Asia-Pacific EPR/ESR Society – The First Ten Years

“A stronger Society would suit well the regional needs and ensure that a better coordination of individual efforts can be achieved”.

The 10th anniversary of establishment of the Asia-Pacific EPR/ESR (APE) Society, and the Asia-Pacific EPR/ESR Symposia (APES) organized every second year in a different Asian country, is an appropriate occasion to present briefly the history and current status of the Society. Electron paramagnetic, or spin, resonance (EPR or ESR) is an experimental technique originating from physics and nowadays is widely used in other areas from archaeology and chemistry to biology and materials science. The term electron magnetic resonance (EMR) is now often used to encompass both EPR and ESR, however, for historical reasons we have decided to retain the conventional nomenclature in the Society’s name.

The APE Society came into being during the First Asia-Pacific EPR/ESR Symposium (APES’97) held at the City University of Hong Kong, 20-24 January 1997. Both initiatives were the brainchild and spearheaded by the undersigned. The ideas of regular meetings and an umbrella society for the EMR community in the Asia-Pacific region were conceived in early 1990, shortly after my arrival to Hong Kong. They have been successfully implemented due to the dedicated effort of several researchers working as members of the Local Organizing Committee (LOC) and the International Organizing Committee (IOC) for the APES’97. We have seized an historic opportunity in the final months of the British colony, when the interest in Hong Kong was at the highest. Generous travel grants to participants from ‘dollar poor’ countries also helped significantly in bringing together many researchers. The first APES’97 was attended by about 140 participants from 22 different countries; 110 participants were from Asia-Pacific, Europe and North America, whereas 30 were from Hong Kong, Mainland China and Taiwan. There were 8 invited plenary lectures and 3 invited plenary talks, 114 oral presentations, and 69 poster presentations, comprising altogether 183 presentations. The materials from the conference were published in “Modern Applications of EPR/ESR: From Biophysics to Materials Science, The Proceedings of the First Asia-Pacific EPR/ESR Symposium, Hong Kong, 20-24 January 1997”, Springer-Verlag, Singapore (1998), pp. 1-666 (C. Rudowicz, Editor, and K. N. Yu and H. Hiraoka, Associate Editors).

The framework for the APE Society was planned in consultation with eminent scientists well in advance. At the Inaugural APE Society’s Meeting held during the APES’97 in Hong Kong sixty two researchers from the Asia-Pacific region elected the Provisional Council with C. Rudowicz as President, A. Kawamori as Vice-President, Y. Y. Yeung as Secretary, and H. Ohya-Nishiguchi as Treasurer, together with the Representatives from Australia/New Zealand, Japan, P. R. China, India, Russia (Far East), Rep. of Korea, and Vietnam. The APES became an Affiliate Society of the International EPR/ESR Society (IES) in March 1999. This affiliation brought us closer to the APES and IES Mission of uniting all EPR/ESR researchers.

Subsequent Symposia were organized under the auspices of the APE Society. During each Symposium a General APES Meeting was held, concluded by the election of the APE Society’s Council for the next term of office. The Second APES’99 was held at Zejiang University, Hangzhou, P.R. China, October 31 - November 4, 1999 with Y. Z. Xu as the chairman of the local committee. The Third APES’01 was held at Kobe University, Kobe, Japan, October 29 - November 1, 2001 under the chairmanship of the local committee of A. Kawamori. In addition two APES'01 Satellite Meetings were also organized: Symposium A:  2001 ESR Dosimetry and Dating (with M. Ikeya as Chairman of the LOC), and Symposium B: International Workshop on Advanced EPR Applied to Biosciences (with A. Kawamori chairing the LOC).

Due to the worldwide problems caused by the SARS disease, the APE Society’s Council decided in June 2003 to postpone the next meeting from November 2003 to November 2004. The Satellite International School on EPR Spectroscopy and Free Radical Research was organized prior to APES’04 at BARC in Mumbai, India, 17 - 20 November, 2004 (K. P. Mishra was the chairman of the LOC). The Fourth APES’04 was held at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India, 22 –25 November, 2004, with S. V. Bhat as the chairman of LOC (a photograph of the newly elected Council is below).

