07 Feb 2012 Minutes of the PostDocSoc Meeting
Exec committee present:Denise Mager, Jaco Franken, Marion Carrier, Michael Bester, Hans Eyeghe-Bickong, Goetz Froeschke
SARSA
- One slide summary ready to be added to the PDS website
- South african representative:Jaco Franken
- International representative:Marion(other volunteers welcome to join)
Soocial activities:Wine tasting, Potjie and International dinners, Fun race on campus (5 km) and/or grass volley ball, beach activities (on Strand beach); beach soccer; beach volley ball and beach races…,
-Beach volley ball organized byHans and Goetz: we need to define a date (week-end or after 4pm during the week – doodle?), the transport will be sponsored by the international office (we need just to find the playersJ)
-Please suggest more social activities for the next meeting
Blog( and website (
-Issue - Maybe too much tools, one facebook page, one blog and one website… How to coordinate these three tools (all three are linked – should be easy to find your way around?
-Volunteerto look after the website and blog,
-New website webmaster:JanineBlanckenberg
-Post pictures (social) on the website (Janine)
-Add interesting blogs ‘re-blogging’ (Janine)
-Add program of the research capacity development (Janine)
-SARSA slide
Surveyof research institutes:The Scientist‘s 2012 Best Places to Work surveys closed in December 2011. The results will be published in our upcoming April (postdocs), June (industry), and August (academia) issues.
Sindi introduced thecoursesfor this semester (transferable skills)
Sindi handed out the program of the Research capacity development courses for 2012. This list is distributed to the staff members. If you want to attend any of these workshop/seminar/meeting you need to contact Sindi.
Supplementary funding:Money availablefor the people that get paidless than 150 000 ZAR/yr to apply for (supplementary funding provided by the University).
-Subcommittee B provides this funding for natural science postdocs - contact r further information.
Visa application(List of suggestions) :
-Organization of a meeting between representatives of DST and Home Affairs
-Writing of a letter to the minister of Science and Technology (Marion)
Intellectual properties:
-Plan an IP workshop organized byInnovUS (Denise)
Mailing list management:
-Check the presence of all the active members.
-Learn from Chrystine (previous secretary of postdoc society)
Next meeting planned Tuesday 6thMarch atJ.HNeehlingBuilding(Michael)
Video-conferencingusing Skype?It might be a way to get 10 more postdocs from Health Sciences to participate. (Janine)
Plan thenext agenda; suggestions so far:
-Volunteer for the Newsletter writing?
-The DRD promised us to put up postdoc profiles on their website.
-IT issues: larger mailbox size required (should be automatic not a struggle)
-Co-supervision: set up a meeting with the responsible person (at DRD?)
-Postdoc contract: revise current version and add link for survey on conditions to new invite for next postdoc meeting
-Why we were not invited to the subcommittee’s annual meeting as promised in November?
-Ask Sindi for monthly update on upcoming grant proposal/bursary/travel grant application deadlines
-Mentoring for postdocs
Other issues :
-Limit the exchange of e-mails by writing a Newsletter indicating all the news of the month, the invitation for the meeting cannot be avoided.
-Postdoctoral Fellows card:Sindiwill ask about ordering of new cards.