Minutes of the general assembly of the 32nd EAJRS conference, Lisbon

1. Approval of the minutes of the general assembly of the 31st conference held at Saint Petersburg

You can find the minutes on the EAJRS website. The minutes are approved.

2. Next year’s venue

Undecided.
Dates proposed: 13 through 16 September, 2023.

3. Funding

We are very grateful to the Japan Foundation  and Toshiba International Foundation (TIFO) for their support. I take this opportunity to thank the  foundations for their loyal and committed support to our association.

4. Programme booklet    

The abstracts, the presentations and/or the text of each presentation will be uploaded on the EAJRS website, if and when the speaker agrees to do so. Many speakers have already given their consent. The speakers who did not deliver their file to Arjan van der Werf and wish it to be uploaded on the EAJRS website, are kindly requested to send it in to him (eajrs@eajrs.net).

5. Format of the next conference

Resource providers’ workshop:
Vital role and contribution of the resource providers, both the public or non-profit institutions and the commercial vendors. We thank them for their presence, for organizing the workshop and for their support in general. I heard nothing but extremely positive echoes about this year’s workshop.

Growing numbers of presentations and participants:
Limit to single session or rather parallel sessions? We prefer a unique session, which limits the number of slots available for presentations to around 30. The consequence is that this may entail, and has entailed in the past, rejection of good proposals. Still, we believe that the pros outweigh the contras.

Opinions about hybrid and the interaction online-local:
The hybrid format of the conference is considered an exceptional measure due to the current travel restrictions. As soon as the situation allows, we would like to return to an in-person conference as much as possible, with only passive participation online.

6. Deadline for applications for the 2023 Conference

The board proposes mid-May 2023 as the deadline for the submission of proposals for presentations. End of May, screening of proposals will be completed, and the results will be notified beginning of June. Guidelines will be added to streamline the presentations. Presentations should normally not exceed 25 slides.

7. Next year’s special topic

We leave this decision to the local organizer.

8. Scholarships

Scholarships will depend on the funding we receive.

9. Report from the secretary

There were 101 registration. 54 of those participated in person and 47 were online.
(based on registrations; actual participation needs to be confirmed)

Participants (registrations) came from 19 different countries:

  • Belgium: 4 
  • Bulgaria: 3
  • Canada: 1
  • China: 1
  • Denmark: 1
  • Finland:  1
  • France: 6
  • Germany: 4
  • Greece: 1
  • Italy: 1
  • Japan: 43
  • Lithuania: 4
  • Norway: 1
  • Portugal: 7
  • Russia: 1
  • Slovenia:  1
  • Spain: 2
  • Switzerland: 2
  • The Netherlands: 1
  • United Kingdom: 8
  • United States: 8

by continent:

  • Europe: 48
  • Asia: 44
  • North America: 9

There were 28 presentations, of which 18 were in person in Lisbon, and 10 were online. 23 presentations were in English, and 5 presentations were in Japanese (over the years the English-Japanese ratio has always been around 50/50).

One of the presentations was a panel discussion,  a format we welcome but one that needs more than a regular 30 minutes slot

6 Resource providers took part in the Resource Providers workshop.

Aurelijus Zykas stepped down from the EAJRS board.

Since I entered the board, there were drastic changes in my personal life. The last change was my appointment as the Ambassador of Lithuania to Japan, and I am starting my mission in Tokyo from Monday.
My new position could possibly clash/overlap with the interests of EAJRS, thus I was advised to withdraw from the board. I hope you understand this decision. 

Nadia Kreeft equally decided to step down as member of the board. 

We thank both members for their contributions to the EAJRS and the years of fruitful and congenial collaboration.

10. Kuzushiji and kotenseki workshop 

A Kuzushiji workshop was organized on line in April 2022.
We have a new agreement with NIJL concerning 古典籍workshop

11. Words of gratitude

I thank all presenters, for the many excellent presentations. Moreover, virtually everyone respected the allotted time.

Thanks to:
Prof. Dr. Carmen Mendes (Director of the CCCM)
Rui Abreu Dantas,
Rui Martins, Andreia Gonçalves, Eduardo Martins (IT),
Kim, Esmeralda, Ana, Maria and Alexandre

No one has earned our appreciation and gratitude more than Helena Coelho, librarian of the CCCM. We deeply appreciate the tremendous efforts she dedicated to the organization of the conference. The participants are all full of praise for the work she has done and the successful events she made arrangements for. The reception at the embassy was most enjoyable, the visit to the AHU was very interesting and most instructive, while the traditional dinner at the traditional restaurant, including a performance by two excellent fado singers was greatly enjoyed by all present.  

Ana Canas D. M.Diretora and Manuela Portugal of the Arquivo Histórico Ultramarino made our visit to the AHU more than worthwhile.

Thanks to Arjan van der Werf, who once again put in a great deal of effort and time to prepare the conference. We are much indebted to him.

Thanks to the members of the board, who have accepted to chair each one or two sessions.

12. AOB

日本語プレプリントサーバJxivのご紹介
Nakajima Ritsuko of the Japan Science and Technology Agency (the agency that provides JSTAGE) approached us about a pre-print server in Japanese. Most pre-print servers are in English or other western alphabet languages, but theirs is in Japanese.
She asked us to see if there are any researchers interested in this, and if so, she could do an online introduction of this pre-print server to them.
In the coming days, we will send round more information about this service.

13. Closing of the general assembly and the conference