The Ethiopian Academy of Sciences held its 7th General Assembly Meeting (AGM) on 10 November 2018 at the Headquarters of the Academy. The Assembly was presided by Prof. Tsige Gebre-Mariam, President of EAS. The Assembly started the Meeting by paying tribute with minute’s silence to remember Prof. Taffa Tulu, Dr. Seme Debela, Dr. Tesfaye Tessema, and Prof. Edemariam Tsega, Fellows of the Academy who passed since the 6th AGM.
The Ethiopian Academy of Sciences held its 7th General Assembly Meeting (AGM) on 10 November 2018 at the Headquarters of the Academy. The Assembly was presided by Prof. Tsige Gebre-Mariam, President of EAS. The Assembly started the Meeting by paying tribute with minute’s silence to remember Prof. Taffa Tulu, Dr. Seme Debela, Dr. Tesfaye Tessema, and Prof. Edemariam Tsega, Fellows of the Academy who passed since the 6th AGM.
Prof. Tsige presented a report on behalf of the Board including on results of the online assessment of Fellows’ participation and satisfaction in EAS activities. He highlighted that the assessment has provided important insights and feedbacks including on members’ commitment to the advancement of the Academy, satisfaction with the progresses made so far, the performance and engagement of Working Groups, and on the overall management of the Secretariat. The participants discussed the findings of the survey and agreed to have a more committed participation on the activities of the Academy. The Academy’s Annual Report for the 2010 fiscal year, focusing on some major program and project achievements and the audit report of the Academy was presented by the Executive Director, Prof. Masresha Fetene. He also presented the 2011 fiscal year annual plan and budget which was approved by the gathering.
The Assembly also discussed the revised Guideline for Nomination and Election of Fellows. As per the EAS Board’s directive, an ad hoc committee, chaired by Prof. Theodros Solomon, had been set up to revise the 2011 guideline. The revised guideline was presented by Dr Taye Assefa who highlighted that scholarly publications/professional contributions, efforts to the growth of one’s field of specialization, international stature as a scholar and contribution outside one’s field of specialization were the focus of the revision.
The General Assembly inducted 19 new Fellows (Agriculture (8), Engineering and Technology (2), Health (7), Social Sciences and Humanities (2)); and 5 Associate Fellows (Engineering and Technology (2), Fine Arts (1), Social Sciences and Humanities (2)) who were elected at the AGM in 2017.
On the occasion, one of the inductees, Dr Mitike Molla, Associate Professor of Public Health at Addis Ababa University, gave a lecture titled “Victims when they live and a loss when they die: untold story of Ethiopian women.” Dr Mitike reported on vulnerability of women in marriage in Addis Ababa City, Amhara, SNNPR, Tigray and Oromia Regional States.
Finally, Fellows vowed to actively contribute towards the mission and vision of the Academy.