APES Council elected in Bangalore, November, 2004; from the left: K. P. Mishra G. R. Hanson, C. Rudowicz, E.G. Bagryanskaya, H. Ohta, J. R. Pilbrow, T. Nakamura, S. Yamauchi, and Y. Li

The General Meeting of the APE Society held during APES’04 also marked an important change at the helm of the Society. As required by the APE Society’s Constitution, C. Rudowicz stepped down, and H. Ohta was elected as the next President. During this Symposium the outgoing President was presented the Silver Medal “in recognition of outstanding contribution to founding and fostering APES” and Recognition Diploma from the IES “for his contributions to the EPR community as the Founder and President of the Asia-Pacific EPR/ESR Society 1997 – 2004 and initiating the Asia-Pacific EPR/ESR Symposium Series”. Notably, the American Physical Society (Forum on International Physics) awarded the APS Fellowship to C. Rudowicz in November 2004; citation reads: “For his significant contributions to optical and EMR spectroscopy of transition ions and outstanding leadership in promoting international meetings and collaborations as Founder and President of the Asia-Pacific EPR/ESR Society.”

The fifth APES’06 was held in Akademgorodok at the Novosibirsk Science Center, Novosibirsk, Russia, 24-27 August, 2006, where S. A. Dzuba was the chairman of the LOC. The APES Council for the term 2006-2008 elected at the General Meeting is presented below,

President - H. Ohta
Vice-Presidents - S. A. Dzuba and G. R. Hanson
Founding President & Immediate Past President – C. Rudowicz
Secretary/Treasurer - T. Nakamura
Country Representatives:
Australia/New Zealand - G. R. Hanson
Japan - S. Yamauchi
P. R. China - Y. Li
India - P. S. Rao
Korea - S. O. Kang
Vietnam - N. T. Tai
Russia (Far East/Siberia) – E .G. Bagryanskaya
Advisory Council Member - K. P. Mishra

We cordially invite you to participate in the sixth Asia Pacific EPR/ESR Symposium, which will be held in Cairns, Australia from July 13 to 18 of 2008 and promises to be an exciting conference. APES’08 aims to address all aspects of EPR/ESR ranging from theoretical and experimental advances in CW (continuous wave) EPR/ESR, pulsed EPR, high frequency and high field EPR, ENDOR (electron nuclear double resonance), time resolved EPR, FMR (ferromagnetic resonance), MRI (magnetic resonance imaging), and ODMR (optically detected magnetic resonance) to applications in medicine, biology, chemistry and materials science. More information concerning the conference will be available shortly through the APE Society website (or alternatively, please contact the Co-Chair, G. Hanson at <Graeme.Hanson@cmr.uq.edu.au>.

The Asia-Pacific EPR/ESR Society has grown from its 62 Founding Members in 1997 to about 210 members in 2007. Apart from the website, the APE Society maintains a membership database as well as the Directory of EPR/ESR Facilities to enable easy access to the information network among EMR researchers in the Asia-Pacific region. To ensure the smooth continuation of its activities, the Constitution of the APE Society was worked out early on (The Constitution is available on the website).

One may ask what has the APE Society accomplished during these ten years? Organization of the consecutive Symposia (APES’97-06) and the respective Schools has required a tremendous effort on the part of many researchers. Thus my sincere thanks go to the members of all Local Organizing Committees who by securing funds in their respective countries and with perfect logistics have made these events possible and successful. The main aim of our Symposia is to bring together as many EPR/ESR spectroscopists as possible and to promote and facilitate collaboration among the EPR/ESR community. This is especially important in the Asia-Pacific region, where several countries are developing and most researchers could hardly attend conferences in Europe or the USA. The fact that both the Society and Symposia have a solid foundation and still serve the EPR/ESR community after the first ten years is an accomplishment, indeed. The current President, H. Ohta, deserves our gratitude for his skillful upholding of the traditions worked out collectively since the inception of the APE Society in 1997. It is hoped that the APE Society will grow in strength for many years to come.

There are no membership fees. The Society is open to all researchers from the Asia-Pacific region, including Russia Siberia/Far East, who are active in the EPR/ESR area or have an interest in the applications of the EPR/ESR techniques. A stronger Society would suit well the regional needs and ensure that a better coordination of individual efforts can be achieved. Hence, we shall strengthen the Society’s membership. May I invite all colleagues, who are not yet members, to express their interest in becoming members of the Asia-Pacific EPR/ESR Society. A Membership Form is available on the Society’s homepage in the section About the Society. Please download the Membership Form, fill in and send by email to <apes@kobe-u.ac.jp>.

Czesław Rudowicz
Founding President & Immediate Past President,
The Asia-Pacific EPR/ESR Society
President, Polish EPR Group (April 2007 – present)
Fellow of APS (nominated by FIP)
Professor and Head of Modeling in the Spectroscopy Group,
Institute of Physics,
Szczecin University of Technology [SUT],
Al. Piastów 17,
70-310 Szczecin, POLAND;
Email: crudowicz@ps.pl