Minutes of the PRSCO Council Meeting, Washington D.C.
Date and time: 13 November 2014, Thursday (12:00-13:30)
Meeting Place: Cartier Salon (Hyatt Regency in Bethesda, MD, USA)a)

Apologies received, roll-call, and confirmation of Section representatives

Apologies received
Daigee Shaw (CRSA-T)
David Edgington (CRSA)
Fakrul Islam (BRSA)John Madden (ANZRSAI)
Kingsley Haynes (WRSA)
Lay J. Gibson (WRSA)
Mohd Yusof Kasim (MRSA)Paul Dalziel (ANZRSAI)
Roberta Capello (Editor PiRS)
Ronny Correa Quezada (Ecuador)
Sarwar Jahan (BRSA)
Present (and sections representing)
Alessandra Faggian (PiRS editorial team)
Andrés Rodríguez-Pose (RSAI Vice-President)
Bonet Moron Jaime Alfredo (ACER)
Budy Resosudarmo (PRSCO president)
Chao-en Yu (CRST-T)
David Plane (WRSA)
Dusan Paredes (SOCHER)
Eduardo Haddad (BRSA)
Fu-Chuan Lai (CRSA-T)
Hiroyuki Shibusawa (Executive Secretary PRSCO, JSRSAI)
Jacques Poot (ANZRSAI)
Jean-Claude Thill (RSAI president)
Jichung Yang (KRSA)
Katsuhiro Sakurai (JSRSAI)
Luis Armando Galvis (ACER)
Michael C. Carroll (Editor RSPP)
Patricio Aroca (SOCHER)
Rachel Franklin (WRSA)
Richard Sheamur (CRSA)
Robert Stimson (ANZRSAI)
Roger Stough (WRSA)
Suminori Tokunaga(JSRSAI)
Sutee Anantsuksomsri (Thailand)Tomaz Dentinho (RSAI Executive Director)
Yoshiro Higano (JSRSAI, past RSAI president)
Yuzuru Miyata (JSRSAI)b) Minutes of the PRSCO Council Meeting in Loja, July 23, 2014 (B. Resosudarmo)
Resosudarmo moved that the Minutes be approved, seconded Shibusawa. CARRIED.
c) Report on the 13th PRSCO Summer Institute in 2014, Ecuador (Ronny CorreaQuezada)
Ronny Correa Quezada was unable to attend the Council meeting. However, he had prepareda PowerPoint presentation which was printed and handed out at the meeting. It was noted thatthe 13th Summer Institute was very successful and that 128 papers were presented. There
were about 300 participants. The Summer Institute provided the impetus for theestablishment of a new section in Equador, the Ecuadorian Association of Regional Science(AECR).
d) Procedure for affiliation to the PRSCO (RSAI) of Ecuador Section (B. Resosudarmo)
A formal proposal has been submitted to the PRSCO secretariat by Ronny Correa Quezada.
RSAI President Jean-Claude Thill noted that this is a very positive development in SouthAmerica. The Ecuador section should be accepted as a member of PRSCO and thedevelopment of the section should be encouraged by interaction with, and support of, PRSCO
scholars.
e) The venue of the 24th Pacific Conference of the RSAI in 2015 (Patricio Aroca)
Patricio Aroca gave a presentation about the broad parameters of the Conference. The 24thPacific Conference will be held in Vina del Mar (near Valparaiso, about 120 km from
Santiago’s International Airport). The dates are Aug 5-8, 2015. The conference is supportedby the local university and local government. A call for papers will be available on the RSAIand PRSCO websites soon.
f) The venue of the 14th PRSCO Summer Institute in 2016 (Sutee Anantsuksomsri)
Sutee Anantsuksomsri (from Waseda University in Japan) speaks to the proposal to have the14th Summer Institute in Thailand. The main host will be Thammasat University in Bangkok.
Hence the Summer Institute will be held in Bangkok’s city centre. This will be a good kickoff to establish a section in Thailand. The local organisers will need a letter of formal
approval from PRSCO Council in order to apply for funding from the Thai government.
g) The venue of the 25th Pacific Conference of the RSAI in 2017 (Mohd Yusof Kasim )Mohd Yusof Kasim was unable to attend the Council meeting and discuss the idea of a 2017PRSCO conference in Malaysia. Tomaz Dentinho recommended that a formal proposal ought
to be tabled at the 2015 PRSCO Conference in Chile. Budy Resosudarmo noted that he willmeet the potential Malaysian organisers in December 2014. Jean-Claude said that he wasdisappointed that there had been few registrations from Malaysia in the (cancelled) WorldCongress in Bangkok. Bob Stimson reminded Council that the Malaysian Section organised a
successful PRSCO summer institute, but the section did not appear to have developed much
subsequently. Budy Resosudarmo will email Kasim and others in Malaysia, and request
presentation of a formal proposal in Chile. Some general discussion followed in which
Tomaz Dentinho suggested that PRSCO could aim to become more like NARSC and ERSA

