| |
TEN YEARS OF YUGOSLAV MATERIALS
RESEARCH SOCIETY
Dragan Uskokovic
President of Yu-MRS
1. Society's background
Year
2005 denotes 10 years from the first Conference
dedicated to advanced materials, held in
this very hall during the September of
1995. 32 invited lectures and 68 posters
were presented by our scientists with the
attendance of around 100 Yugoslav participants.
That conference was an embryo from which
Yugoslav Materials Research Society stemmed.
To
understand the history of our Society,
it is necessary to go further back in time.
At the beginning of '90s of the last century,
our country was at the level of development
of middle-European countries and at the
entrance to European Union. We had a remarkable
scientific and technological cooperation
with the whole of Europe, Americas and
the countries of the so-called East, whereby
our scientists were considered by foreign
officials as their highly respected partners.
As in the times of the Cold War, our country
was a unique oasis where scientists from
both East and West gathered, spoke of their
results, debated correctness of their theories
and slowly established contacts on the
road to the present globalization. This
city and this hall, if they only could,
would tell you striking stories about the
first encounters of distinguished Soviet
scientists with their western colleagues.
Many
of you might still remember that from 1969
to 1989, in this very city, all of the
most important international names from
the field of science of sintering were
regularly meeting at then famous Round
Table Meeting on Sintering, later to become
known as the World Conference on Sintering.
Many such examples, not only from the field
of materials, might be revoked today. However,
all that crumbled due to strategically
irrational policy of our state leaders
from the beginning of 1990s, resulting
in the breakdown of Yugoslavia, in civil
wars, in horrifying crimes whose victims
force every honest intellectual to bow
before them. After the sanctions imposed
to Yugoslavia by United Nations in June
1992, the country went into deep isolation
and Serbian scientists were left all alone,
creatively leaning on each other with sporadic
individual contacts with foreign colleagues
and difficult, almost impossible ways to
publish their results in international
journals.
We
should also be remembering the well-known
intensification of the development of materials
science, starting from the middle of the
20th century. The first and most significant
impulse was given by American scientists
founding their Materials Research Society
(MRS) in 1973. Ten years later, in 1983,
European Materials Research Society (E-MRS)
was founded, with other MRS societies worldwide
springing into existence. MRS Conferences
in Boston with large number of symposia,
served as examples of outstanding organization
of research presentations to many other
countries. It was a strong incentive to
us as well, so that at the beginning of
1995, a group of our scientists, engaged
in various fields of materials researches
- including physics, physical chemistry,
chemistry, ceramics, metals, polymers,
powders, thin films and crystals - decided
to organize the first conference on advanced
materials, where their own papers and reviews
of past and present researches, would be
presented. There were but a few who did
not support the idea which implicitly carried
a nucleus for the formation of our MRS.
It was either their opinion that materials
were well-represented within the existing
expert Societies, or the belief in our
weakness to cooperatively associate all
the domestic capacity in the field of materials.
Be that as it may, Herceg Novi, having
been a place to host many important domestic
and international scientific and cultural
events, was chosen as a city host of the
First Conference of Yu-MRS in September,
1995.
2. Birth and first days of Yu-MRS
The Agreement
reached during the First Materials Conference
in September 1995, was fulfilled in July
1997, just before the Second Conference,
when Yugoslav Materials Research Society
was legally registered. The organization
scheme was established in a way that
19 initial founders became members of
the Presidency. The President, Vice-Presidents
and General Secretary elected then, have
not changed. Several founding members
that ceased with active work were substituted
on their requests, but the number of
Presidency members remained the same. From
the beginning of this endeavor, we had
significant support from the Ministry of
Science, the Serbian Academy of Sciences
and Arts, and other institutions. Recently
departed, then President of the Serbian
Academy of Sciences and Arts, Prof. Aleksandar
Despić, was with us on first four
conferences (1995-2001), welcoming participants
and actively participating in their courses.
The major sponsor was the Institute of
Technical Sciences of the Serbian Academy
of Sciences and Arts, since the complete
logistics was from the day one practically,
provided from its resources. It is also
important to give credit to the Institute
for Chemistry, inorganic technology and
advanced materials CNR, Padua, Italy, that,
when we were in the dire financial situation,
enabled us to continue publishing the Proceedings,
covering publishing expenses of the 1999
and 2001 Conferences Proceedings.
3. Conferences Proceedings
Guided
from the very start by the idea that conferences
are being held, remembered for a while
and then forgotten in time, whereby Conference
Proceedings stay forever, we decided to
publish all the Proceedings in English,
from the First Conference on, with a renown
international publisher and distributor,
so that the presented works might find
their way to more important sites and wider
scientific audience.
Based
on the previous considerable experience
and an opus with number of international
publishers, we negotiated and came to agreement
with Trans Tech Publications to publish
our Proceedings in their Materials Science
Forum Edition (listed by the Institute
for Scientific Information - ISI), which
enabled significantly better permeance
of our publications to the international
public. The first four Proceedings comprised
40 papers in one volume, whereas the other
3 (counting this year's also) were published
in two volumes with around 90 papers. Approximately
450 papers published in these Proceedings
in the last 10 years, constitute a significant
opus that represents us creditably worldwide.
4. Yu-MRS today
Looking
back to our beginnings and seeing where
we are now, I think that we can be satisfied.
We succeeded to unite largest part of domestic
potential in this segment of scientific
activity, to slowly associate with it our
close international colleagues and, with
very limited and humble resources, to attune
this area with European and global courses.
