by In the poll, I diid after my election in 2022 but before my taking office on 15 September 2023 90 members participated answering my questions on how to modernize the Academy and transform it into an association considers useful by all its members. With the creation of three working groups for rewriting the statutes, the internal rules, the rules for the awards, the membership structure, the rules for becoming a member, and the rules for the fees in Fall 2024, the Council made an important step forward in this direction.
The replacement of the current contradictory, imprecise and incomplete statutes and internal rules by new statutes and internal rules that are clear, agree between the French and English versions and avoid the many pitfalls for a successful working of the Academy found in the current documents while being a very important step yes not guarantee, however, that all members feel the organization is useful, meaningful and provides services they appreciate.
Hence, as I already state at the General Assembly in Athens, I wish to invite volunteers to discuss which kins of outreach activities the Academy should undertake. I think a small working of up to 10 members from all continents would be a suitable means to start such a discussion. If you are interested to participate, please, contact me either via a comment here or with a message to my current official email address: sbrentjes@ias.edu.
One such step I have already undertaken during my stay at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton this year. Helmut Hofer and Akshay Venkatesh agreed to organize together with AIHS-IAHS and the International Commission for the History of Mathematics a hybrid event at IAS on 20 September 2024 on a topic of contemporary history of mathematics. Kaen Parshall agreed to take part in the preparation of this event for AIHS-IAHS, for which I thank her very much. The Council has approved of this novelty.
I hope once the official invitation to this event will be posted those of you interested in the topic will contribute distributing it and of course take part in thee event itself.
Sonja
