Minute for the 28th AONSA Executive Committee Meeting
Date: 18 June 28 (Saturday), 2022
Time: Sydney 14:00 -; Japan & Korea 12:00 -; China 11:00 -; Indonesia 10:00 -; India 8:30 Place: Online via ZOOM (hosted by D. L. Cortie in Australia)[Board Members]
Taku J Sato (President; JSNS, Tohoku U)
S. M. Yusuf (Vice-president; NSSI; BARC)
Dongfeng Chen (Past President; CNSS; CIAE)
Jae-Ho Chung (Communications; KNBUA; Korea U)
Hsiung Chou (Treasurer; TWNSS National Sun Yat-Sen U)
David Cortie (Secretary; ANBUG, U. Wollongong)[Members]
Yun Liu (ANBUG, Australian NU)
Hesheng Chen (CNSS; IHEP)
Kazuhisa Kakurai (JSNS, CROSS)
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Dhananjai Pandey (NSSI; ITT BHU)
Chun-Chuen Yang (TWNSS; Chung Yuan Christian University)[Observers]
Jamie Schulz (ANSTO)
Fangwei Wang (CSNS)
Toshiya Otomo (J-PARC/KEK)
Andrey Gubkin (M.N. Mikheev Institute of metal physics)
Kenji Nakajima[Special Observers]
Hideki Seto (AONSA Office; KEK)
Evvy Kartini (INSS, BATAN)[Apologies]
Tracy Rushmer (ANBUG; Macquairie U)

Schedule
June 18 (Saturday) on Sydney local time
14:00-14:10 Opening Remark (T. Sato)
14:10-14:15 Approval of Agenda
14:15-14:20 Report on the Minutes of the 27th AONSA ECM on ZOOM (J.-H. Chung)
14:20-15:30 Discussion and Decisions
15:30-15:45 Coffee Break
16:00-16:30 Facility Reports (Summary from FDM)
16:30-17:50 Reports from Neutron Associations
17:50-18:00 Closing Remark (T Sato)2

Items for Discussions and Decisions
1. Opening-Taku Sato opened the meeting and welcomed the delegates and observers.

2. Process matters- Agenda was approved.
3. Formal matters-Taku Sato, the AONSA president, pointed out that there are open spots on theAONSA board for representatives from China and Indonesia.
Taku Sato and Dongfeng Chen confirmed that Dongfen will act as the board member
from China
Tako Sato has contacted Evvy Kartinni (INSS) and is asking for additional potential
candidates from Indonesia, intending to build stronger links to the Indonesiancommunity.

4. Report from the AONSA Office (Appendix 2)-

Misono, Fujii who ran the AONSA office for several years has moved to a newrole.

-AONSA will send a gift of appreciation to Misona
KEK IMSS has decided to take running over the AONSA office from JPARC, andAmma Mutsu is now running the office-One of the worthwhile goals in the future is to simplify bank the accounts

5. Report on the Minutes from 287th AONSA ECM-Jae-ho Chung presented the draft minutes of the previous EC meeting (27 ECmeeting).
The EC is asked to please approve minutes by 24 June, and they will be finalized
Jae-ho encourages all attendees to send their reports files for record-keeping

Financial matters – Treasurer Hsiung Chou, Appendix 1 Link3

-Balance of AONSA account is 10,972 447 JPY at end of November, 2021. Afterannual fees (paid from 6 societies) and donations and other income in 2022, 13,091
255.

-Total balance is now 12,371,691 in JPY as of June 2022
Expenses were low due to COVID 19 in 2021
Although balance has increased in JPY, when converted to USD, the balance in theaccount has decreased due to the exchange range-Hsiung Chou: banking in Japanese Yen leads to loss, possibly better to convert USIn real terms, our assets are decreasing due to currency exchange issues
Hsiung Chou suggested we try to transfer to US $ in the future
Hsiung Cho presented the plan for expenses for 2022
Given budget constraints, Hsiung Chou recommended that the AONSA mid-careeraward be constrained to less than 10,000 USD every two years, and prize should only
support 1 person (not two) for travel purposes
The treasurer highlighted the very high cost for AONSA prize (almost $15,000)
The AONSA prize fund now has 5,070,065 JPY ($37 567)
Taku Sato agreed we need new clearer rules for the future to prevent high cost of
AONSA prize support in the future. He agreed that support should only support thewinner only (not two people). Reasonable maximum: $5000 support.
After discussion amongst the EC (D Pandey, Cortie, Yusuf), all agree a total of$11,000 for a single individual: $5000 for prize, $6000 maximum for travel support.
This will be added to the rules in the future.

---5. AONSA Prize 2023 (Appendix 5) (about 35 minutes)- DC: The awards will be presented at the International Conference of NeutronScattering( ICNS 2022) Award presentation. Jamie Schulz and Taku Sato will try togo in person to give the prize. Other members (Jae-Ho Chung, Yun Liu) may also go.
-Taku Sato provided the time for AONSA award ceremony and lecture: Wed 24 2022,
16:30-17:00 (Argentinian time) followed by ENSA and NSSA Prize ceremony andlectures. After AONSA Prize and lecture, ENSA and NSA will deliver the prize andlecture-The ceremony will be accessible remotely in hybrid mode.

