The First Asia-Pacific EPR/ESR Symposium was held at the City University of Hong Kong from January 20 through January 24. The Symposium was attended by about 140 participants from 22 different countries, among whom 110 were from Asia-Pacific, Europe and North America whereas 30 were from Hong Kong, mainland China and Taiwan. There were 8 invited plenary lectures and 3 invited plenary talks, 114 oral presentations, and 69 poster presentations, comprising together 183 presentations. The Opening Ceremony was officiated by Prof. H. K. Chang, the President of CityU. 

The meeting featured the following plenary lectures :

Prof. S. H. Choh, Republic of Korea : EPR study of paramagnetic defects in LiNbO3 single crystals; Prof. Richard Cammack, UK : Bio-medical applications of EPR spectroscopy; Prof. C. A. J. Ammerlaan, The Netherlands : Magnetic Resonance spectroscopy of rare-earth doped semiconductors; Prof. J. M. Spaeth, Germany : Electrical detection of EPR and ENDOR : New possibilities for the study of defects in semiconductors; Prof. John R. Pilbrow, Australia : Pulsed and CW EPR in materials science; Dr. Richard Bramely, Australia : ERP meeting the challenges of new materials; Prof. M. Ikeya, Japan : New applications of electron spin resonance - dating, dosimetry and microscopy; Prof. Noboru Hirota, Japan : Chemically induced dynamic electron polarization (CIDEP) studies of photochemical reactions at different magnetic fields; and plenary talks : Prof. Mitsuhiro Motokawa, Japan : Submillimeter wave ESR of magnetic materials in high magnetic fields; Prof. Yves Servant, France : EPR studies of spin transitions : A review; Prof. A. Romanyukha, Russia : Comparative study of different EPR materials for use in clinical dosimetry. 

The interdisciplinary character of the EPR/ESR spectroscopy was reflected in the Scientific Programme, which consisted of the plenary sessions and four parallel sessions : (1) biology, life and medical sciences, (2) chemistry, earth and environmental sciences, (3) physics and materials science, (4) new developments and crossdisciplinary areas. The refereed Proceedings will be published in a book form , "Modern Applications of EPR/ESR : From Biophysics to Materials Science" by Springer-Verlag, Singapore.

The Symposium has provided opportunities for interaction between specialists in many different fields. We were fortunate that many distinguished scientists had joined the Symposium. The Symposium has provided also an opportunity to bring the state-of-the-art knowledge of EPR to Hong Kong and Southern China. An exhibition of the EPR/ESR instrumentation as well as of scientific journals and books by Springer was held during the Symposium. The social programme comprised of Sunday evening welcoming mixer, Monday evening Reception and Thursday evening Symposium Banquet. 

During the Symposium the Inaugural Meeting of the Asia-Pacific EPR/ESR Society was held. A Welcome Address from Prof. Jim Norris, the President of the International EPR/ESR Society was read at the Inaugural Meeting. The 62 researchers from Asia-Pacific region present have elected the Provisional Council as follows :

President : Prof. Czeslaw Rudowicz; Vice-President : Prof. Asako Kawamori (Japan); Secretary : Dr Yeung Yau-yuen (Hong Kong) [nominated later by the President]; Treasurer : Prof. Hiroaki Ohya-Nishiguchi (Japan); Representatives from : Australia/New Zealand : Prof. John Pilbrow; Japan : Prof. Asako Kawamori (and Vice-President); P. R. China : Prof. R. Y. Zhan; India : Prof. S. V. Bhat; Rep. of Korea : Prof. S. H. Choh; Vietnam : Prof. N.T. Nguyen; Russia - Far East : Prof. A. Ziadtinov.

It appears that the Symposium was a great success judging by the positive feedback received from many participants. Moreover, the Asia-Pacific participants gathered at the Inaugural Meeting of the Asia-Pacific EPR/ESR Society unanimously voted a proposal that the second Asia-Pacific EPR/ESR Symposium be held, not in another country as suggested by the LOC Chairman, but again at CityU in Hong Kong in 1999. However, since continuing organisation of the Symposium would involve significant University resources, at this time the University does not feel able to support a second event in the next few years. 

Efforts will be made to find alternative arrangements for the next Symposium. As President of the Asia-Pacific EPR/ESR Society, I will try to convince researchers from other institutions within the Asia-Pacific region to take over the organisation of the Symposium. Probably we should follow the pattern adopted by the European Federation of EPR Groups. The European EPR Symposium is to be organised every three years in a different European country with a national EPR Group in charge of the local organization being also responsible for handling the financial affairs. 

On behalf of the Local and International Organizing Committee I would like to thank the organisations who financially supported the Symposium, namely, Lee Hysan Foundation, The Croucher Foundation and Beijing - Hong Kong Academic Exchange Centre.

This was the first international conference our local team and I have been organising. The administrative and printing costs had been kept to a minimum. We had not hired a professional conference organiser. Instead we have provided as many travel and accommodation grants to our colleagues in need as possible as well as waived the registration fee for about 40% of the participants. We were helped in this regard by the caring attitude of our Invited Speakers who opted for a standard accommodation instead of an upper class hotel. This Symposium may be compared to a 'home-made cake'. Thank you to all who have helped to successfully 'make the cake', especially the hard working colleagues from the Local Organizing Committee.

Czeslaw Rudowicz

Chairman of the Local and International Organizing Committee