rigi-Kulm, Sun-Tue, Feb 2-4, 2025
- DMCCB Basel Symposium, Basel, Feb 6, 2025
- LS2 Annual Meeting (LS2/DMCCB), Fribourg, Feb 13-14, 2025
- ANAKON (DAS), Leipzig, March 17-20, 2025
- CHanalysis, Beatenberg, March 19-20, 2025
- Freiburger Symposium, Fribourg, 3-4. April, 2025
- SCS Spring Meeting, Bern, April 2025 (date tbd)
- Bürgenstock Conference, Brunnen, May 4 - 8, 2025
- Ilmac 2025 Pre-Event, Basel, May 15, 2025
- SCS Seminar on IP (PhD focus), Murten, June 4-5, 2025
- Peptide Therapeutics Forum, Basel, June 5-6, 2025
- NPC, Zürich, June 2025
- Summer School on MatChem 2025, Fribourg, June 23-24, 2025
- Swiss MatChem Symposium 2025, Fribourg, June 25, 2025
- EuCOMC 2025, Bern, July 6-10, 2025
- Swiss Summer School on Organic Synthesis, Aug 17-21 or Aug 24-28, 2025
- SCS Fall Meeting, Zurich, September 4, 2025
- ChemEdu, Zurich, September 4, 2025
- Ilmac Conference Basel, Basel, Sep 16-18, 2025
- SWC Networking Event @Ilmac Basel, Sep 17, 2025
- Swiss Chemistry Science Night, Bern, Sep 19, 2025
- Biotrans2025, Basel, application in progress (date tbd)
11. Varia
No requests to speak were requested from the audience. The President thanked for the confidence and closed the meeting.
Basel, June 7, 2024
David Spichiger
Executive Director
Prof. Christian Bochet
President
David Spichiger, SCS
01.06.2024