President's Page
Brussels, 8 January 2012
Dear ELGRA Members,
I would like to send
you my best season greetings and wish to all of you a healthy and prosperous
New Year with a lot of interesting projects, their original solutions and great
findings.
2011 was the year of our ELGRA Symposium and General Assembly, which was held
in Antwerp, Belgium. Thanks to the efforts of all and mainly of the local organizing
committee, this meeting was a real success. We particularly appreciated the
participation of our friends from outside Europe, of which many from Japan and
Russia and China. The publication related to the Symposium, to appear soon,
will give a snapshot of today’s best European space-related activities
in Life and Physical Sciences.
The decisions to be taken at the Ministerial Council meeting in the fall of
2012 are likely to be very important and critical for our community. The present
economic crisis is obviously a tough time for the funding of scientific research.
ELGRA members’ professional activities are associated with ESA programs
and, correspondingly, with a new ELIPS 4 program that will emerge after this
Ministerial meeting.
We will have to work together to increase efficiency, to focus our efforts on
obtaining and disseminating high standard results and to reinforce the leading
position of Europe in Life and Physical Sciences under microgravity conditions.
I again wish you great success in your initiatives for this decisive year!
Yours sincerely,
Valentina Shevtsova
President of ELGRA