![\"Aleksandar](\"https://www.seebtm.com/wp-content/uploads/AD1.jpg\")
This event will have great significance\u00a0for Serbian electrochemistry and\u00a0reclaiming\u00a0the reputation of the \u201cBelgrade\u00a0School of Electrochemistry\u201d,\u00a0which has been one of the most important\u00a0ones for many years.
\nThe candidacy for this prestigious event,\u00a0which attracts more than 1,500\u00a0members of the association from across\u00a0the world, has been applied\u00a0for\u00a0by the Electrochemical Department\u00a0of the Serbian Society of Chemistry\u00a0at the initiative and with the efforts\u00a0of Serbia\u2019s national representative\u00a0at the ISE, PhD Aleksa\u00adndar Dekanski,\u00a0scientific adviser to IHTM.
\nOn this occasion, we had the honour\u00a0to speak with PhD Dekanski about\u00a0the 2020 ISE Annual Meeting.\u00a0As well as about the reputation of\u00a0Serbian electrochemistry, the challenges\u00a0it encounters by it and in any\u00a0scientific field in Serbia and the region,\u00a0and about persistence and perseverance,\u00a0and how they do, in the\u00a0end, pay off.
\n1. The winning candidacy for the 71st\u00a0Annual Meeting of the ISE represents\u00a0a great acknowledgement for the\u00a0Electrochemical Department of the\u00a0Serbian\u00a0Society of Electrochemistry.\u00a0How hard was it to get to being entrusted\u00a0with organising such a prestigious\u00a0event?
\nNow it seems like it wasn\u2019t that hard\u00a0to be entrusted with the organization\u00a0of this event, although I have to\u00a0admit I was very sceptical.
\nOne of the deciding factors affecting\u00a0the final decision on granting the event\u00a0organisation is reputation and
\nsignificance\u00a0of a country\u2019s electrochemistry,\u00a0but I have to admit that Serbian\u00a0electrochemistry has declined\u00a0drastically in the last years.
However, thanks to the application\u00a0and the accompanying documentation\u00a0which were prepared at a very\u00a0high level, and in a great part thanks\u00a0to the Congress Bureau of Serbia and\u00a0CongrExpo with whom the Serbian\u00a0Society of Chemistry (SSE) has been\u00a0working for a number of years, and\u00a0of\u00adficial candidacy support from all regional\u00a0electrochemical societies gathered at my request, we managed\u00a0that the organization of the event be\u00a0given to us.
\nFrom mid-last century to the 80s,\u00a0electrochemistry at the Electrochemical\u00a0Institute (now the Centre within\u00a0the Institute of Chemistry, Technology\u00a0and Metallurgy) and the\u00a0Physical Chemistry Department at\u00a0the Faculty of Technology and Metallurgy\u00a0reached its high point and it\u00a0was renowned and known across\u00a0the world as the \u201cBelgrade School\u00a0of Electrochemistry\u201d, but during the\u00a0nineties in the last century its importance\u00a0dropped significantly.
\nOur best electrochemists left the\u00a0country,\u00a0and world-known scientists\u00a0and experts Aleksandar Despic\u00a0and Dragutin Drazic, unfortunately,\u00a0passed away. In addition, their successors\u00a0in the last quarter of a century\u00a0were more engaged in finding\u00a0ways to survive than keep up with\u00a0global science.
\nThe material preconditions and outdated\u00a0equipment that was not being\u00a0renewed made electrochemical laboratories\u00a0in Belgrade transform from\u00a0perhaps the best-equipped in the\u00a0world into very modest and technologically\u00a0inadequate.\u00a0Still, even in\u00a0these modest conditions\u00a0it survived.\u00a0I\u2019ll dare and say that, together with\u00a0my colleagues from nearby countries,\u00a0for years I have been making attempts\u00a0to reclaim the reputation of\u00a0electrochemistry in Serbia.
\nAfter nearly ten years of active campaigning,\u00a0the Regional Symposium\u00a0on Electrochemistry came to life,\u00a0organised for the first time in 2008,\u00a0and this year, after Serbia, Croatia,\u00a0Romania, and Slovenia, it is organised\u00a0for the fifth time in Bulgaria at\u00a0the beginning of June 2015.
This initiative\u2019s success convinced\u00a0me that it is possible for us to also\u00a0organise an event at the highest level,\u00a0so three years ago I initiated our\u00a0application for organising the Annual\u00a0Meeting of the International Society\u00a0of Electrochemistry.
\n![\"ISE\"](\"https://www.seebtm.com/wp-content/uploads/ISE2.jpg\")
We first applied\u00a0for the event in 2018. Unfortunately\u00a0that time, due to slight negligence\u00a0in the Serbian Society of Chemistry\u00a0itself, we failed, but I insisted on not\u00a0giving up, so already next year we\u00a0applied again.
\nConvinced that the biggest fault of\u00a0our application was the fact that we\u00a0lacked reputation. According to that,\u00a0I did everything I could do to motivate\u00a0the people I know to lobby for our\u00a0application.
