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President's Report on the State of the Union

4. CHANGES IN ORGANIZATION AND MANAGEMENT OF IUPAC'S SCIENTIFIC WORK

The present structure of the Union precludes the fulfillment of many of its central scientific functions, as reflected in organizational fragmentation and resulting hindrance in the inception and conduct of horizontal interdisciplinary projects. The founders of IUPAC envisioned, and made provision for, the organization and action of a dynamic Union. In time, the concept of a changing structure was replaced by the current system of long-term Commissions, with little opportunity for Divisions to plan for scientific renewal and growth.

As early as 1953, IUPAC President Tiselius, in his State of the Union address, recommended setting up new Commissions on a trial basis and added: "Furthermore, it often seems better to establish a Commission for a limited time to study a definite problem than to appoint a great number of more or less permanent Commissions." In 1953, the UK delegation also made a more specific proposalthat, with rare exceptions, Commissions be appointed for a lifetime not exceeding four years. In spite of these proposals, 20 years later, in 1973, President B�nard felt it necessary to emphasize in his address to Council the need for IUPAC to adapt to evolution and growth. He said, "Everyone knows that in an organization like ours, it is easy to obtain general approval for the creation of new bodies, but that it is difficult to decide to abandon existing ones." He went on to warn that "An institution that does not have the strength to renew itself is an institution condemned at length to sterility."

Certainly in the ensuing 25 years, the Union has made many substantial alterations in adapting to the changing needs of world chemistry, but the static nature of our scientific organization has largely persisted. Two years ago, as you heard in Geneva, the ad-hoc Strategy Development and Implementation Committee (SDIC) had just begun its work. The SDIC issued its final report in April 1998. Parenthetically, I should add, in response to a concern expressed at Geneva, that the SDIC was then thanked for its work and dissolved, thus not adding another permanent body to our structure. The SDIC recommendations were endorsed by the Executive Committee, were widely circulated within IUPAC, and were discussed extensively.

With additional aspects that were developed by the Committee on Project Evaluation Criteria under the chairmanship of Professor Gus Somsen, and with significant changes made as a result of input from Division Presidents and others, an integrated program was presented to the Bureau a year ago. I was delighted that the Bureau, in its meeting in September 1998, approved a policy and an operational program based on the conceptual framework that the Union represents and serves the entire world chemistry community. The objective is to improve quality, relevance, international impact, and effectiveness of the Union's scientific work. The integrated program constitutes a holistic plan, which rests on major changes in the responsibilities of the Division Presidents and Division Committees, in the election procedures on the Division level, in project evaluation, and in the future function of Commissions.

The overwhelming final approval by the Bureau--a vote of 20-0 with two abstentions--reflects the broad consensus eventually achieved for approving the new program. Some aspects of the program, dealing with strengthening of Division Committees and the inception of a project-based system, began immediately.

The features of the integrated program approved by the Bureau are designed to give clear direction for the Union to:

  • revitalize its scientific activities;
  • ensure the selection of only high quality projects to bear the IUPAC label;
  • encourage participation by the worldwide chemistry community;
  • optimize the use of IUPAC's limited financial resources, and
  • simplify management and accountability.

One of the major objectives of the new program is to solicit ideas for IUPAC projects from the worldwide chemistry community and to set up short-term Task Groups to carry out the projects, with membership open to the entire community. A consequence of the project-driven system based on short-term Task Groups is that we will reduce our reliance on the long-term, essentially permanent Commissions that have assumed a central role in IUPAC's scientific activities. Although the 37 current Commissions have eminent scientists as members and have collectively carried out excellent work over many years, their continuation year after year now has become an impediment to the development of new approaches within our Divisions. Moreover, we are now devoting most of our financial resources to support of these bodies and providing for their regular meetings, irrespective of the need for meetings or the requirements of their projects.

For many years, the biennial continuation of virtually all Commissions has become a routine exercise for the Council. Proposals from time to time for consolidation or termination of a few commissions have been virtually impossible to implement, because they appear to single out certain groups unfairly. The problem is not that we have some "bad" Commissions; the problem is the system itself. The Bureau has recommended that Council, in exercising its responsibility under Bylaw 4.302, decide at the General Assembly in 1999 not to continue any present Commission beyond the end of 2001. This step is a crucial one in the implementation of the integrated program that has been approved by the Bureau, and I believe that this step must be taken. It will permit the Divisions to take a fresh look at their programs and to develop strategies and mechanisms to meet future challenges.

The details of this program and its current status will be discussed later in connection with agenda items 16-18. Most parts are well underway. The Division Committees have been given greatly increased responsibility, and they have responded in a very positive manner, as you will hear in some of the Division Presidents' reports to you this morning. A system has been set up at the Secretariat to receive proposals for new projects, which are now subject to outside refereeing and rigorous evaluation. A Project Committee has been set up within the Bureau to handle the review and funding of larger projects and those that are interdisciplinary. I would like to thank our former Secretary General, Professor Gerrit den Boef, for agreeing to chair this important body. Also, an Evaluation Committee, under the chairmanship of Professor Gerhard Schneider, an Elected Member of the Bureau, to whom I am grateful, has been formed to provide retrospective evaluation of each project and thus to provide an objective assessment of our long-range accomplishments. As we shall discuss later, Council is being asked to take important additional steps to enable the new program to operate effectively. By deciding not to extend the current Commissions beyond the end of 2001, Council can facilitate the Division's ability to develop strategies for carrying out their programs and permit each Division to allocate its financial resources between support of continuing bodies and support of scientific projects.



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