ICUMSA News n°78 – May 2018

Message from the President

Arrangements for the 31st Session of ICUMSA – Registration details

You will know the next (31st) Session of ICUMSA will take place between 26th and 28th August 2018. Registration is now open for delegates: please use this link to take you to the Turners Conferences website: http://www.turnersconferences.com/conferences/2018/ICUMSA2018/Registration.asp

Here you can register for the Session and also book accommodation at the hotel.

Information around airport transfers to the hotel, etc can also be found there.

We are advising everyone to make their bookings as soon as possible. The hotel is holding bedrooms but they will release them for general sale after 15th June: they have a waiting list for these rooms at the moment. If anyone misses this deadline then the nearest hotel will be in Hazyview which takes 30 minutes to drive to where the Session is being held.

New Referees for GS1 (Raw Sugar)

I am delighted to announce that Tim Thys has accepted the role of GS1 Referee with immediate effect. Many of you will know Tim: he has attended a number of ICUMSA Sessions previously and been especially active within the GS1 and S8 (sampling) subjects. Tim has previously brought a number of raw sugar trade issues to the attention of ICUMSA which has helped focus the work of GS1 to address these. I am sure you will all join with me in wishing Tim well in this new role.

At the same time I would like to express my gratitude to Andrew Harrison for all the work he has carried out on behalf of ICUMSA. In particular, during the 2012 Session Andrew steered the working group looking at the different Starch in Raw Sugar methods to great effect, achieving a consensus between all parties. We all hope to see Andrew again at a future Session.

Nominations for ICUMSA Officers – the deadline for nominations is 31st May 2018.

In accordance with Clause 22.3 of ICUMSA’s Articles, election of Officers must take place at the forthcoming Session in South Africa.

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.

Workshop for ICUMSA Method Authors

On the afternoon of Sunday 26th August, Dr Puke will be holding a workshop for writing ICUMSA Methods. This will take place at the conference hotel.

The workshop will aim to provide guidance to allow everyone to write ICUMSA methods following the method template, nomenclature rules, etc. This should greatly help to speed up the editing of ICUMSA methods which, in turn, will help speed up the publication process for new and updated methods.

The workshop is open to everyone attending the Session.

New European Privacy Laws for Personal Data

During May 2018 new European Laws, known as GDPR, come into effect around the holding of personal data by organisations, such as contact numbers, addresses, etc.
ICUMSA holds this information about its member securely so that members can see how to contact each other to progress the work required. Dr Bruhns is arranging to contact everyone who we have information for to seek your approval to continue to use it for this purpose.

Please note that if we do not receive confirmation from you we will have to remove your details from the members section of the website.