\nThis time we succeeded, and the\u00a0dozens of letters I sent paid off.
\nThe Congress Bureau of Serbia and\u00a0CongrExpo gladly helped us to prepare\u00a0an excellent application and results\u00a0ensued.
\n2. What are the main advantages\u00a0that helped Belgrade to host this\u00a0meeting?
\nBelgrade is still one of rare European\u00a0destinations that is unknown to\u00a0many people. As I often used to say\u00a0when explaining why I believe we\u00a0should apply for the event, they\u2019ve\u00a0already visited numerous great and\u00a0known cities and congress destinations,\u00a0and surely they would like to\u00a0see something they haven\u2019t so far.
\nThis event is taking place in this\u00a0region for the first time (excluding\u00a0Greece), and it in my estimation Belgrade\u00a0had both the capacities and\u00a0the infrastructure required for successful\u00a0organisation.
\nLet us also not forget the fact that\u00a0Belgrade is still a cheap city, so when\u00a0compared with other destinations,\u00a0its offer is equally good and less expensive\u00a0\u2013 from accommodation prices\u00a0to social activities and organisation\u00a0costs.
\nIn addition to all this, we\u00a0have proven many times that we are\u00a0good at organising and anyone who\u00a0visited Belgrade for similar events\u00a0left with only positive impressions.\u00a0Finally, I also believe that Belgrade\u2019s\u00a0night life reputation has at least a little\u00a0influence on the final decision.
\n3. How many participants are expected\u00a0at the meeting in Belgrade?
\nThe numbers are somewhat lower\u00a0when the meetings take place outside\u00a0Europe (it is an ISE rule that a European\u00a0country organises the event\u00a0every even year, and a country outside\u00a0of it every odd year).
\nThe number of attendees, of course,\u00a0is affected by the world economy,\u00a0and we hope to see the end of the\u00a0crisis by 2020, and considering all of\u00a0the advantages of Belgrade, we expect\u00a0the number of participants to\u00a0be closer to the higher mentioned\u00a0number than the lower one.
\n![\"ISE\"](\"https://www.seebtm.com/wp-content/uploads/ISE5.jpg\")
4. In your opinion, what significance\u00a0does this event have for Serbia as a\u00a0meetings destination?
\nAny answer besides \u201cgreat or quite\u201d\u00a0would be unexpected and unreasonable.\u00a0Any well organised event of\u00a0this\u00a0type could mean a lot to Serbia\u00a0(not just as a congress, but also as\u00a0a tourist destination), and especially\u00a0to those who are still just planning to\u00a0organise or apply for similar events.
\nOf course, this event is not the first\u00a0nor the biggest of its kind in Serbia.
\nThat is why in our application we were\u00a0able to specify several examples\u00a0of well organised big events and\u00a0scientific\u00a0meetings as a proof that\u00a0Belgrade\u00a0and Serbia have both the\u00a0possibilities\u00a0and the ability.
Unfortunately, besides Belgrade I think\u00a0that there are few meetings destination\u00a0in Serbia that are able to\u00a0organise an event of this magnitude,\u00a0mainly due to poor transportation\u00a0infrastructure and insufficient accommodation\u00a0capacities, except maybe\u00a0in Novi Sad or Nis.
\nThere won\u2019t be long before the sentence\u00a0I said at the beginning can be\u00a0also said about Belgrade: they\u2019ve already\u00a0visited Belgrade many times…\u00a0For example, Kopaonik or Vrnjacka\u00a0Banja\u00a0could serve as beautiful destinations,\u00a0but if after an hour or two\u00a0of flying it takes you another four or\u00a0five hours of driving to get to your final\u00a0destination, it\u2019s not likely that anyone\u00a0will want to entrust the event\u00a0to such a place, even if it would be\u00a0able to accommodate around 1,000\u00a0attendees.
\nThe post Belgrade will be the center of world\u2019s electrochemistry for 5 days appeared first on SEE Business travel & meetings magazine.
