Vice President's Critical Assessment - 2001
INTRODUCTION
IUPAC was established in 1919 as a global, non-governmental, non-profit,
scientific organization. As such, it is the only worldwide organization
covering all fields of the chemical sciences. It is an honor and privilege
to acknowledge and pay tribute to the members of IUPAC, eminent scientists
whose sterling contributions have made such a difference to the status
and practice of chemistry. Over many years, your commitment and dedication
have enabled IUPAC to effectively serve the international educational,
research and industrial communities. In fact, IUPAC is unique among
the member unions of International Council for Science (ICSU) in its
close relationship to an industry.
IUPAC is sailing into new waters: we are changing from a familiar,
commission-based organization to one driven primarily by the inception
of individual projects, while retaining our absolute commitment to effectively
serving the worldwide scientific community. The success achieved in
the transformation is the result of concerted, intelligent efforts,
relying on the foresight and inspirational leadership of the recent
IUPAC presidents, Albert Fischli, Joshua Jortner and Alan Hayes, ably
supported by Secretary-General Ted Becker, and the IUPAC Secretariat.
I thank all the officers, bureau members, divisional presidents, chairmen
of standing committees, divisional managers and all the scientists for
their commitment and unstinting loyalty to IUPAC; the new IUPAC
will require even more dedication and commitment from all of us.
Most previous Vice-Presidential Critical Assessments (VPCAs) focused
on analyzing the various scientific activities of its seven divisions;
however, the VPCA of Joshua Jortner
also contained a strategic analysis of the scientific policy of the
Union. This seminal event in the history of IUPAC culminated in the
establishment of the Strategy Development and Implementation Committee
(SDIC). The ensuing IUPAC Strategic Plan was accepted by the Bureau
at its meeting [Frankfurt, September 1998] and by the IUPAC Council
[Berlin, August 1999].
The Strategic Plan was
recently updated for 2000-2001. A major outcome of the Strategic
Plan is embodied in a fundamentally different approach of IUPAC to its
operations, specifically the formal termination of its current commissions
at the end of this year and a focus on the execution of top quality
internationally and scientifically relevant projects. These actions
required the establishment of Project and Evaluation Committees, made
up of bureau members and effectively managed by Profs. G den Boef and
G Schneider, respectively.
This VPCA will not focus in any detail on the scientific activities
of the divisions, since the capable Divisional Committees (DCs) currently
assess these functions. Rather, this VPCA is directed to
- [II] the management of IUPAC;
- [III] the challenging areas of the chemical sciences;
- [IV] the core of the new IUPAC: a review of the project-driven system;
- [V] review of IUPAC's contribution to the advancement of research
in the chemical sciences;
- [VI] assessment of IUPAC's function in the development of effective
channels of communication in the international chemical community;
- [VII] Assessment of IUPAC's role in the service of chemistry in
both developed and developing countries, with an emphasis on Africa;
- [VIII] Conclusion: Highlights of 2000/2001, and recommendations
for 2002/2003.
