The E.T.R.S. has always been a strong advocate of multidisciplinary interests in the research and management of wounds and tissue repair, and this commitment is reflected in the varied expertise of its membership. The annual meetings of our society provide a forum for discussion and exchange of ideas that you won't find at meetings organized by societies of individual disciplines. Keith Harding and his local organising team are putting together an interesting programme which will certainly please the audience due to the variety of themes presented at the general lectures, reviews, free communications, poster discussion sessions. A new initiative is the teaching sessions. At a time of rapid and permanent scientific progress, congresses play a unique role in the progress of continuing education. In the coming years, we are going to make great efforts to improve education. I hope you will enjoy and participate to this fascinating evolution. The teaching sessions are aimed at younger people, and at those who wish to refresh their insights in subjects that are not their usual areas of interest. The aim is the transfer of up-to-date information on basic science, clinical and laboratory aspects, and therapeutics. We hope that you will find the conference format stimulating in structure and content, and we are looking forward to welcoming you in Cardiff this Autumn.

I most cordially invite you and I encourage you to attend the General Assembly: a society like ours requires interaction and two-way communication between its members and the board of directors at least once a year at our annual meetings. Better than reading the summarized minutes of the Board meetings in the Bulletin, I suggest you would take the opportunity to get informed directly by the people who spend a good part of their spare time in running this society. We will inform you on the (healthy) financial condition of the society, the activities of the Business Office in Oxford, the past and future events. We invite you to submit remarks and ideas concerning the daily activities and objectives of the society. You may have constructive suggestions to present at this general assembly. Ideas for interaction that occur to me are issues particularly on involvement of members in the activities of the ETRS. Do you feel that members participate sufficiently at the annual meetings? Would you prefer to be more actively involved? Are you a candidate to co-chair sessions, how do you feel about generating a list of potential speakers? What expertise can you add to the teaching sessions we initiate this year? Are you happy with the contents of the annual meetings or is there anything you would like to add or change? How would you want the Bulletin and the website to intensify the link between all members? The society must encompass all research domains in tissue repair and so remain attractive to all members, including clinicians, basic researchers and delegates from companies involved in basic mechanisms of tissue repair, development of therapeutic solutions, and socioeconomic implications or quality of life. There certainly are overlapping domains with other existing societies. Do not hesitate to give us your feedback, ideas and suggestion concerning the ETRS management and about the construction of an informative and attractive web site.
Looking forward to seeing you in Cardiff,

Mieke Flour
President