04/2009 07 October
	Member News | Regulatory News | Business News | Scientific News | People in the News | IRG Secretariat News | Sponsor | Events | Print letter
	Member News New members IRG welcomes the following new members. READ INFORMATION 2010 Ron Cockroft Award Please note that the deadline for RCA applications is 15 December 2009. All details can be found on the IRG website. IRG Travel Award for Short-term Scientific Missions Funds are still available for Travel Awards. If you are interested, please take advantage of the on-line application procedure available on the IRG website. The maximum amount that can be granted is Swedish Kroner SEK 12 500, i.e. approximately USD 2 000 or EUR 1300. Regulatory News Business News Norway: World's tallest wooden building coming to Norway   Wood construction seems to be sticking it to steel and concrete these days. While big timber projects are still fairly rare in the commercial sector, we're beginning to hear more and more about them. A recent example is the 17 story cultural centre in the Arctic border town of Kirkenes, Norway. It's being touted by the Norwegian Barents Secretariat as the world's tallest wooden building. The roughly 108,000-sf timber tower was designed by Oslo-based architect firm Reiulf Ramstad Architects. Combining environment, design, education and the arts into one neat cultural center, the new building will serve as home to Secretariat offices and will include a library, theater and creative environment for artists, researchers and students. The green building will incorporate recycled and biodegradable materials and energy-efficient offices, and the design will be influenced by traditional architecture from Russia, Sweden, Finland and Norway. Once built, it will serve as a stunning example of eco-construction and will provide a reminder of the historical importance of the Secretariat. From Friday Offcuts – 11 September 2009. Situation Vacant: Position in "Coatings" available at SP Trätek in Stockholm A position with focus on coatings for wood is available at SP Trãtek in Stockholm, Sweden. The area of work will include research on coating systems for wood with good performance and environmental properties and project management in collaboration with industry, universities and research institutes, as well as business development related to SP Trätek's activities related to coatings for wood, e.g. testing abd various consultancy activities. Candidate should have a PhD or engineering degree and preferably be experienced in research in related areas. Experience from industry is also a merit. Many projects and other activities are conducted in collaboration with industrial and international partners. An open mind and a feeling for both service and business are therefore necessary. Good knowledge of English is a requirement. More information: Jöran Jermer +46 10 516 56 03 or email Jöran Jermer. Scientific News USA: LSU Wood Durability Lab Growing The Wood Durability Lab (WDL) in the Louisiana State University AgCenter's Louisiana Forest Products Development Center continues to grow. The WDL became an ISO 17025:2005 Testing Laboratory through the International Accreditation Services (IAS) accreditation system on March 1, 2008. Additional test standards were added by IAS to the WDL approved scope of services on July 24, 2008. The lab essentially has been operating under ISO 17025 guidelines for several years. Read more here. New Zealand: Leaky homes bill likely to top $11.5 billion The NZ Herald this week reported that the cost of leaky homes in New Zealand is up to NZ$11.5 billion - far more than the previous $3.5bn estimate. Read more here. From Friday Offcuts – 21 August 2009. New Zealand: Douglas-fir vs radiata pine for framing lumber Douglas-fir has been used as an untreated framing timber for over 70 years. That changed following the "Leaky Building Crisis" and the resulting revision of the New Zealand Building Code. The amended Building Code significantly restricts the use of untreated radiata pine and Douglas-fir in domestic buildings, making no allowance for differences between the species. Scion has recently completed a study that could prompt a review of this ruling. Read more here. From Friday Offcuts – 17 July 2009. USA: FPL Researcher Elected President of American Wood Protection Association Bessie Woodward, a microbiologist at the Forest Products Laboratory in Madison, Wisconsin, has been elected President of the American Wood Protection Association(AWPA). Woodward is the first female President in the history of the century-old organization. Woodward has been involved in wood preservation research since 1980. Her research focuses mainly on the development of new methodologies aimed at shortening the time necessary to evaluate long-term performance of wood preservatives. People in the News Australia: Dr Berhan Ahmed awarded "Australian of the Year" Dr. Berhan M Ahmed, IRG member since 1994, has received a significant award, Victorian of the Year for 2009. He received the award from Australia’s prime minister.   DR Berhan (m) and a guest from the ATT chat to the Prime Minister, the Hon. Kevin Rudd MP (l) Dr. Ahmed was born in Eritrea. When his town was strafed and bombed during the Civil War, he fled with friends to a refugee camp in Sudan. He was lucky enough to get a place in a school funded by UNHCR. After that, he was able to do his first degree in Egypt. At the age of 22 he came to Australia. At first he worked as a tram conductor in order to improve his English, and then was able to commence his Masters degree at Melbourne University. In order to support himself he drove taxis, being one of the first African taxi drivers in Victoria. After completing his degree, he was offered work at the Melbourne University, where he worked for ten years. However, he still drove a taxi to make extra money, because there were so many people in refugee camps in Sudan who were dependent on him. After completing his PHD, he gained his present position as Senior Research Fellow, Department Forest Ecosystem Science, Melbourne School of Land and Environment at The University of Melbourne. In 2004, Dr. Ahmed was the first African-Australian in history to stand for Parliament. Read more here. Dr Alex Valcke is joining Arch Chemicals Dr. Alex Valcke, (Past-President 2001-2004) will be joining Arch Chemicals as Vice President Innovation on November 1st, 2009. As the corporate officer for innovation he will also serve as member of the Executive Committee of Arch Chemicals. Before joining Arch Chemicals Alex Valcke was the General Manager of the Preservation and Material Protection Division of Janssen Pharmaceutica in Belgium since 1998. Alex can be reached on his new email-address starting from November 1st.					