It is an honor to me to address the potential participants of the 2^nd Asia-Pacific EPR/ESR Symposium (APES'99) as well as the potential members of the Asia-Pacific EPR/ESR Society. May I take this opportunity to introduce the Society to you and brief you on the current activities of the Society.

For the benefit of some of you let me recall that the Asia-Pacific EPR/ESR Society came into existence at the Inaugural Meeting held during the 1^st Asia-Pacific EPR/ESR Symposium at CityU, in January 1997. The 62 researchers from the Asia-Pacific region present have elected the Provisional Council of the Asia-Pacific EPR/ESR Society as follows:

The current activities of the Asia-Pacific EPR/ESR Society include the following:

1. Organization of the 2^nd Asia-Pacific EPR/ESR Symposium(APES'99). 

 

 

It is most encouraging that we have been able to continue organizing the Symposia under the auspices of the Asia-Pacific EPR/ESR Society. Due to the dedicated effort of the Local Organizing Committee (LOC), under the skilful leadership of Prof. Yuanzhi XU, the APES'99 will be held at Zhejiang University in autumn 1999. To discuss the various organizational aspects of the APES'99, Prof. Kawamori (Vice-President) and myself met Prof. Xu and the members of LOC in Hangzhou in September 1998. We were impressed by the facilities to be offered to the participants of the APES'99. May I take this opportunity to congratulate Prof. Xu and his team on the commitment and hard work. As you can see from the 2nd Announcement the organization of the APES'99 is progressing very well. 

2. Creation of the Society's WWW home-page 

 

 

In order to facilitate communication between EPR/ESR researchers not only within the Asia-Pacific region but, to a certain extent, on a 'Global¡¦ scale, a WWW home-page of the Asia-Pacific EPR/ESR Society has been created in January 1998. Our home-page may help us achieving the Society's major objectives, i.e. to carry out the activities aimed at: (1) improving the efficiency of applications of the EPR/ESR techniques and (2) facilitating the communication between EPR/ESR researchers in the Asia-Pacific region. We hope that through INTERNET the members will get updated information on the EPR/ESR related activities in our region, whereas the Society will get valuable feedback from its members. We expect also to attract more potential members to become the MEMBERS. Special thanks are due to Dr Yeung Yau-yuen, the Society's Secretary and Webmaster, for his effort on this project. Please visit us on: http://www.ied.edu.hk/has/phys/apepr and send your comments either to me or Dr Yeung. 

3. Formation of the local and national EPR/ESR Users' Groups 

 

 

Our Society must be a strong organization to be able to achieve the above aims. Hence the Society's activities must be coordinated both internationally and locally. One way is the top-down approach and as the President of the Society I will try to do my best in this regard. The other way is the bottom-up approach, i.e. the grass root support, which I believe is most important for any Society. Therefore I would like to encourage all EPR/ESR researchers within the Asia-Pacific region to join together and form local EPR/ESR Users' Groups in their areas. 

The membership of localEPR/ESR Users' Groups should be open to all researchers from the Asia-Pacific region who are active in the EPR/ESR area or have an interest in the applications of the EPR/ESR techniques. The EPR/ESR Users' Groups would provide a forum for informal meetings of all interested researchers and enable effective sharing of information about current research and/or opportunities for collaboration. The idea of forming the EPR/ESR Users' Groups has been well implemented in a number of places in Europe. I am pleased to inform you that the Hong Kong EPR/ESR Users' Group has been formed at the Inaugural Meeting, held at the City University, on 17 January 1998. 

The next step would be to form the national EPR/ESR Groups like those existing in most European countries with a sizeable EPR/ESR community. The national EPR/ESR Groups should be in charge of the local organization and also responsible for handling the financial affairs of the future Asia-Pacific EPR/ESR Symposia. The logistic support for and coordination of the organization of the future Symposia will be provided by the Asia-Pacific EPR/ESR Society. The national EPR/ESR Groups could also directly elect their representatives to the Society's Council.

4. Drafting the Society's Constitution

 

 

Several organizational and technical questions must be solved to give our Society a proper structure. This work is still in progress. A draft constitution is available on our home-page for members comments. Your input is very important. 

5. Other activities 

• Information network: We would like to keep our members informed about the EPR/ESR related activities within the Asia-Pacific region. If you have any information you would like us to include in our home-page please send an email to the Secretary, Dr Yeung Yau-yuen, at <yyyeung@ied.edu.hk>.

• Directory of EPR/ESR centers within the Asia-Pacific region: We plan to compile a listing of, e.g. available spectrometers, major research projects, etc., provided we get support from our members. At present only a database of EPR/ESR researchers compiled for distribution of the Symposia Announcements is available.

• Election of the Council of the Asia-Pacific EPR/ESR Society: Preparations for formal elections are underway. If possible we would like to carry out the ballot by the electronic mail. However, a feasibility study must be conducted first in order to check whether all members (and potential members) have access to this form of communication. Alternatively, the election may be postponed till the APES¡¦99.

• Future Symposia: Preliminary talks have been carried out by the President with potential organizers to hold the APES'01 in Japan and APES'03 in India. If there is sufficient interest a workshop/training course on experimental and theoretical aspects of EPR/ESR could be organized during the APES'03 in Bangalore.

6. Membership drive

The membership of the Society is open to all researchers from the Asia-Pacific region who are active in the EPR/ESR area or have an interest in the applications of the EPR/ESR techniques. A strong Society would suit well our regional needs and ensure that a better coordination of our efforts can be achieved. Hence we shall strengthen our membership. Hoping that all our Founding Members and many more potential members will attend the APES'99. Then a successful General Meeting may be held in Hangzhou. In the meantime I invite all colleagues to express their interest in becoming members of the Asia-Pacific EPR/ESR Society. A MembershipForm is attached. It is also available on our home-page. Please pass on a copy of the MembershipForm to all interested colleagues. 

Czeslaw Rudowicz
Hong Kong, December 1998