This past March 18th and 19th, the ISC main offices in Paris were the chosen location for the 3rd Meeting of the ISC Governing Board.
The meeting was attended by luminaries such as ISC President elect, Sir. Peter Gluckman; current President, Daya Ready; Heide Hackmann, Executive Director; Charles Erkelens, Operations Director; Mathieu Denis, Science Director; and other member of the ISC Central Office. Other attendants were the directors for all three regional offices, Manuel Limonta (ISC ROLAC), Daniel Nyanganyura (ISC ROA), and Mazlan Othman (ISC ROAP).
The general objective of this governing board meeting was to frame part of the analysis of the strategic functioning of the ISC and its regions after the ICSU-ISSC merger. Our office’s goal for the meeting was to participate along the other two regional offices in the discussions regarding the strategic aspects that have to do with the structure of the head office and its relationship with the regional offices. There was also a special meeting arranged on March 20th dedicated to the three regional offices. ISC ’s main office’s members werein attendance, and so was the regional strategy working group. It was also possible to move along the strategic discussion and functions of the head office, and also improve the relationship between regional offices and the head office.
Several issues were discussed with potential conflicts of interest. Some of the presentations were a CEO report, officials’ report with a brief input on her representatives’ functions on their behalf. ISC ROLAC was part of the discussions, and on March 20th, it made a presentation about the office and the perspectives of the office in front of the new structure of ISC that included some criteria of how we understand the office should work.
It was a very important event because it allows us to deepen much more the discussion and to arrive at the conclusions that allow us to do an effective work in this new association that was created. It is also an opportunity for the office to project ourselves in the search for a definition of work for the regional offices in this new conjuncture. There is a follow up meeting that will be held on June 18th and 19th at ISC HQs.