Those of you who attended the Closing Ceremony of the recent 2013 Winter Conference on Plasma Spectrochemistry in Krakow, will have heard that the RSC was planning to host the 2015 European Winter Conference in Glasgow, with Professor Joerg Feldmann from University of Aberdeen as Chair.
You may also have seen that nominations to host the conference in 2015 are now open again, and you could be wondering why this is.
We are sad to say that our submitted bid was not felt to be suitable by the Continuation Committee, and so we have respectfully acknowledged their decision. However we would like to take this opportunity to assure you that we did not withdraw our support, and that it has always been our intention to act in support of the community and in accordance with your wishes.
We became involved in the bidding process because after the Zaragoza conference, we were approached by members of the community who asked if the RSC would be willing to consider supporting a bid to bring the conference back to the UK after 20 years. Following careful consideration of the Conference Constitution, we consulted with the Chair of the Krakow conference to ask whether our involvement as a society would be possible. No concerns were raised with us that were not addressed in our bid and in discussions with the Committee, prior to the awarding of the bid to Glasgow.
After this initial agreement made in Krakow, the Committee still had serious concerns regarding aspects of the bid, including the level of the involvement of the RSC, such that they do not believe it to be in the best interest of the community for us bring the Winter Conference back to the UK in 2015.
The RSC has a long history of involvement with the atomic spectrometry community and the Winter Conferences. Our intention with the Glasgow bid was and will continue to be, to support the community in whatever way we can. It goes without saying that we look forward to working with and supporting you in the future.
