Message from the President
Arrangements for the 31st Session of ICUMSA – Registration now Open
As you may know the next (31st) Session of ICUMSA will take place between 26th and 28th August 2018. This will be hosted by the South African National Committee and Stephen Walford has worked with Turners Conferences to put in place the arrangements.
I am delighted to say that the website is now open for Registration and for Accommodation Booking. Please go to http://www.turnersconferences.com/conferences/2018/ICUMSA2018/Registration.asp
and follow the links provided.
Please also note that information around airport transfers, etc can also be found there.
New Referees for GS4 (Molasses) and S8 (Sampling)
I am delighted to say that José Godoy has accepted the position as Referee for General Subject 4, Molasses.
José is the chairman of the Brazilian National Committee and has been very busy re-energising this committee since taking over.
Further, Alan Mead has accepted the position as the Referee for Subject 8, Sampling and Sample Preparation. Alan takes over from Roger Wood who will continue in his role as Subject 2 Referee. Alan brings a wealth of experience to the role having worked extensively in sampling of raw and white sugars in different places around the world.
I would like to take this opportunity to wish both José and Alan great success in their new roles.
Also we have received notification of the resignations of Amélia Ferraz (Referee for S7, Indirect Methods and New Technologies) and Jan Maarten de Bruijn (Referee for GS8, Beet Sugar Processing).
Amélia and Jan Maarten have contributed greatly to the work of ICUMSA in recent years. Amélia took on the new subject of Indirect Methods and, working closely with the Associate Referees, produced guidance for the implementation of these technologies for the first time. This guidance was well received by the members at the last Session in Warsaw. Jan Maarten has been at the forefront of beet sugar processing methodology for many years and successfully coordinated the work between ICUMSA and ESST in this regard in order to advance knowledge for the industry.
I would like to thank them both for their invaluable contribution and wish them well in the future.
Nominations for ICUMSA Officers
In accordance with Clause 22.3 of ICUMSA’s Articles, election of Officers must take place at the forthcoming Session.
The President (Geoff Parkin) has already indicated that he will not stand for re-election.
The Treasurer (Clive Shelton) has also stated that he is not seeking re-election this time.
The General Secretary (Dr Puke) will be standing again.
Any individual from a National Committee who is willing to act as an Officer is entitled to stand for election. Nominations must be received by the Nominations and Credentials Committee (Karen Pardoe, Stephen Walford and Dr Puke) by the end of May in order to qualify.
Referee’s reports for the forthcoming Session
In line with the protocols adopted at previous ICUMSA Sessions all Referee’s reports need to be submitted to the General Secretary two months before the Session begins. Therefore the deadline for receiving reports for the 31st Session is Friday 22nd June 2018.
Referees can present work to the Session that is not contained in their report but this will only be reported in the Proceedings following that Session.
30th Session Proceedings and 2017 Methods Book Supplement
Both the Proceedings for the 30th (2016) Session and the 2017 Methods Book Supplement have been published and are available to purchase from Bartens. Please visit the Bartens website for more details www.bartens.com
Guidance for ICUMSA Method Authors
A review of the progress towards re-writing the ICUMSA Methods Book took place at the Officers Meeting in June 2017. It is clear that this will be helped by ensuring all new methods conform to the standard required and therefore the General Secretary is creating a guidance document for method authors.
This guidance will follow ISO method format, ISO nomenclature, include a glossary and definitions and also use of subscripts. Work is ongoing and the aim is to provide a training session to Referees and method authors at the 2018 Session. Details of timings will follow but this is likely to take place Sunday 26th August before the Session commences.
General Subject 7 and General Subject 8
We have received feedback that some people find the subject names for GS7 and GS8, namely “Cane Sugar Processing” and “Beet Sugar Processing” confusing. It has been suggested that it would be clearer to change these to “Cane Sugar Manufacture” and “Beet Sugar Manufacture”.
We will decide at the 31st Session whether this change is required.