International Congresses of Dipterology

The following Council members attended the meeting: Rudolf Meier (Chair), Daniel Bickel (Vice-Chair), Ashley H. Kirk-Spriggs (Secretary/Treasurer), Netta Dorchin, Stephen D. Gaimari, Valery Korneyev, Carlos José Einicker Lamas, Kazuhiro Masunaga, Erica McAlister, Thomas Pape and Shaun Winterton. By invitation, Marija Ivković also attended the meeting, in order to present the bid for Croatia to host ICD11.

Dalton de Souza Amorim, Xiaolin Chen, Adrian R. Plant and Jeffrey Skevington.

1. Adoption of the Agenda and any additions
   The Agenda was duly adopted and there were no additions.

2. Acceptance of previous minutes and register of attendance
   Rudolf Meier proposed that the minutes be accepted as a true reflection of the meeting and this was seconded by Stephen Gaimari and there were no objections. An attendance register was distributed and completed.

3. Chair’s report
   Rudolf Meier noted that it was wonderful to have a meeting again and that we were lucky that the meeting was being organised by the Sacramento Organizing Committee, as they had the resilience and energy to see it through, despite all the COVID-related problems and stuck with their plan to have the Congress. He also noted that we were very lucky because the International Congress of Entomology (ICE) had had to postpone several times and we got away with postponing only once. He noted that the mid-term meeting was on-line and this is something we may want to do in the future via Zoom. Traditionally this used to be done at the ICE, but as fewer people are now attending ICE we should keep it in mind that we do the mid-term meeting this way in the future. He noted that it was better to do the meeting this way rather than by email (as also done in the past), as there was more interaction with more direct feedback. Although doing this by Zoom requires a little more work it is better as we get more of a discussing going. He noted that attendance at ICD10 was not as good as it could have been, but given the circumstances and given that we are starting up again after COVID it is actually very respectable to have over 200 delegates and we have all heard of numerous cases of passports expiring and not getting renewed in time and apparently it takes 80 days to get an appointment with the US embassy in Brazil, so if delegates did not plan well ahead, they basically missed their chance. The number of flights out of China are also very restricted, which makes these expensive and difficult to get, so this explains why attendance is a bit lower and overall, we should be very happy that it's over 200 people. This indicates that the next congress should be getting back to normal, which is exactly what we want. He noted that having attended several post-COVID congresses they has been impacted by about a third in terms of attendance and that is roughly what we also see here.

4. Secretary/Treasurer's report
   Ashley H. Kirk-Spriggs gave the following report:

   As Secretary I dealt with all correspondence related to potential bids for ICD11 (now to be held in 2027 rather than 2026 due to Covid-related delays with ICDX) and this also means we will be changing the terms of service on the website. Two approaches had been made to Council at the time of the last meeting, the first from Krzysztof Szpila who was planning to submit a bid for Toruń (Poland) and the second from Marija Ivković, who was preparing a bid for Zagreb (Croatia). Having followed up on both potential bids I was informed that Poland would no longer be presenting a bid due to political instability in the region.

   As part of my duties as Secretary/Treasurer I made all preparation for the first and second business meetings of ICD in liaison with the Chair. I arranged the venue for the meeting and for audiovisual equipment to be made available, distributed the minutes and handled all correspondence. I secured the letters of motivation and Curriculum vitae of the six potential candidates, prepared the agendas for the two meetings, attendance registers and ballot papers.

   I also informed the international Diptera community of the death of one of our Honorary members (F. Christian Thompson) and with Jim O'Hara's assistance, update the contact details of serving Council Members on the ICD website. Since the tasks involved no expenses and since the Organizers of ICD10 did not access these funds for start-up funding, the assets of Council stand unchanged at 3237.55 € (4111.04 US$), which originated from the ICD6 surplus. As I am stepping down at the end of this Congress as Secretary/Treasurer these funds will eventually be passed to be deposited into an ICD bank account once this is formally established.

   At the end of the report Rudolf Meir noted that the first business meeting was scheduled for yesterday but had to be delayed due to various problems getting into the town. He suggested that having the first meeting on the first day of the Congress may be a better option and recommended that this be done in the future.

