The working groups succeeded
differently for many aspects like different terms of reference,
different level of activity and also the participation in the
activities of the groups was extremely heterogeneous.
Interestingly no new working groups
have been formed in recent years although many new fields of animal
science have been initiated or in the same period increased in
importance, like aquaculture, for instance. Most of these new
activities are not sufficiently dealt with by the Study Commissions
or by the existing working groups, resulting in a decline of
interest in the EAAP main activities as, for instance, the main EAAP
Sessions.
It was also interesting to note that
in recent years no existing working group had significantly changed
in its terms of reference or had been terminated.
This poor dynamism probably resulted
in a lack of interest within and about the working groups. It has
been decided therefore to take actions to revitalize this important
part of our organization. The action decided was to update and
better focus the terms of reference of the working groups. In
particular, to include as important objectives or actions; the
organization of workshops, the publication of books and articles,
the dissemination through EAAP means and EAAP’s participation in
international projects.
It has been considered and suggested
to have more coordination with Study Commissions with several means
that have still to be detailed. To avoid too large or too small a
group, the number of participants has been fixed. To make the groups
more active and to allow anyone to participate, the number of years
of charges were fixed as well as the rule that all charges are
renewable only once.
At the Council meeting in Antalya,
the plan proposed by the Secretariat to reorganize the organization
and the activities of the Council working groups was approved. It
was also decided to wrap-up two working groups i.e. the Alternative
Production and the Curricula; both groups chaired by J.L. Tisserand
because they had met their objectives and their interest was
limited. The EAAP Council thanked J.L. Tisserand for his
longstanding and important activities within the EAAP family. The
Council also decided to ask C. Renieri, Professor at the University
of Camerino (Italy) to be the convenor of a possible new working
group named Animal Fibre. C. Renieri was asked to submit to the next
Council meeting, the terms of reference of the newly formed working
group, as well as a plan of activities and the list of its candidate
members. The Council also discussed the formation of another new
group about Companion Animals. More in- depth discussion about this
last subject will take place probably at the next Council meetings.
Newsletter
EAAP Secretariat was also active in
creating a ‘new’ EAAP Newsletter. EAAP used to produce a quarterly
Newsletter published by Elsevier until last year when, as a result
of a breakdown in negotiations the contract for both the journal and
the newsletter was terminated. Hence EAAP decided to take this
opportunity to update and improve, if possible, the format of the
Newsletter. The issue of the journal was resolved by creating a
consortium with two national organizations, INRA and BSAS, to
publish the new journal Animal.
Secondly, the Newsletter was still in our plan as an important tool
of communication and also to provide services to the EAAP scientific
community. Aimé Aumaitre (former EAAP President) has been appointed
as Chief Editor supported by the other editors: Jim Flanagan, Salah
Galal, Andrea Rosati and Cledwyn Thomas.
The organization of the Newsletter
has been planned and created by the Secretariat, in cooperation with
the Editors.
EU information web
page
EAAP has also worked to utilize
modern tools to reach the traditional objectives of our
organization, like the dissemination of science. We decided,
therefore, to improve the website to furnish a new service to EAAP
scientists. Amongst the most interesting information on the website
is more detailed news about EU supported projects, more efficient
search for R&D calls related to animal science.
We also started, as an interesting
activity, i.e. the ability to download from our website videos of
the main scientific presentations that take place during EAAP
Sessions, workshops and meetings, starting from those lectures that
we filmed in Antalya. This initiative should allow all those who
were not able to attend our workshops or Sessions to hear the most
important lectures as if they were really there. Of course EAAP
hopes that people will attend our sessions, but we also need to
think of those that were not able to come to our meetings. This is
why we developed this “virtual” participation which will enable them
to watch the interesting lectures given by some of the speakers. On
the other hand, for those who were present in our sessions and
workshops, being able to watch again the presentations is certainly
useful in order to go over the treated subjects.
Patenting Sentinel
and Action Service
Cooperation between the International
Committee for Animal Recording (ICAR) and EAAP has recently produced
an interesting initiative about patenting in animal recording and
genetic evaluation. The initiative, financially supported by ICAR,
set up an international network for exchange of information about
animal patenting.
The importance of patenting in animal
industry and science is growing. Specific legislation is different
among the countries and knowing the legal decisions taken elsewhere
can be very important for our own activities, either in the animal
industry or for research.
From this initiative there is the
possibility to continuously update the EAAP and ICAR scientific and
professional community on patent application and legislation from
all over the world. A system of monitoring of specific patent
applications of most interest is applied And this service allows the
user to ask independent experts, through e-mail, questions relating
to specific legislation or for updated information. The final
objective is to increase the efficiency of actions about specific
patenting applications.
ICAR and EAAP Secretariat produced a
specific website that we invite you to browse:
www.psas-web.net.
Other Activities
There were some more EAAP activities
undertaken in recent months. Among them we wish to point out:
1. Farm Animal Breeding (FABRE)
Technology Platform activities
