Attendees: Peter Newman, Boris Martinac, Maté Biro, Sara Baratchi, Melanie White, Kathryn Stok, Martin Fronius, Qian Peter Su, Sarah Boyle, Marco Enriquez, Charles Cox
Apologies: Anne Lagendijk, Murron Carroll, Yu Suk Choi
President's Report
Sara Baratchi welcomed the council.
Treasurer's Report
Charles Cox reported that the travel grant awardees have been paid, and that the Society holds $7,000 in the bank.
Secretary's Report
Sarah Boyle had nothing to add beyond the items below.
Item 1: International Society for Mechanobiology Meeting in Glasgow
The conference was well received. An attendee from Boris Martinac's group received a prize. Conference reports and pictures have been received from the travel grant awardees. See AuSMB at SynSci2026.
Action items:
- Boris Martinac to send details and a picture of the awardee from his group.
- Peter Newman to upload the conference reports and the awardee item to the website.
Item 2: AuSMB Research and Strategy Workshop, 11–12 November
The flyer has been sent out and registration is open. The council is now waiting on registrations. There are three sponsors at present.
Action items:
- Sara Baratchi to reach out closer to the time for assistance from council members.
- Council members asked to register.
Item 3: 2027 AuSMB Meeting in New Zealand
Martin Fronius canvassed three location options: Queenstown, Christchurch and Dunedin.
- Queenstown: maximum 60 people, October/November, the most expensive option. General consensus that this location is preferred, but it would require a shuttle and the cap could be an issue (last year had 56 attendees).
- Christchurch: lower costs as part of Research Week, first week of September and not flexible. More detail is needed, for example what the Society would need to contribute, sponsorship, and the ability to include society membership costs.
- Dunedin: low costs through the university, October/November. Flight connections from Australia are not good.
Council discussed increasing the cost per person to include society membership for 2028, as has been done for the last few meetings. Maté Biro raised that attendees from New Zealand should be encouraged, to increase membership from there. Sara Baratchi queried whether there is a possible hotel venue in the Queenstown CBD.
Action items:
- Martin Fronius to research a possible hotel venue in Queenstown, request more detail about Research Week, and cost a shuttle for the Queenstown option.
- Martin Fronius to organise a poll to members, to gauge how many might attend given the cap at the Queenstown venue.
Item 4: Inaugural Newsletter
Sarah Boyle put together the first newsletter and sent it out at the start of July. The feedback requested was positive. Council is happy to proceed with two editions per year, the next at the end of the year or start of 2027, following the Workshop.
Action items: Sarah Boyle to try to set up an automated list from members for publications, and to put out a call for newsletter items from November.
Item 5: Council Members
A call for elections and for interest in council positions is needed before the AGM. All positions are to be advertised except for President.
Action items: Sarah Boyle to organise. Last year the call was sent to members 3.5 weeks before the AGM.
Item 6: Social Media Presence
AuSMB is currently on X only, and has not been updated in a while. Consensus was that X might not be the best platform going forward, and that a LinkedIn profile should be established.
Action items: Sarah Boyle to set up LinkedIn using the society email address.
Matters Arising
Maté Biro has moved his group to the University of Sydney. Emails should go to his new address from now on.
Sarah Boyle raised whether the Society should have an annual publication award, though it was unclear how this would be judged. Maté Biro and Kathryn Stok floated some possible options for judging; any further ideas should be put to council.
The next meeting will be in November, as the AGM during the Workshop. It is currently scheduled for 1pm on day two of the Workshop.