Minutes of the EuPRA Board Meeting of 19 August 2023
Present:
- Ilaria Tucci
- Craig Brown
- Anush Petrosyan
- Leena Vastapuu
- Jusaima Moaid-Azm Peregrina
- Bram J. De Smet
- Stephanie Thiel
- Iiris Niemelä
Absent:
-
Ilaria started the meeting at 18:30 (Helsinki time) with two important issues that need to be resolved in a timely manner. Moreover, she made a preliminary draft of the call for papers.
- Secretary duties and signatures
The Board had discussed sharing the burden for the Secretary in the last meeting. It had been decided that the Board members can take turns in writing the board meeting notes. In regard to the other secretary duties, Leena, Stephanie and Bram had explained their willingness to support Iiris in this. Stephanie will take care of the EuPRA emails, responding to potential requests.
- Place and time of EuPRA conference 2024
Unfortunately, it will not be possible to have the 2024 EuPRA conference in Granada. As there is not much time left, Ilaria discussed a possible option with her former professors in Pisa. She already had a meeting with Prof Enza Pellecchia, the national coordinator of https://www.runipace.org/ (network of Italian universities working on Peace) and the pro-rector of the University of Pisa. The latter was enthusiastic about the idea of hosting the EuPRA conference in November 2024. As a precaution, she already booked the conference place for EuPRA in the Centro Congressi Le Benedettine [https://www.unipi.it/index.php/unipieventi/Luogo/273-centro-congressi-le-benedettine]. There are two options: 6-9.11.2024 or 13-16.11.2024.
Next to the conference place (in the middle of Pisa, next to the river Arno), there is a dormitory that can be booked for a really cheap price: http://www.residence.unipi.it/
The Board had discussed opening to the Eastern colleagues and institutes. This goal of reaching out to and involving Eastern Europe more is still on the agenda. However, given the short time until the next EuPRA conference, it seems more important to make sure that the next conference goes smoothly. Pisa is well organised for hosting the conference.
Prof Pellecchia has also spoken with the current director of the Peace Institute CISP (https://cisp.unipi.it/english-menu/university-network-for-peace/) who is enthusiastic too. They can provide help in loco about practicalities and are willing to publish the conference papers in their series (https://cisp.unipi.it/ricerca/rivista-scienze-e-pace/).
The above suggestion is adopted anonymously.
- Call for Papers – EuPRA conference 2024
A first preliminary draft of the call for papers for the conference has been prepared. Some parts of the text are from the previous call, though. So, everybody should have a look at the draft and make comments in a visible way. The aim is to have it ready by mid-September and publish it before Christmas. The suggested deadline would be mid-March 2024.
Minutes taken by Stephanie