News from the Virtual Council Meetings
The 2022-2025 Council (click here for list of Council members) held its first meetings via Zoom on 24 January and 9 & 10 February. These first meetings were an opportunity for the new Council members to get to know one another and discuss what will be the priorities for IUSSP over the next 4-years. Sadly, the COVID restrictions on travel meant this first meeting took place as several short Zoom meetings.
IUSSP President Shireen Jejeebhoy opened the first session by remarking that the new Council takes office at a time when demography as a discipline and IUSSP are in flux with new priorities, constrained funding for activities, and a need to reinvigorate the membership including by recruiting more early career scholars to join IUSSP. The Council hopes younger members will realise the benefits of belonging to the IUSSP.
The new Council also emphasised the importance of inclusiveness: the study of population requires the expertise of many disciplines. IUSSP is open to and needs all researchers working on population issues from many disciplines. We hope members will encourage their students and colleagues from diverse disciplines working on population issues to become IUSSP members.
Establishing new Scientific Panels One of the most important tasks of the incoming Council is deciding on the composition of IUSSP scientific panels. Some previous panels will be renewed and the Council welcomes new suggestions for Panels. A call for new Panel suggestions has gone out and we hope many of you will respond. (See article in this Bulletin)
Renewal of Early Career Task Force To ensure that IUSSP activities also address the priorities of students and early career scholars, the Council decided to continue an Early Career group albeit under a new name. An Early Career Taskforce was set up by the previous Council to organize events of appeal to students and early career scholars for IPC 2021. Like other IUSSP Panels, the new group will have a small steering committee and other interested members may join as well.
Hardship Member Dues Rate and Free Student Associate Membership Recognizing that the IUSSP dues rate can be onerous for some members especially for those facing financial difficulties caused by COVID, the Council decided to extend the honour-based dues rate instituted in 2020, converting it to a hardship rate that members can select when renewing if they are unable to pay the regular dues set for their country of residence. The Council also decided to continue the free 4-year student associate membership, but hopes once that membership ends, students will become full dues paying members. We do hope those who can pay the full rate will continue to do so, as membership dues are a small but vital source of revenue for maintaining the IUSSP Secretariat and the many activities the Union carries out.
Member volunteers The Council is also seeking member volunteers to help organize new activities and encourage discussion and debate through blogs and member organized webinars. This will enable more members to become involved in IUSSP activities. If you are interested in volunteering, have an idea for a webinar, or other activity, please let us know here.
IPC2025 in Brisbane, Australia A big task for the Council will be to organize the International Population in Brisbane Australia in 2025. The incoming Council will review the survey and evaluation from IPC2021 as it reflects on how to incorporate some virtual or hybrid elements to ensure broad participation in the Conference, though like the many who responded to the IPC2021 survey, all hope that IPC2025 can be held in-person.
The virtual Council meetings will continue in March and April.
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