5. Presentation of bid for ICD11 (Croatia)
   Rudolf Meier thanks Marija Ivković for preparing the bid for presenting this at the meeting. Marija Ivković then gave a very detailed bid for Zagreb, Croatia. The proposed dates of the Congress are 10–16 July 2027. She provided details of the location, size and population of the country and noted that the Croatian karst mountains are a hotspot of biodiversity. She further noted that Croatia is also well known for its freshwater biodiversity and that the river and streams are still in pristine condition. She showed some of these sites as examples. She noted some of the famous people and achievements for which Croatia is known and provided details of Zagreb, its age and accessibility and noted that the congress venue would be situated in the centre of the town. Zagreb is also apparently one of the safest cities in Europe. She showed some photos of the town and some effects of the 2020 earthquakes. Zagreb is easily accessible by air and by road with major connections and has a new airport close to the city. Visa requirements are the same as for the rest of the European Union countries. The Western Hotel is in the centre of the city and commands a panoramic view of the city. The hotel is due to be upgraded this year so amenities for the congress would be even better in the future. They would negotiate special room rates at the congress hotel and there are plenty of other hotels, B & Bs and hostels available in the vicinity, so accommodation would not be an issue. The Croatian Tourist Board has already given its support for the hosting of the Congress and this is a good thing to have. The welcome reception would be held at the botanical gardens very close to the congress venue, The congress dinner would be at a country venue 25 km from the city and delegates would travel by bus. There would be a happy hour event at the Natural History Museum and a closing event at the congress venue. She provided details of the local Organizing Committee and noted that while these are biologists but not dipterists they are experienced in organizing congresses. It is necessary to have a professional congress organizer in Croatia and details were provided of who would be used. The registration cost was predicted to be 500 Euros, but this may change dependant on circumstances and sponsorship. The registration fee will cover the normal items for congresses. The venture already has the support of Department of Biology, the Natural History Museum and the Croatian Tourist Board, so is very well supported. Financial support would be sought for the costs of plenary speakers and students to attend. Everything will be done through the future website and the venue has poster boards. Accompanying person tours will be organised and details were given. Details were given regarding the collecting permit process and it was noted that this could be arranged, including in national parks. There will be two post-congress tours and details were provided. Marija then closed the bid and distributed a few examples of tourist items.

Marija was then asked to clarify a few points related to the bid by Council members. Dan Bickel asked what time of the year the congress would be held and Marija replied that it would be summer in Croatia (proposed dates 10–16 July 2027). She noted that this time was selected as it is not so busy in Zagreb, so not so crowded and the weather is more stable. There are also a lot of activities going on in the city during July. Thomas Pape then commented that this is the best time for collecting. Rudolf Meier then asked how many hotel rooms they would need to guarantee in order to have access to the facilities and how much the hotel rooms would be. Marija indicated that at this point the hotel is very open to negotiations and they are known as they have arranged two conferences there before. Marija stated that the hotel rooms are around 130 €, but this price would be less, following negotiations and there were no additional costs such as taxes. Ashley Kirk-Spriggs asked if there would be a scientific committee as well as an organizing committee, as most of the organizing committee are non-dipterists. Marija confirmed that there would be and this committee would select the plenary speakers, edit the abstracts and populate the programme. There then followed some further discussions regarding required numbers of rooms. Shaun Winterton then asked how far the airport was from the venue and Marija confirmed this was 17 km and mentioned the shuttle service and taxi facilities. Netta Dorchin asked if there were any other conferences with which the proposed dates may clash. A discussion followed on other meetings that might potentially clash. Netta checked the dates of a gall-makers meeting and confirmed the dates did not clash.
There were no further questions and Marija was asked to leave the meeting while the bid was discussed by Council and a vote taken.

6. Discussion and voting on bid
   A short discussion followed related to room allocations and the registration fee rate. There were no major concerns and a vote was taken and was unanimous in favour of acceptance of the bid. Marija was then called back into the meeting and was informed of the decision. Thomas Pape asked if reduced student rates would be available and Marija indicated that they would and Rudolf Meier then suggested that they consider who would be on the scientific committee and discuss this with Council. Marija was asked to present a condensed version of the bid at the closing ceremony.

7. Election of new Council members
   Three members of Council, Rudolf Meier, Thomas Pape and Shaun Winterton, are ending their second terms of service during this congress, which more formally means at the end of the closing session of ICD10. Five members of Council are at the end of their first terms of service, Valery Korneyev, Carlos José Einicker Lamas, Kazuhiro Masunaga, Erica McAlister and Adrian R. Plant and are eligible for re-election. Two Council members, Carlos José Einicker Lamas and Adrian R. Plant, declined to stand for re-election. Three current members of Council, Valery Korneyev, Kazuhiro Masunaga and Erica McAlister, are willing to stand. This means there are currently five vacancies on the Council.