in the future. The likelihood of a PRSCO section hosting a future RSAI World Congressshould also be addressed again.
h) Discussion of venues of the PRSCO Conference and Summer Institute in 2018-2021(B. Resosudarmo)
Yoshiro Higano suggested Vietnam as an option for a Summer Institute. Tomaz Dentinho
suggested Timor L’Este. It was noted that while Singapore would be a very nice city for alarge international regional science conference, the city may be considered too expensive forscholars from some developing countries and Bangkok is a more realistic alternative venue.
i) Nomination of the PRSCO Representative for the RSAI Council for the term 20152017 (B. Resosudarmo)
Patricio Aroca has now served two terms (2009-2011, 2012-2014). Jichung Yang is serving
the 2013-2015 term and Yuzuru Miyata the 2014-2016 term. Logically, Patricio Aroca should
be replaced by someone from South America. Dusan Paredes said that the international travel
costs can be a burden and make someone reluctant to volunteer to be a RSAI Councillor.
Jean-Claude Thill noted that RSAI Councillors are expected to attend at least two of the threesupranational meeting. The ERSA Congress will be in Lisbon in 2015 and in Vienna in 2016.
NARSC will be in Portland in 2015 and Minneapolis in 2016. Jean-Claude Thill noted thatsome South American sections may shift from a PRSCO alignment to a new Latin American
supranational entity.
It was suggested that the matter of replacing Patricio Aroca would be left until the next
meeting. Rachel Franklin reminded Council that PRSCO representatives on RSAI Council
could come from any PRSCO section, e.g. including Canada or Australia and New Zealand.
Budy Resosudarmo then proposed that a subcommittee should be set up that formulates rules
by which PRSCO nominates people who will serve on RSAI Council. The subcommittee willconsist of Patricio Aroca, Rachel Franklin, Yoshiro Higano and Jacques Poot.
j) Nomination of the vice-president of the PRSCO, 2014-2015 (B. Resosudarmo)
It was moved by Budy Resosudarmo and seconded by Hiroyuki Shibusawa that Patricio
Aroca will be the next PRSCO vice-president. CARRIED.
k) Establishment of the PRSCO Awards (J. Madden)
John Madden was unable to be present and speak to the two documents that had been emailed:
the rules for a PRSCO Award for Outstanding Service and a PRSCO Prize for the Best Paperby a Young Regional Scientist. In both cases, Council members agreed with the proposedrules.
A discussion followed about how to fund the travel and conference registration cost of thestudent who will win the PRSCO best paper Prize and who is expected to present the paper at
the PRSCO conference / summer institute. It was noted that the Local Organising Committee(LOC) of the PRSCO meeting at which the Prize is to be awarded will be encouraged to: (i)make a contribution towards the travel expenses of the Prize winner, and (ii) waive theregistration fee for the Prize winner. Jacques Poot noted that this is a reasonable request andRichard Sheamur agreed, but Budy Resosudarmo warned that this could increase theconference cost too much for some sections in developing countries. Tomaz Dentinho

suggested that the PRSCO Secretariat would set up a fund that can provide this Prize on asustainable basis.
Bob Stimson reminded Council that the Prize should be large enough to cover the conference
travel, registration and accommodation cost. Jichung Yang suggested that senior scholars
who have received prizes and distinctions in the past could be invited to donate money to thefund to cover the costs of the student Prize. Tomaz Dentinho concurred and noted thatPRSCO could be a much stronger organisation in the future if it had its own funds for Prizes,
support for Section development, etc. Budy Resosudarmo moved that a Fund would beestablished to permit the awarding of the Student Prize. This was seconded by Hiroyuki
Shibusawa. CARRIED.
It was noted that if insufficient funds would be available for a yearly Prize, a biennial Prize
would be acceptable too.
l) Report on activities of Pacific Rim regional science communities
Patricio Aroca reported that the Latin American groups are working to create a supranational
entity for Latin America. Every nation that is part of the RSA of the Americas is in favour.
Jean-Claude says RSAI is in principle in favour too. The RSA for Americas will be dissolved
once the Latin American supranational has been established. NARSC will then also reduce toits original member sections.
m) Report of Editors, Papers in Regional Science (R. Cappelo)
Editor-in-Chief Roberta Capello wrote the annual report on PiRS, but was unable to bepresent due to illness. Instead, Alessandra Faggian spoke to the report. She noted that therehas been a transition to a new editorial team. 10 people on the Editorial Board were replacedby 5 new ones. The number of submissions has grown particularly in the ERSA area, butthere was also some growth from the PRSCO area. The paper turnaround time has becomemuch faster. There is a backlog of accepted papers, but these can be downloaded online inearly view. Because of the increasing ratio of submissions to journal space for publication,
acceptance rates have dropped to about 10%. The impact factor went down, but otherregional science journals experienced this too. Budy Resosudarmo asked whether care wastaken to ensure that the PiRS editorial team represented all parts of RSAI, including PRSCO.
Jichung Yang wants to set up a new Asia&Pacific regional science journal and noted that
financial support is available from China. Due of a lack of time, this would be further
discussed at the next Council meeting.
n) Report of Editors, Regional Science Policy & Practice (M. Carroll)Michael Carroll noted that everything is on track and that there are several special issues inthe pipeline, including one on China that is edited by Peter Nijkamp and Karima Kourtit.
o) Any further business
Budy Resosudarmo noted that PRSCO has no copyright over conference papers thathave been presented at PRSCO conferences and e.g. included in Proceedings. The
copyright remains with the authors of the papers.
The next PRSCO Council meeting will be held during the PRSCO Conference in Vina delMar, Chile, August 5-8, 2015.
Minutes taker Jacques Poot