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-SM Yusuf has called for selection committee members for the AONSA prize. Possible
nomination for the committee includes Prof Vanessa Peterson (ANBUG), ProfHesheng (CNSS), Prof Agung Nugroho (INSS), Prof H Seto (JSNS), Prof Choi(KBUA)-No response for TWNNS yet, SMY gas followed up via email, some confusion
between nomination for the committee, and nomination for the award. SMY will
follow up.

-CC Yang: will email nomination fort TWNSS
SMY queried why we only 6 people on the committee, given that we have moremember societies. Taku Sato clarified that the chairperson is counted outside of the 6,represents their own country so that each national society / member society can haveequal representation

7. AONSA Young Research Fellows-(YRF)SM Yusuf shared the nominations for the AONSA YRF committee: Prof G McIntyre(ANBUG) , Prof Chuyong He (CSNS), Dr Edy Putra (INSS),

Dr Ji Y So (KNBUA),Dr Seong DAe (KNBUA)), Dr Ranjan Mittal (NSSI) (46 minutes)-As there are two nominations from KNBUA only one can be selected. Additionalnomination are still required from TSNSS.

-D Pandey suggests that if there are not sufficient candidates nominated, then chair can
co-opt an additional member.

-TS confirmed this is possible, co-opted member must be approved by EC but hasequal voting rights-TS pointed out that AONSA has a statement of diversity and equity, and we needgender balance in the committee. He asked if the YRF committee has any female
members? YL, yes in AONSA award, but not for the YRF. TS suggested that chair
should find female member to join YRF committee.

-DP said in future when we invite nominations, as matter of policy, we shouldcommunicate clearly, as matter of policy, that we request females’ members to join thecommittee-JS suggests each committee should nominate one male: one female per society. This
will help achieve parity. TS agrees with this goal.

-SMY expressed concern if we have a strict rule, we may not get sufficient nominees at5

all. SMY instead we should strongly encourage but have no strict rule. TS agrees
some societies would find this difficult, instead lets strongly encourage it. HC agreeswe should strongly recommend, 1 male, 1 female.
8. AONSA Mid Career award-Taku Show presented the revised wording for the new award for Mid-Career ScientificAward, which will be renamed to the “AONSA Science Award”-

TS: This award will be awarded every 2 years to mid-career to demonstrate impact inscientific or instrument achievements, holding a PhD-

Several members of the Executive Committee (David Cortie, Taku Sato, Yun Liu D
Pandey, Yusuf, Kazuhisa Kakurai) discussed the eligibility period 8-18 years after PhD,
and whether a possible age limit (45/50 years) should appluy.

-TS: points out that diversity and equity is not only about gender, but also about age.
DC, TS,KK, SMY, YL, KK, discussed whether an age limit should also be imposed(45/50). TS advocated strongly for no age limit. After much discussion, members agree
we only consider years after PhD, not age of candidate to avoid any age discrimination.

-YL, TS and DP suggest emphasizing scientific achievement in wording “includinginstrument achievements”.

-TS clarified that the same prize committee will select awardees for AONSA Science
Prize and AONSA award-EC agreed to: revised age window to 8-20 years. Decided it was possible to share theprize if several equally viable candidates are found.

-TS will circulate final wording. EC committee will approve the revised wording on theAONSA Prize Award. Prize will run for first time in 2023.

9. Asia-Oceania Neutron School-Fang Wei Wang gave an update. Due to the epidemic, the school, which was supposed
to run in 2021, has been postponed. FW discussed options about whether to delay in2023 after AOCNS conference or run in 2022, possibly in hybrid/online format.

-The committee discussed possibilities for in-person versus remote school
A committee poll revealed 70% of people preferred in-person school if possible.
Jae-Ho Chung pointed out that only facilities can run in-person school, however inprinciple AONSA EC could potentially run the school remotely this year.
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-Toshiya Otomo pointed out school has not run for 3 years (since 2019).
The executive committee and the TS (president) firmly wanted a school to run, even if
it was necessary to use an online format this year

-Hideki Seto pointed out online lecture as JSNS was very effective for Neutron andMuon School-

FW: the possible date for AONSA neutron school nominated as in November
TS and DC confirmed the choice about the school is finally at the discretion of thefacility CNS. TS proposed that EC request that CNS hosts online school, and this will
be supported by AONSA members.

-All EC member agree to support online school this year.
H Chen suggested to create an online library of lectures for the future.
Resolved to discuss offline via email to finalize the decision with FW/CSNS

10. AONSA Newsletters and Homepage (Appendix 2, at this Link)-Jae-ho Chung, the new incoming public relations officer, showed new website is upand running.

