Minutes of the 31st General Assembly of the SCS

April 15, 2021, 13:15-13:50, online meeting via Zoom. The minutes are also published in CHIMIA 5/2021.

  1. Welcome; Approval of the Agenda

During the lunch break of the online SCS Spring Meeting David Spichiger, SCS Executive Director, opened the assembly and welcomed all members/attendees. Due to the Corona restrictions that are still in place, the assembly took place as an online meeting. Legal formalities were all fulfilled, and the assembly was quorate. Item 9. ‘Membership fees 2022’ was added to the agenda as this item was missing in the invitation. The agenda was approved.

  1. Accepting online vote counting

17 SCS members participated in the virtual meeting. The director proposed to vote and elect with the Zoom voting tool and the assembly approve the proposal. 

  1. Minutes from the 30th GA from June 24, 2020

The minutes were published in CHIMIA (2020, 74, No. 7-8, A635f). The minutes were approved with 13 votes in favor and one abstention.

  1. Annual report 2020

The annual report was published in CHIMIA (2021, 75, No. 1-2, A142ff). It was approved unanimously.

  1. Financial report 2020 and audit report

David Spichiger presented the financial statement. Incomes of CHF 1’092’723 and expenses of CHF -1’223’967 result in an operating loss before taxes of CHF -131’244. The portfolio at Bank von Graffenried performed well and resulted in a value increase of CHF 87’313. Taking into account taxes and non-periodic income and expenses of -4’048, an overall loss of CHF -48’160 resulted.
The SCS funds profited from the positive development at the stock markets as well and an overall surplus of CHF + 46’962 resulted.
As of 31.12.2020 the assets summed up to CHF 4’515’923.

Audit Report:
In the audit report from March 10, 2021, provided by BDO AG, Bern, no inconsistencies are mentioned, and the financial statement fulfills the legal requirements according to the SCS bylaws and the Swiss Civil law.
The assembly approved the financial statement 2020 and the audit report with 16 votes in favor and one abstention.

  1. Discharge the Organs of the Society

The assembly discharged the board members and the financial audit unanimously with one abstention. 

  1. Elections: SCS Executive Board, ExB (and BoD)

Alain De Mesmaeker, SCS President, presented the changes to the Executive Board (ExB) and the Board of Directors (BoD) and introduced the candidates. The assembly elected the following members to the ExB unanimously. As ExB members, they also take a seat on the Board of Directors ex-officio:

  • Dr. Christian Bochet, University of Fribourg, currently Vice-President, was elected as SCS President as of 1. January 2022. He succeeds Dr. Alain De Mesmaeker who steps down after six years in charge.
  • Yves Auberson, Novartis, was elected as new member of the Board of Directors and member of the Executive Board as of 1. May 2021. He was also elected as new Vice-President as of 1. January 2022. As a member of the Executive Board, Yves Auberson is granted joint signature with a second ExB member.
  • Hans Peter Lüthi, was elected with reservation to continue his mandate as member and treasurer until the ExB appoints a successor. Hans Peter has to step down after 9 years in office. 

  1. Elections: SCS Board of Directors, BoD, and Financial Audit

The assembly elected the following members to the BoD with 15 votes in favor and one abstention:

  • Dr. Christoph Copéret, ETH Zurich, Swiss Representative in the EuChemS ExB, no signatory right.
  • Maud Reiter, Firmenich SA, Member, no signatory right.
  • Corinne Jud, Agroscope, Member, no signatory right.
  • Leslie Fendt, F. Hoffmann-La Roche, Member, no signatory right.

The assembly confirmed the elections of the divisional assemblies and elected the following persons to the BoD unanimously:

  • Dr. Jean-Louis Reymond, University of Bern, representative of the DMCCB, Member, no signatory right.
  • Dr. Harm-Anton Klok, EPFL Lausanne, representative of the DPCI, Member, no signatory right.
  • Dr. Eric Bakker, University of Geneva, representative of the DAS, Member, no signatory right.
  • Benjamin Ries, ETH Zürich, representative of the youngSCS, no signatory right.

The following BoD members stepped down and the entries in the commercial register will be deleted with immediate effect.

  • Dr. Sandrine Gerber, EPFL Lausanne, Member
  • Martin Vollmer, Clariant AG, Member

Dr. Alain De Mesmeaker will step down as SCS President as of 31. December 2021 and his entry in the commercial register will be deleted afterwards.

The assembly confirmed BDO AG, Bern unanimously as audit instance for the financial statement 2021. 

  1. Membership fees

The annual membership fees 2022 were approved unanimously:

  • Regular member CHF 150.00
  • Student member CHF 50.00
  • Retired member / unemployed members CHF 80.00
  • Institutional member (institutions) CHF 800.00
  • SCS Partnership (institutions) CHF 3’000.00

Additional Fees for Divisions

  • Industrial & Applied Chemistry - Regular  CHF 20. 00
                                                                          - Company  CHF 100.00
  • Photochemistry Section - Regular  CHF40.00
                                                            - Student   CHF 20.00

15% discount on collective memberships for university research groups.

  1. News and Strategic Projects

The Board of Directors decided on the following, strategic initiatives that will be pushed the coming months:

  • Establish recently implemented networks like the …
  • Material Sciences (Lead Maksym Kovalenko)
  • Chemical Ecology (Lead Matthias Erb)
  • Flow Chemistry (Lead Claudio Battilocchio)
  • Artificial Intelligence (Lead Thorsten Luksch)
  • Transform the DAS Education Course Organization into the SCS Academy (Lead David Spichiger and Esther Wolff)
  • Industry jobs for PhD, Internships for MSc (Lead Hans Peter Lüthi)
  • SCS Partnership / SCS Industrial Science Awards (Lead David Spichiger)
  • Managing the late effects of the pandemic

  1. Outlook 2021/22

  • In 2021 sixteen conferences and symposia took place or will take place either onsite or online under the direct organization of SCS. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, 2 events and most SCS Lectureship tours are postponed to 2022.
  • The list of all events is updated regularly and is available on http://scg.ch/events.

  1. Varia

No requests to speak were requested from the audience. The Director thanked for the confidence and closed the meeting.

Bern, April 15, 2021

Dr. Alain De Mesmaeker               David Spichiger  
President                                                Executive Director