Conference Organizer: Jozsef Haller

From one Twin City to Another, with Your Help. Our wonderful meeting in Minneapolis, less than a year ago, is still very much on my mind. However, our preparations for the next meeting in Buda-Pest - another twin city - are already in full swing. E-mail exchanges on form and content among organizers, officers, and council are increasing accordingly. While we are confident that the results will be worth our efforts, we would like to solicit your early input (as you will see below).

Budapest: A Scientific Hotspot. Budapest is an attractive and charming European city where it is good to dwell. It is also the center of a dynamic scientific community, a community that managed to maintain its wonderful scientific traditions and increase its international impact, even in periods of the past when such things were not at all easy. Hungary is now a full member of the European Union and other Western organizations without relinquishing its charming national character. During the past decade I visited Hungary repeatedly, and every time I was impressed by the new scientific accomplishments of my colleagues, and by the Hungarian talent to organize excellent, vivid, convivial meetings.

Keeping Up with Rapid Advances. As write these words I realize again that the field of aggression research is rapidly changing and internationalizing. It is my strong impression that the impact of aggression research is increasing, both in traditionally interested disciplines as well as in disciplines that did not consider aggression as a topic worthy of attention before. My other strong impression is that aggression research is "unifying" in the sense that novel technologies and concepts allow us to build bridges between areas that hitherto seemed miles apart. I also noticed that many of our members attend our meetings not just to link up with their own discipline again, but rather to gather what is going on in the other fields. Such considerations underscore the importance of ISRA as a platform for interdisciplinary exchange. We need to work on meeting that obligation.

A Balanced Program, with Your Help. Our meeting organizer and ISRA officers are acutely aware of the need to prepare a balanced scientific program that takes a wide view on current aggression research and incorporates novel developments. Since no single person can follow or judge the entire span of disciplines and novel developments, we would greatly appreciate your suggestions on topics that, in your opinion, should have a place in next meeting’s program. Suggestions that bridge different fields, or topics from scientific or geographic areas that were not well represented before in ISRA, will be especially welcome.

Be Informal: Use E-mail. At this early point in time we do not need extensive, fully detailed proposals. What we need is just a topic with a reference to a key publication, or a name of a gifted speaker, and a few short sentences as explanation. Your suggestions will enable us to compile a short list of ideas, and will contribute to the quality and success of the meeting. Please E-mail your suggestions to Deborah Richardson, chair of the scientific committee and president-elect <drichardson@aug.edu> who will distribute your suggestions for serious consideration to the scientific committee. I look forward to receiving a copy of your enthusiastic suggestions at <m.kruk@lacdr.leidenuniv.nl>, and hope to meet you in Budapest.

(3) Scientific Program: We already have received suggestions on the following topics. However, we encourage and welcome additional suggestions.

• Submission of symposium proposals: 15th of February, 2008
• Submission of abstracts: 15th of March, 2008
• Early registration: 15th of March, 2008