Dear Anna, Emily, and Laura, dear members of the IAQMS Bureau, dear IAQMS
members:
I am writing to thank Anna Krylov, Emily Carter, and Laura Gagliardi
for their letter to Zhigang Shuai, the organizer of the 2015 ICQC in Beijing.
They pointed out a serious problem with the partial list of speakers that
appeared on the ICQC web site: although 2/3 of all speakers were already
selected, there was not a single woman among them.
As the current president of the IAQMS, I am ultimately responsible for
the congresses that this Academy organizes and for the content of the web pages
on which they are advertised. Please accept my sincere apology for the premature
public release of a partial speaker list.
The gender representation among speakers at the Beijing ICQC will be
balanced, as it was at the preceding ICQCs.
Zhigang Shuai and his organizing committee are performing a difficult
balancing act with regard to gender, geography, and subdisciplines. Please kindly
give them the benefit of the doubt until you see the final list. A large fraction
of the people already on the list was outside the control of the organizing
committee (medalists, newly elected IAQMS members, previous organizer).
Unbeknownst to many of you, Zhigang's effort to solicit suggestions of women
speakers had already been underway.
I thank all those who have provided constructive suggestions, in
particular Odile Eisenstein, Gustavo Scuseria, and Hiroshi Nakatsuji. I also
again thank Anna Krylov, Emily Carter, and Laura Gagliardi for raising a very
well justified objection.
Greetings,
Josef Michl
President, IAQMS