This Conference Program, with more than
250 papers by authors from 35 countries
of all continents, speaks in favour of
that. During the previous 10 years, that
is since the first YUCOMAT '95 Conference,
we have transformed it from completely
national to essentially international conference.
As of the current, Seventh YUCOMAT 2005
Conference, an International Advisory Board
has been formed. From holding the Conference
every second year for the first 8 years,
after the Fifth, YUCOMAT 2003 Conference,
with as much doubt and uncertainty as belief
in vast latent potential within our community,
we decided to switch on to Annual Conferences,
expecting that we would set down to around
200-250 presented papers. In the same time,
we succeeded in having two volume Proceedings
for the previous three years, with 90-95
papers, one third of which are contributed
to foreign authors, and two thirds being
the papers prepared in our laboratories,
wherein we currently desire to equalize
this ratio, and that exactly at this conference.
Important international contacts were made
at these conferences, even at the times
of our most severe isolation, contributing
to the establishment of numerous official
and unofficial co-operations which, in
some cases, evolved into joint research
programs. We have attracted many of our
distinguished scientists from Diaspora,
who at first alone and then together with
their associates and colleagues, accepted
this conference as a forum of theirs and
an opportunity to present their latest
researches as well as to acquaint themselves
with fruitful news from here. That is,
for sure, the best way to achieve more
significant congeniality and mutual connection
between local and international research
programs. We have tried to give a great
support to young researchers through the
promotion of best PhD and Masters Theses,
and best oral and poster presentations.
The original practice, which was related
only to domestic young researchers, slowly
included international researchers as well,
so that now we have many young people coming
here from a far. We would wish that all
of them, after gaining an excellent education
and experience in prestigious international
universities and laboratories, return and
join us in our scientific research community.
5. Yu-MRS tomorrow
The
elementary goal our Society should attain
in future, is keeping an ever growing line
of progress and further internationalization
of the conferences. Beside numerous existing
conferences on materials world-wide, YUCOMAT
has to establish itself a steady place
in the calendar of international events
in this field, with the predominate role
of gathering both domestic researchers
and researchers from neighboring countries,
as well as the ones from all over the world.
This aim will certainly be achieved by
further reinforcement of our connections
to other MRS societies of the world. Our
Society must radiate, as was before and
as is now, positive energy in promoting
this field of science in our country and
abroad.
Within
this scope, our priority is to assist in
building the principles of excellence in
this field in our community. However, it
is difficult to expect this field to have
outlines of excellence in a country where
the funding for science are less then 10
euros per inhabitant. Raising these funds
to a level that matches countries of the
developed world, countries that we aspire
to become alike, takes us through a wise
path where local needs and international
co-operations are to be balanced ever so
well. Local promotion of the national program
of advanced materials and nanotechnologies
, as has been done in many countries, will
comprise a significant step on this route,
whereas the formation of small spin
off or start up companies
around the distinguished scientists with
appropriate achievements, would make suitable
conditions for the growth and development
of scientific knowledge into valuable industrial
products and technologies.
6. Conclusion
To
conclude, Yu-MRS is a very young society
comparing to other MRS societies and more
than hundred years-old prestigious scientific
societies hereabout and abroad. Nevertheless,
our success during the first 10 years raises
hopes that Yu-MRS has a future which opens
new horizons of research fruitfulness,
with potentials to enrich both domestic
and international scientific community
and the ordinary man.
As
I have already said, a large number of
individuals and institutions contributed
to the previous 10 years-journey of our
Society, and its growth to the present
level. On behalf of the Society and of
myself, I am expressing to them our most
sincere gratitude and am paying them enormous
respect for their persistence, perseverance
and faith with which in our country, the
one small and materially poor, but rich
with the spirit of creative people, we
shall build such a scientific community,
alike to the big and strong MRS societies
of the world.
7. References
The First YUCOMAT 1995, September
18-22, Herceg Novi
Advanced
Materials for High Technology Applications
Proceedings
published by Transtec Publication Ltd,
Materials
Science Forum Vol.214 (1996) 1-272
The Second YUCOMAT 1997, September
15-19, Herceg Novi
Advanced
Materials and Processes
Proceedings
published by Trans Tech Publication Ltd,
Materials
Science Forum Vols.282-283 (1998) 1-354
The Third YUCOMAT 1999, September
20-24, Herceg Novi
Trends
in Advanced Materials and Processes
Proceedings
published by Trans Tech Publication Ltd,
Materials
Science Forum Vol.352 (2000) 1-282
The Forth YUCOMAT 2001, September
10-14, Herceg Novi
Contemporary
Studies in Advanced Materials and Processes
Proceedings
published by Trans Tech Publication Ltd,
Materials
Science Forum Vol.413 (2003) 1-274
The Fifth YUCOMAT 2003, September
15-19, Herceg Novi
Progress in Advanced Materials and Processes
Proceedings published by Trans Tech Publication
Ltd,
Materials Science Forum Vols.453-454 (2004)
1-571
The Sixth YUCOMAT 2004, September
13-17, Herceg Novi
Progress in Advanced Materials and Processes
Proceedings published by Trans Tech Publication
Ltd,
Materials Science Forum Vol.494 (2005)
1-574
The Seventh YUCOMAT 2005, September
12-16, Herceg Novi
Proceedings will be published by Trans
Tech Publication Ltd, in their Materials
Science Forum Edition in two volumes
(2006)
All Proceedings are available on www.ttp.net. |
|
