EUROPEAN  TISSUE  REPAIR  SOCIETY

Strategic Review of the European Tissue Repair Society
Professor Keith Harding

Mission Statement

The ETRS is to be recognised as the leading professional society in Europe providing a focus for the exchange of information on high quality basic research and good clinical practice in tissue repair.

Aims and Objectives

• Hold an annual meeting.
• Organise at least one focus meeting a year.
• Encourage communication between members through the use of a bulletin and a website.
• To ensure the Society supports a high quality peer review journal focused on tissue repair (currently Wound Repair & Regeneration).

Aspects of Activity
Research and Clinical Practice

• Encourage new researchers by organising a young investigator session as a plenary session at the annual meeting.
• Invite investigators from other research areas to speak at the annual meeting.
• Provide information, education and training for laboratory based researchers and clinicians working in the field of tissue repair (working parties, information sheets, teaching session in annual meeting, focused meetings).
• Create working parties to develop and recommend minimal standards of clinical care, good clinical practice guidelines and research methodologies.
  

Collaboration

• Explore links with individuals and societies with interests that potentially match those of the Society. (President).
• Develop links with industry by setting up an industrial liaison committee chaired by a Board Member.
• Review existing arrangements with the Wound Healing Society (Mark Ferguson, Keith Harding to meet with WHS representatives in Baltimore).
• Create directory of research and clinical interests of all members of the Society (Business Office to undertake this task).
• Obtain permission of all members of Society to share such information with other bodies (e.g., British Connective Society, European Tissue Engineering Society, European Wound Management Asssocation) if felt appropriate and approved by the Board (Business Office to undertake this task).
• Provide means of informing members with news and information - grants, fellowships, scholarships using the Website (Business Office to undertake this task).
• Seek sources of funds to provide members with research fellowships, travel grants, scholarship to promote high quality research (President, Chair of Industrial Liaison Committee).
  

Profile

• To increase the potential for influencing governments, European institutions and world wide organisations to ensure tissue repair is given sufficient recognition and funding as a major research and clinical challenge (create working group to develop action plan).
• To provide the public with information on the latest advances in tissue repair by organising press conferences at the Annual Meeting and by sending out press releases on information contained in the Bulletin (Business Office to undertake this task).
• To ensure, where appropriate, all activities of the Society attempt to translate basic research findings to improvements in clinical care of patients with tissue repair problems.

Membership and Status of ETRS Board
Terms

• Board to consist of twelve voting members elected by members of the Society normally for a term of five years.
• No more than two Board Members from any one country can serve at the same time.
• Board to consist of equal numbers of laboratory and clinical researchers.
• Two members of the Board will retire in rotation each year. This will ensure opportunities both for new members to join and for members with experience to serve at the same time.
• The Board retains the right to co-opt additional members as appropriate and as approved following a discussion at a formal Board Meeting.

Officers
President
To be elected by the Board and serve for a two-year term.

Past President
The term to follow that as President for a two-year term.

Secretary
To serve for a minimum period of three years.

Treasurer
To serve for a minimum period of three years.
Registration of Society and reporting to tax authorities in Belgium will continue for the next three to five years.

Conference President
This individual to serve for the year prior to hosting the Annual Meeting. The previous arrangement of linking the conference organisation and presidency of the Society will cease.
Note: this individual is not required to be a Board Member.

Working Groups
These are to be set up and chaired by a member of the Board but consisting of ordinary members of the Society.

Annual Meeting of Society
Time - To be held during the third quarter of each year.
Duration - 2.5 days.
Venue - Discussed and agreed on an annual basis but with a minimum of:

• a room to accommodate at least 250 delegates
• sufficient rooms for concurrent session
• poster exhibition
• commercial exhibition

Note that the Board will hold a meeting in the city proposed prior to any final arrangements being confirmed.

Management
- To be discussed and agreed on an annual basis.
- The Business Office to be more involved in aspects of organisation of the annual meeting by:

• creating and maintaining a database of members and delegates at previous meetings,
• identifying key contacts in commercial concerns that might support the meeting,
• liaising with the Conference President in obtaining sponsorship for events within the meeting.
  

Programme
- The Conference President to set up both scientific and organising committees.
- Programme to consist of a mixture of plenary and concurrent sessions, young investigator session and poster discussion session.

Awards

• Six prizes of £500 will be awarded to young investigators. These will be selected from abstracts received.
• An additional prize of £500 will be awarded to one of these individuals judged as being the best oral presentation in the young investigator prize session.
• Such awards shall be available to all young investigators submitting abstracts. Should an abstract be selected from an individual who is not a member of the ETRS then the membership fee for one year will be deducted from the prize.
• Three prizes of £500 to be awarded to the best posters presented at the meeting.
• Bursaries for delegates wishing to attend from developing countries are to be provided at the discretion of the Conference President. Monies will be provided from the conference account rather than ETRS main accounts.
  

Delegate Fees
- These are to be set to encourage young researchers.
- Student fees are to be subsidised.
- Full members to pay the true cost of attending the meeting.
- Fee for non-ETRS members to be higher and cover the subsidy required for the student fee.

Accountability
- The Conference President, local organising company and Business Office to provide a full set of accounts within twelve months of the annual meeting.
- Arrangements for the Society providing financial support in the event of a loss are to be discussed and agreed prior to any contracts being signed.

Payments by ETRS
- ETRS will provide financial support for Board Members to cover accommodation and travel (one delegate economy fare).

Payments by Conference President
- These will cover Board Members registration and attendance at social activities.
- These will cover invited speakers registration, accommodation, social activities and travel (one person economy fare).

NOTE payment to chairs or moderators of sessions are not be made either by the ETRS or the Conference President.
Focussed Meetings - their purpose:

• to promote the Society between annual meetings,
• to increase the profile and income to the Society,
• Board approval is required before any meeting can proceed,
• all members of the Society can suggest topics for such meetings,
• the meetings to be organised jointly by the Board and the Business Office,
• these meetings will not occur if there is any financial risk to the Society