The chief task of the Executive Committee in their quarterly meeting tomorrow will be to set the agenda for the annual meeting of the IFRF Joint Committee which will take place in Boston on the two days immediately following the 16th International Members’ Conference.

Items for discussion by the Executive will include the IFRF’s ongoing programme of international meetings (TOTeM 34 “Industrial furnaces for the metals industry” takes place in Tokyo from 22 to 24 July, just six weeks after the June Members’ Conference in Boston), the Members’ Research Programme, EFRI, (European Flame Research Infrastructure), and the IFRF’s continuing education and training strategy. Agenda items also include IFRF publications and consideration of the 2008 financial statements.

The IFRF Executive Committee is made up of President, Dr Richard Waibel, John Zink Co., USA, Vice President, Mr. Jacques Dugué, Total, France, General Secretary, Dr. Gennaro De Michele, ENEL Ricerca, Pisa, Italy, Superintendent of Research, Prof. Hartmut Spliethoff, Technical University Munich, Germany and Joint Committee Representative, Mr. Susumu Mochida, Nippon Furnace Kogyo, Japan.

By special invitation, the Executive Committee meeting is also joined by Vice Superintendent of Research, Dr. Neil Fricker, Glamorgan University, Wales, UK and previous IFRF President Prof. Mikko Hupa of Abo Akademi University, Finland.

The Joint Committee, which deliberates on all strategic decisions made about the running of the IFRF, is composed of one representative from each of the nine National Committees worldwide – the so-called “A” Members”, and a second group of scientific and technical advisors.  The National Committee representatives are:

• Philip Smith, AFRC (American Flame)
• Roger Dudill, BFRC (British Flame)
• Willi Nastoll, CF (French Flame)
• Giuseppe Girardi, CI (Italian Flame)
• Frank Sowa, DVV (German Flame)
• Pasi Miikkulainen, FFRC (Finnish Flame)
• Susumu Mochida, JFRC (Japanese Flame)
• Jochem Groot, NVV (Netherlands Flame)
• Truls Liliedahl, SFRC (Swedish Flame)  

The five Technical and Scientific Advisors who also form part of the Joint Committee are:

• Klaus Hein, (Stuttgart University, Germany)
• Christian Mueller (Clyde Bergemann, Germany)
• Tsuneaki Nakamura, (Tokyo Gas, Japan)
• Mikko Hupa (Abo Akademi University, Finland) 
• Jost Wendt (Reaction Engineering, USA)

Following the meeting of the Joint Committee, the IFRF will publish its Annual Report for 2008.  The document will be offered as a downloadable PDF and will be directly available from the IFRF website.  Important matters arising from the meeting will be commmunicated in future editions of MNM.

Members who wish to contact their National Committee representative may do so using the Exchange Facility on the IFRF website.  Follow this link to Browse IFRF Groups.