Second Meeting in Budapest, Hungary, 18 August 1997

Chairman: Prof. K.Ch.A.M. Luyben

Opening
Prof. Karel Luyben opened the second meeting of the Section and welcomed all present (Present: 68, Apologies received: 9).  He introduced the members of the Board and shortly illustrated the activities of the past year. The Section now has a total of 140 members and 13 Task Groups, which are in the process of being formalised.

ESBES Symposium
The evaluation of the first ESBES Symposium of Dublin was presented, showing a considerable positive opinion on the programme and organisation of the event. There was a good representation from all European countries. The most important conclusions were:
92 % of respondents agreed that European Symposia on Biochemical Engineering Science from our Section should be run on a 2-yearly basis (i.e. alternating with ECB)
The award of Fellowships to a large number of  young scientists is a practice that should be continued

With issues to be discussed:
ESBES 96 was organised along EFB Working Party lines.
What will be the structural basis for future Symposia? (e.g. SBES Task Groups?)
How best can ESBES encompass all areas of Biochemical Engineering Science within a single cohesive event?
Following up the Fellowship matter, Prof. Luyben explained that for ESBES-1 the organising committee had been able to secure a large number of European grants from the European Science Foundation and the European Biochemical Engineering Network. Unfortunately, this is no longer possible and therefore it was proposed to find volunteers for each country to act as national coordinators. They should then try to secure a number of grants for young scientists of their country from a national funding agency. The national coordinators would also handle the selection, according to the national procedures and communication with the funding body and candidates. The meeting agreed and some members volunteered to be a national coordinator for their country.

Minutes
Minutes First Meeting of the EFB Section on Biochemical Engineering Science, Dublin, 20 September 1996.
The minutes of the First Section meeting were adopted without comments.

News from the Board and Working Rules Section
Prof. Luyben elucidated the Working Rules of the Section which were discussed in the EFB Executive Committee. Board members of the Section should be a member of a national Member Society of the EFB, but this is not a requirement for non-Board members. The Executive Committee had commented on the period of Board membership. The Board had discussed this and is now proposing a somewhat longer periodicy of three years, with a possible second period of three years. A vice-chairman chosen by the elected Board members will after one and a half year become chairman for three years and then again vice-chairman for one and a half years. This way a good continuity can be achieved. Elections for Board members then have to be organised every three years. The meeting accepted this proposal and the Working Rules were adopted.

Task Groups reports
Prof. Bernhard Sonnleitner presented the Task Group: Synopsis of conventional and non-conventional bioprocess monitoring and the Task Group: Collection of simulation examples that are useful in research and teaching. More information on activities, members etc is available at: http://www.twi.ch/~snl .
Prof. Hans Tramper presented the Task Group: Biotransformations and Marin Berovic presented the first planned activity of the Task Group Courses; a summer school course on the island of Brac. The course "Bioreactor Engineering III" will be held from 27 September 1998 to 2 October 1998. Members going to the course and the 2nd ESBES in Porto will receive a reduction in fees. More information on: http://www.deb.uminho.pt/esbes2 .
Prof. Luyben invited attendants to sign up for a Task Group, if they had not already done so.

Symposium ESBES-2
Prof. Sebastiao Feyo de Azevedo presented the venue and organisation for the next ESBES Symposium, Porto. First announcements were handed out with the request to inform as many potential interested colleagues as possible. The selection of themes for the programme will be finalised at the next Board meeting in January 1998, for which Task Group leaders will also be invited. The second announcement including the full programme will be ready in March 1998. The latest information on the event and registration procedure can be found at : http://www.deb.uminho.pt/esbes2 .
The matter of timing in relation to the Section Course on Bioreactor Performance was discussed and it was agreed that better planning should be achieved in future.

Next meeting
The Next meeting will be held during ESBES-2 in Porto, on Thursday 17 or Friday 18 September 1998. Further details will follow.

Any other business & Close
No other matters were raised, Prof. Karel Luyben closed the meeting by thanking all for their contribution and inviting all to sign up for ESBES-2.

Drs P. Osseweijer, 5 November 1997