President's Letter – Summer 2024

It has been a year since the successful IUCr Congress and General Assembly in Melbourne and we are looking forward to the 2026 event in Calgary. This past year has been one of contemplation of our future as an association, a year of change and renewal.

Our Union is based on the significant personal contributions that have graciously built our organization since 1948. Our Chester office is a key part of our functioning, maintaining our activity and planning our future, our resources and optimizing our funding sources to carry out the good works aimed at promoting and defending structural science globally. At the end of May, our Outreach Officer since 2014, Michele Zema, concluded his contract after 10 years of excellent contributions to the IUCr. These contributions have marked a new era in the collaboration and promotion of structural science mainly in Africa, Latin America and Asia, bringing in a substantial amount of funding and creating successful initiatives such as the 'OpenLabs', new labs with modern equipment for structural science in less-developed countries and the light sources within the LAAAMP project.

The impending retirements of Peter Strickland and Andrea Sharpe will have a great impact on our activity in Chester and bring an extraordinary emotional burden. Peter will retire from his post as Executive Managing Editor in September after 38 years of the highest responsibilities, not only in our editorial team but also in a position of leadership at Chester and at the IUCr. Peter will be impossible to replace and his generosity will surely allow us to continue to count on his advice and help in the time that his new occupations allow him, especially when the tasks in his garden become less intense.

It will be difficult to imagine the IUCr booth at the different congresses without Andrea or without her contribution to the publication of the four issues of the Newsletter that we publish every year. Andrea joined the IUCr in 1980 as an Editorial Assistant, left in 1990 and returned in 1998 as the Promotions Officer; her retirement completes a career of nearly 36 years of service.

We will always be indebted to Peter and Andrea (seen below with Michele during preparations for the 2017 Hyderabad Congress), who are part of our brilliant history, and to whom we are deeply grateful for having dedicated such an important part of their lives to the service of the community of structural scientists.

In this first year between Congresses the scientific protagonism lies with our Regional Associates (RAs). The American Crystallographic Association gathered in Denver, CO, USA, in July; the European Crystallographic Association will meet in Padova, Italy, in August; the Latin American Crystallographic Association will meet in Montevideo, Uruguay, in September; and the Asian Crystallographic Association will meet at the beginning of December in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The African Crystallographic Association will meet in Algeria in April 2025.

It is pleasing to note that the 18th European Powder Diffraction Conference (EPDIC18) is being organized jointly with ECM34 in Padova. This arrangement is very satisfying for both organizations as they have common interests, and worked well when EPDIC12 overlapped with ECM26 in Darmstadt in 2010. The attendance will benefit from the joint organization.

Although the Executive Committee (EC) will be represented at all regional meetings at the highest level, this year the EC and the Finance Committee (FC) met in Denver at the 74th ACA Annual Meeting. Given the importance of the upcoming IUCr Congress and General Assembly to be held in Calgary, Canada, in August 2026, this visit and the meetings with the ACA Council and the IUCr2026 Organizing Committees were essential. In particular, it was important to discuss the plans for the formation and the work plan of the International Program Committee and other organizational and financial issues.

All the discussions took place in a splendid atmosphere and at a high scientific level, and the participation of the young generation of structural scientists was excellent. Learning about the many initiatives that the ACA is putting in place was also extremely satisfying for the IUCr EC. A closer collaboration between the RAs and the transfer of good practices between the different regional and national associations was found to be desirable.

In parallel, the FC analysed the Union's financial situation and adopted cost containment measures for 2024 and 2025, pending growth of our publishing revenues. Decisions were also taken on the investment of our funds and the desirability of augmenting the FC with new advisors to complement the current profiles and contribute to the diversity and rejuvenation of the committee.

At the moment, 55 National Committees make up the IUCr General Assembly. Until the goal of incorporating all countries where there are structural scientists is achieved, the Associates Programme is an excellent way to become an individual member of the IUCr and enjoy the benefits associated with publishing in the 10 IUCr journals and other advantages that will be progressively increased, especially for younger Associates.

Now that the statutes of the International Science Council (ISC) have been approved and the election of the Elections Committee has taken place, the election process for the renewal of the ISC Governing Board has started. The IUCr, together with the other ISC member unions, is promoting a candidacy that defends the philosophy of rigorous and global science that the scientific unions promote.

Once again, many thanks to all those who form and make our organization work: the RAs, the IUCr Commissions and Committees, Editors, Co-editors, referees and authors of our journals, our Chester staff and all individual crystallographers, women and men.

Thanks to IUCr Newsletter Editor Mike Glazer, his team, with one special mention to Andrea, and all contributors for making possible, as every quarter, a new quarterly issue and for continuing to be the communication reference for our community.

Many thanks to all for helping to sustain and reinvent the IUCr from wherever you are in the world.

Enjoy your summer holidays!