-In the process of revising the layout.
Showed several updates.
Requested newsletter items by July 8th, please submit to jaehc@korea.ac.kr. Proposed
item as below.

-J-H.C mentioned that anyone from the relevant societies/facilities could make asubmission, not only the people named above.

11. Activities Related to SE Asia and Other Non-member Countries-TS and DF: no update on this point.

12. Report on the 23rd Neutron Facility Directors Meeting (Appendix 3, Link)-Jamie Schulz (who was the chair of the meeting) provided a summary (as per the7

attached slides in Appendix 3).
-The meeting was held on June 2017
The chair for the next two years of FDM will be Kai Sun
Toshiya Otomo mentioned that facilities are facing a shortage of natural helium
challenge. Asked if this was a problem for all other facilities. Some discussion ofthis point, but the consensus was that it varied from region to region.

13. Cooperation with IUCr and IAEA 2:56
-Taku Sato has been on the magnetic structure commission, but now has stepped
down in advisory role.

-

Taku Sato: possible option for a magnetic structure school and introductory
session I the future.

-David Cortie asked if is is possible to ask an IUCR member to give a lecture at theAONSA the school.

14. Cooperation with NSSA and ENSA
-Decision taken to postpone the ICSN2021 in Argentina to August 21-25, 2022,ICNS(2022)-Joint award presentation will be held at the ICNS.

-The goal will also to invite members from the NSSA and ENSA to present at theAONSA school

15. Cooperation with AOFSRR-Taku Sato and Dongfen CHen not aware of current joint activities.
Nothing to update. EC queries who are suitable contact swith AOFSRR.
Jamie Schulz pointed out Andrew Peele (involved as previous chair of theAOFSRR) could be possibly give guidance on who to interact within the Asia
Oceania Forum for Synchrotron Radiation Research.

16. Promotion of diversity in AONSA-David Cortie points out that diversity on AONSA board is not sufficient, and urgently
need female representatives-

DC discussed the option of advertise open positions.
Executive committee discussed option for creating travel scholarships for people fromdiverse backgrounds (ECRS and females) to join the board and EC meetings.
8-YL points out diversity is not merely gender diversity, but also age, regional
background, and career stage.

-TS points out that we have the statement of diversity, we now need to realise it

17. Calendar of AONSA Activities-

David Cortie presented preliminary calendar (see Appendix A, at the end of theminutes)-

Executive Committee agreed that hybrid format, a combination of in-person andvirtual meetings, will be adopted in the future.

-

Executive Committee supported hybrid modes in the future as it allows people who
cannot travel to attend.

18. Venue for the 29th EC / FDM Meetings-

David Cortie presented that we will aim for a hybrid meeting in November for the 29thEC meeting-

Taku Sato pointed out the previous decision was to run the meeting in Indonesia, willcontact Evvy Kartini to see if it can be run online/inperson in Indonesia.

-Jame Schulz mentioned that if Indonesia cannot host, could potentially AONSA FDM/ EC meeting in JPARC, after JPARC neutron school-SM Yusuf indicated willingness for NSSI to host a neutron EC meeting, in India,
suggested this could run after a neutron school for maximum benefit

19. Reports from Neutron Associations and communities (approx. 3:20)-ANBUG: Yun Liu delivered an update about ANBUG update – Appendix 4, Link
CNSS: Hesheng Cheng provided report from the China Neutron Scattering Society(3:36) , Appendix 5, Link

-INSS: Indonesian Neutron Scattering Society– No representative, E.K is an apology(3:53)-

JSNS: Kazu Kakuria presented the update for the Japanese Society for Neutron Science:.
He mentioned they implemented the AONSA diversity statement with a similarstatement propagated in to the JSNS. Slides available in Appendix 6, Link

-Jae-ho Chung provide the update on the Korean Neutron Beam Users Association(KNBUA).

-NSSI:S M Yusuf provided the updated for the Neutron Scattering Society of India,9Appendix 8, Link-

TWNSS: The update was deliver by Chung-Chuen Yang, Appendix 9, Link
Rosneutro: updated provided by Andrey Gubkin, Appendix 10, Link

-Thailand – no representative this time

-Malaysia – no representative this time

20. Closure of the Meeting-Taku Sato closed the meeting and thanked the delegates.

10Appendix A: Calendar of AONSA Activities

Year 2022
Date

Events

TBD
November

23rd Facility Directors’ Meeting (Zoom)

TBD
November

29th AONSA EC Meeting (Indonesia)

TBD
November

12th AONSA Neutron School (CSNS, China)

Year 2023
DateEvents

June 16

25st Facility Directors’ Meeting (ZOOM)

June 1730th AONSA EC Meeting (ZOOM)

TBD

26nd Facility Directors’ Meeting (ZOOM)

TBD

31th AONSA EC Meeting (ZOOM)

Dec 2 –Dec83

4th Asia-Oceania Conference on Neutron Scattering, Royal Garden Hotel,Dongguan, China11