The Chair of Council nominated Valery Korneyev, Kazuhiro Masunaga and Erica McAlister for re-election; Sarah Oliveira to represent the Neotropical Region, given that Carlos José Heinicke Lamas is leaving Council; Yuchen Ang to represent the Oriental Region, given that Rudolf Meier is leaving Council; John Midgley to represent the Afrotropical Region, given that Ashley Kirk-Spriggs subsequently moved to the UK; Jessica Gillung to represent the Nearctic Region, given that Shaun Winterton is leaving Council; Ximo Mengual or Pierfilippo Cerretti to represent the Palaearctic Region, given that Thomas Pape and Adrian A. Plant are leaving Council and Ashley Kirk-Spriggs now represents the Palaearctic Region. CVs and letters of motivation of all new nominees were distributed to all attending Council Members well in advance of this meeting. The Chair called for any further nominations and there were none.
The Chair then went through the nominations one by one and asked for seconders and in each case whether anyone opposed the nomination. If there was no opposition, the candidate was "elected". The nominations of Valery Korneyev, Kazuhiro Masunaga and Erica McAlister were seconded by Thomas Pape; Sarah Oliveira by Erica McAlister; Yuchen Ang by Shaun Winterton; John Midgley by Netta Dorchin and Jessica Gillung by Stephen Gaimari. All the above were duly elected as new Council Members in agreement with the Constitution.
For the contested Palaearctic seat, the Chair requested seconders for the two candidates, Ximo Mengual and Pierfilippo Cerretti (both seconded by Netta Dorchin) and announced that an immediate ballot for the two candidates would take place. A ballot paper with the names of the two candidates was distributed to all members of Council in attendance and Rudolf Meier clarified how this should be completed. The ballot papers were collected and the votes counted by the Chair. A recount was undertaken by the Secretary to confirm the numbers of votes and the outcome of the vote was verified as Ximo Mengual (seven votes), Pierfilippo Cerretti (four votes). Ximo Mengual was therefore dully "elected" with a majority of votes in agreement with the Constitution.

8. Election of officers
   At every Congress we have to elect or re-elect officers and the officers are the Chair, the Vice-Chair and the Secretary/Treasurer.

The Chair and Vice-Chair shall not serve for more than two consecutive Congresses. As both the Chair and Vice-chair has done so, they are not eligible for re-election.
There is no limit on the number of terms for the Secretary/Treasurer.
Rudolf Meier (current Chair) is eligible for re-election, but declined the nomination. Rudolf Meier proposed Ashley H. Kirk-Spriggs as Chair (seconded by Stephen Gaimari). There were no other nominations from the floor and as no one opposed the nomination, Ashley H. Kirk-Spriggs was duly elected as Chair in agreement with the Constitution.
Rudolf Meier proposed Daniel Bickel as Vice-Chair, who is eligible for re-election and willing to stand. This was seconded by Ashley Kirk-Spriggs. There were no other nominations from the floor and as no one opposed the nomination, Daniel Bickel was duly elected as Vice-Chair in agreement with the Constitution.
Ashley Kirk-Spriggs (current Secretary/Treasurer) is eligible for re-election, but declined the nomination. Rudolf Meier proposed John Midgley as Secretary/Treasurer (seconded by Erica McAlister). There were no other nominations from the floor and as no one opposed the nomination, John Midgley was duly elected as Secretary/Treasurer in agreement with the Constitution.

9. Any other business
   A discussion then took place regarding whether the dates for ICD congresses should be moved back to even year numbers. It was noted that Marija Ivković had been given the option of organizing ICD11 in 2026 or 2027 and indicated that she preferred four years rather than three. It was suggested that she be asked again to consider three rather than four years to bring the even dates back in line and, if not, this could be adjusted later. [After the meeting the Secretary clarified with Marija that she required four years.] Erica McAlister raised the issue of bids for ICD12. A discussion followed during which Carlos José Einicker Lamas indicated that Brazil was still not ready to submit a bid. Other likely countries were mentioned, including China, Singapore, Malaysia, Korea, Thailand and Chile. It was noted that China and Singapore would be too expensive and there are not necessarily resident dipterists in some of these countries that could organise such an event. It was agreed that South America would be the natural choice. There are seven or eight years to solicit bids and this would be discussed further at the mid-term meeting.

   Ashley H. Kirk-Spriggs
   18 July 2023

Dalton de Souza Amorim, Xiaolin Chen, Adrian R. Plant, Jeffrey Skevington, Sarah Oliveira and Daniel Bickel (Vice-Chair) did not attend the meeting.