From Peter Liddell Dear EUROCALLers, dear members of affiliate associations, As usual, I am writing to you today "aus gegebenem Anlass", as we would say in German - possibly best translated by "for all the usual and obvious reasons". Anyway, the occasion that calls for my mail to you is, of course, our annual conference as well as the fact that its deadline for early-bird registration is not far away. In fact, if you do want to profit from the special early-bird rate, you do need to register by the end of this month, just a few days from now. And those attending will certainly not regret their trip to Vienna. The EUROCALL executive and I have been following the preparations for EUROCALL 2004 in Vienna, and I think we are in for a treat, both academically and socially. As far as academic matters are concerned, we had a large number of very impressive submissions for papers, presentations, and posters, and I think the outcome of our selection procedure has resulted in a conference programme of extremely high standard. And as far as the social level is concerned, I know from experience that Austrians (and the Viennese in particular) are very "gastfreundlich", and Klaus Peters and his team are going to be the perfect hosts. They have integrated a number of special occasions for delegates to savour the Viennese hospitality. Our thanks and appreciation to Klaus et al. for having taken on the task and handling it so efficiently! And the venue itself is quite impressive, as we discovered when holding our executive meeting there in March. So, I would like to invite you once again to Vienna and this year's EUROCALL conference in September. Further details on programme and registration can be obtained from the conference website at http://www.e-lisa.at/eurocall/ . Klaus Peters asked me to inform you that from now on the website offers a regular count-down newsflash before the actual conference, so a regular visits to the conference website will keep you updated with latest developments. As far as other EUROCALL matters are concerned, I shall report on those in detail at the AGM in Vienna. Just a quick note to inform you that the transition of our headquarters from Hull to Limerick is now complete, and as you may have noticed (or presumably not noticed, other than the change of address, and taken as a good sign) things are running smoothly, and all matters concerning EUROCALL are in very competent hands in Limerick. Members in the UK will be interested in the fact that EUROCALL has taken an initiative concerning RAE 2008. I applied on behalf of EUROCALL to be added to the list of nominating bodies in accordance with $A4 32 of the consultation document published on the RAE 2008 website specifying details as to panel configuration and recruitment for RAE 2008. A word of thanks to Jim Coleman for helping me in this matters. The policy document concerning research and development in CALL ([co-developed by EuroCALL, IALLT & CALICO, posted on our respective websites], prepared at the workshop here at Essen some years ago, was obviously a great help, and I do hope that our application is successful. Again, I shall report on any reply and/or progress at EUROCALL 2004 As far as future EUROCALL conferences are concerned, I would like to remind you that we are still inviting bids to host our annual conference in the year 2006. So, if there are any potential EUROCALL organisers out there, please come forward as we need to have an initial discussion of the bids at our executive meeting in Vienna. Details as to the parameters of hosting a EUROCALL conference and other aspects of a bid can be obtained from the Limerick office. Finally, I do hope that I shall be able to welcome as many of you as possible at Vienna in September. Until then I send My best regards Bernd R. _____________________________________________________________________ Prof. Dr. Bernd Ruschoff Universitat Duisburg-Essen Anglistik - FUB III - Technologiegestutztes Fremdsprachenlernen UniversitatsstraBe 12 D-45117 Essen Tel.: +49-201-183-4052 (Sekr.: -3460 / Fax: -4225) D2 mobile: +49 - (0)172-696-8141 E-mail: [log in to unmask] oder [log in to unmask] WWW: http://www.uni-essen.de/anglistik/ WWW: http://www.uni-essen.de/fub3/index.html WWW: http://www.uni-essen.de/fet&ww/fue/germ/fb03/rueschh.htm WWW: http://www.uni-essen.de/fet&ww/fue/eng/fb03/rueschh.htm