Dear ICIAM colleagues and friends,
On Saturday, September 13, the annual ICIAM Board Meeting was held in Hanoi, Vietnam. It was preceded by a two-day workshop featuring 26 contributions, including presentations from organizations seeking ICIAM membership. Both the workshop and the meeting were excellently organized by our Vietnamese hosts, VIASM and VMS. On Wednesday, September 10, I had the honour of giving a public lecture at the Hanoi University of Science, a highly regarded institution with many students who have distinguished themselves with IMO gold, silver, and bronze medals.
The workshop and Board Meeting were well attended by many of our member societies, and we are most grateful to those who undertook what, for some, was a very long journey. We also extend our gratitude to Hiraku Nakajima, President of the IMU, for joining both the workshop and the Board Meeting. The in-person presence of so many societies fostered excellent discussions, not only during the sessions but also throughout the breaks, lunches, and dinners.
At the Board Meeting, several important decisions were made:
- Busan was selected as the venue for the ICIAM 2031 Congress.
- Sven Leyffer was elected as the new President-Elect.
- SIAM was confirmed as the publisher of the ICIAM Proceedings.
- The 2026 budget was approved.
- Officers’ reports were approved, noting that we have transitioned to a committee-based structure for various topics and activities.
- The bylaws were revised to allow more organizations to apply for ICIAM membership.
- One organization was admitted as new member: SMCCA (Mexico)
We also bid farewell to Ya-xiang Yuan, president of ICIAM in the period 2019-2023, and expressed our deep gratitude for his many contributions to ICIAM. He was presented with a beautiful artwork created by a Dutch mathematical artist.
The joint IMU–ICIAM papers on fraudulent publishing were briefly discussed during the meeting. These papers, published in the Notices of the AMS and also available on arXiv, are mentioned also later in this newsletter. We kindly ask all member societies to distribute these publications within their communities, as we believe they are highly relevant and will significantly influence our collective approach to this important issue.
As mentioned earlier, we have strengthened our organizational structure by adopting a committee-based approach. We warmly invite member societies to contribute by nominating representatives for these committees. In particular, we are currently seeking members for:
- The Funding Committee, which will identify sources of support for current and future activities.
- The Education Committee, which will guide and coordinate educational initiatives.
We would greatly appreciate nominations from your societies for these committees.
On behalf of all ICIAM officers, I wish to thank the member societies who participated in this year’s Board Meeting, and especially professor Linh Vy Hoang for the fantastic organisation and the great hospitality. The 2026 Board Meeting will be held online on September 18, and I encourage presidents and representatives of our member societies to mark this date in your calendars. The following year, in 2027, the Board Meeting will once again be held in person, following the ICIAM Congress, on Saturday, July 17, 2027.
Thank you all very much for your continued contributions and engagement.
With best regards,
Wil Schilders
President of ICIAM