IRG Secretariat News IRG 41 in Biarritz, France The IRG 41 Annual Meeting will be held in Biarritz, France on 9-13 May 2010. More information to come. Report back from Sections at IRG 40 Reports from Section leaders and Working Party meetings at IRG 40 in Beijing have been compiled in Document Read here the full paper All members are advised to read the document carefully. It contains ideas and proposals for IRG 41 contributions, special sessions and keynotes. Reminder !!! Nominations 2010 to the Executive Council This is a reminder to Members to nominate candidates to the Executive Council in 2010. Three new members and a new Vice-President will be elected, two representing the Members and one representing the Group's sponsors. The latter must be a personal member of the IRG. The detailed procedure is described in the Nomination Procedure for Officers and nominations must be made on the appropriate form to the Chairman of the Nominations Sub-Committee via the IRG Secretariat. Only valid nominations received by 31 March 2010 will be considered. New teams for Section 4 (Processes and properties) and Section 5 (Sustainability and environment) will also be appointed at the IRG 41 Annual Meeting. Candidates for Chairs and Vice Chairs for Section 4 and Section 5 may also be proposed. This can be done by e-mail to the IRG Secretariat by 31 March 2010. Reminder about the web-based search engine and Compendium The problems with the web-based documents search function and Compendium that appeared in April and continued for about 2 months are solved and it is possible again to log in and search for IRG documents. You may have to get new login credentials and in case your log in ID doesn't work, please contact the Secretariat and we'll submit new log in credentials. The 2009 DVD version is also presently updated and will be released soon. Note on receipts Please note when paying fees (member/sponsor fees, conference registration fees) to the IRG Secretariat, payments are acknowledged and receipts sent on request only . Receipts are normally scanned and forwarded as pdf files. Due to technical problems receipts sometimes do no reach the member/sponsor/conference guest. Please contact the IRG Secretariat, in case you have requested a receipt but not yet received it! More Sponsors needed! Members are asked to actively try to recruite more sponsors. The Group is heaviliy dependent on Sponsors in order to keep fees at a reasonably low level. A template for a suppporting letter, signed by our President, Dr Gérard Deroubaix, is available. Click on link Contact details Please report any change of contact details (address, e-mail, tel, fax) to the IRG Secretariat immediately in order to keep our register up to date and to facilitate the Secretariat's communication with Members and Sponsors. Updated: Events 6th Wood & Wood Products Expo (22 - 24 October 2009, Beijing, China International Exhibition Center (CIEC) MEDACHS' 10 - 2nd International Conference - Marine Environment Damage to Coastal and Historical Structures (28 - 30 April 2010, La Rochelle, France) XXIII IUFRO World Congress: "Forests for the Future: Sustaining Society and the Environment" (22 - 28 August 2010, Seoul, Republic of Korea) COST Actions Start of Action: 18/04/2007 End of Action: 17/04/2011 The Procedures Manual The IRG Procedures Manual ia a "handbook" for IRG Members and Sponsors. It has the following contents: Application Package IRG Travel Award for Short-term scientific missions (38kb, PDF) Statutes (21kb, PDF) Guidelines for IRG Co-sponsorship of IRG Regional Meetings (18kb, PDF) Nomination procedure for officers (83kb, PDF) Conditions for membership (187kb, PDF) Conditions for the Ron Cockcroft Award (102kb, PDF) Guidelines for the preparation of the annual report from corresponding members (73kb, PDF) Guidelines for oral presentation at an IRG Conference (109kb, PDF) Role and Responsibilities for Section Leaders and Working Party Conveners (97kb, PDF) Guidelines for the preparation of an IRG Document (186kb, PDF) Guidelines for the selection of keynote speakers (93kb, PDF) Archives IRG News in Brief 03/2009 13 July 2009 IRG News in Brief 02/2009 07 May 2009 IRG News in Brief 01/2009 25 February 2009 IRG News in Brief 03/2008 17 December 2008 IRG News in Brief 02/2008 11 July 2008 IRG News in Brief 01/2008 26 March 2008 IRG News in Brief 05/2007 31 December 2007 IRG News in Brief 04/2007 01 November 2007 IRG News in Brief 03/2007 04 July 2007 IRG News in Brief 02/2007 03 May 2007 IRG News in Brief 01/2007 25 February 2007 IRG News in Brief 06/2006 20 December 2006 IRG News in Brief 05/2006 31 October 2006 IRG News in Brief 04/2006 31 August 2006 IRG News in Brief 03/2006 30 June 2006 IRG News in Brief 02/2006 30 April 2006 IRG News in Brief 01/2006 03 March 2006 IRG News in Brief 05/2005 07 December 2005 IRG News in Brief 04/2005 16 September 2005 IRG News in Brief 03/2005 27 July 2005 IRG News in Brief 02/2005 11 May 2005 IRG News in Brief 01/2005 16 March 2005 IRG News in Brief 12 January 2004 IRG News 01 September 2003 Legal Information Read legal information here Editorial If you have information related to wood protection being of general interest for Regular Members, Student Members or IRG Sponsors, please email to the NiB editor with the name of the web page and the URL.