\n", "content_text": "Serbia\u00a0has officially been announced as the host of the 71st Annual Meeting of\u00a0the International Society of Electrochemistry \u2013 ISE. This five-day event will take\u00a0place in September 2020 in the capital of Serbia, Belgrade.\nAleksandar Dekanski\nThis event will have great significance\u00a0for Serbian electrochemistry and\u00a0reclaiming\u00a0the reputation of the \u201cBelgrade\u00a0School of Electrochemistry\u201d,\u00a0which has been one of the most important\u00a0ones for many years.\nThe candidacy for this prestigious event,\u00a0which attracts more than 1,500\u00a0members of the association from across\u00a0the world, has been applied\u00a0for\u00a0by the Electrochemical Department\u00a0of the Serbian Society of Chemistry\u00a0at the initiative and with the efforts\u00a0of Serbia\u2019s national representative\u00a0at the ISE, PhD Aleksa\u00adndar Dekanski,\u00a0scientific adviser to IHTM.\nOn this occasion, we had the honour\u00a0to speak with PhD Dekanski about\u00a0the 2020 ISE Annual Meeting.\u00a0As well as about the reputation of\u00a0Serbian electrochemistry, the challenges\u00a0it encounters by it and in any\u00a0scientific field in Serbia and the region,\u00a0and about persistence and perseverance,\u00a0and how they do, in the\u00a0end, pay off.\n1. The winning candidacy for the 71st\u00a0Annual Meeting of the ISE represents\u00a0a great acknowledgement for the\u00a0Electrochemical Department of the\u00a0Serbian\u00a0Society of Electrochemistry.\u00a0How hard was it to get to being entrusted\u00a0with organising such a prestigious\u00a0event?\nNow it seems like it wasn\u2019t that hard\u00a0to be entrusted with the organization\u00a0of this event, although I have to\u00a0admit I was very sceptical.\nOne of the deciding factors affecting\u00a0the final decision on granting the event\u00a0organisation is reputation and\nsignificance\u00a0of a country\u2019s electrochemistry,\u00a0but I have to admit that Serbian\u00a0electrochemistry has declined\u00a0drastically in the last years.\nHowever, thanks to the application\u00a0and the accompanying documentation\u00a0which were prepared at a very\u00a0high level, and in a great part thanks\u00a0to the Congress Bureau of Serbia and\u00a0CongrExpo with whom the Serbian\u00a0Society of Chemistry (SSE) has been\u00a0working for a number of years, and\u00a0of\u00adficial candidacy support from all regional\u00a0electrochemical societies gathered at my request, we managed\u00a0that the organization of the event be\u00a0given to us.\nSupport\nThe candidacy was supported\u00a0by the University in Belgrade,\u00a0Ministry of Education,\u00a0Science and Technological\u00a0Development, more than ten\u00a0electrochemical associations\u00a0in the region, technical organiser\u00a0CongrExpo, and Congress\u00a0Bureau and National Tourism\u00a0Organisation of Serbia.\nFrom mid-last century to the 80s,\u00a0electrochemistry at the Electrochemical\u00a0Institute (now the Centre within\u00a0the Institute of Chemistry, Technology\u00a0and Metallurgy) and the\u00a0Physical Chemistry Department at\u00a0the Faculty of Technology and Metallurgy\u00a0reached its high point and it\u00a0was renowned and known across\u00a0the world as the \u201cBelgrade School\u00a0of Electrochemistry\u201d, but during the\u00a0nineties in the last century its importance\u00a0dropped significantly.\nOur best electrochemists left the\u00a0country,\u00a0and world-known scientists\u00a0and experts Aleksandar Despic\u00a0and Dragutin Drazic, unfortunately,\u00a0passed away. In addition, their successors\u00a0in the last quarter of a century\u00a0were more engaged in finding\u00a0ways to survive than keep up with\u00a0global science.\nThe material preconditions and outdated\u00a0equipment that was not being\u00a0renewed made electrochemical laboratories\u00a0in Belgrade transform from\u00a0perhaps the best-equipped in the\u00a0world into very modest and technologically\u00a0inadequate.\u00a0Still, even in\u00a0these modest conditions\u00a0it survived.\u00a0I\u2019ll dare and say that, together with\u00a0my colleagues from nearby countries,\u00a0for years I have been making attempts\u00a0to reclaim the reputation of\u00a0electrochemistry in Serbia.\nAfter nearly ten years of active campaigning,\u00a0the Regional Symposium\u00a0on Electrochemistry came to life,\u00a0organised for the first time in 2008,\u00a0and this year, after Serbia, Croatia,\u00a0Romania, and Slovenia, it is organised\u00a0for the fifth time in Bulgaria at\u00a0the beginning of June 2015.\nThis initiative\u2019s success convinced\u00a0me that it is possible for us to also\u00a0organise an event at the highest level,\u00a0so three years ago I initiated our\u00a0application for organising the Annual\u00a0Meeting of the International Society\u00a0of Electrochemistry.\nISE\nWe first applied\u00a0for the event in 2018. Unfortunately\u00a0that time, due to slight negligence\u00a0in the Serbian Society of Chemistry\u00a0itself, we failed, but I insisted on not\u00a0giving up, so already next year we\u00a0applied again.\nConvinced that the biggest fault of\u00a0our application was the fact that we\u00a0lacked reputation. According to that,\u00a0I did everything I could do to motivate\u00a0the people I know to lobby for our\u00a0application.\nThis time we succeeded, and the\u00a0dozens of letters I sent paid off.\nThe Congress Bureau of Serbia and\u00a0CongrExpo gladly helped us to prepare\u00a0an excellent application and results\u00a0ensued.\n2. What are the main advantages\u00a0that helped Belgrade to host this\u00a0meeting?\nBelgrade is still one of rare European\u00a0destinations that is unknown to\u00a0many people. As I often used to say\u00a0when explaining why I believe we\u00a0should apply for the event, they\u2019ve\u00a0already visited numerous great and\u00a0known cities and congress destinations,\u00a0and surely they would like to\u00a0see something they haven\u2019t so far.\nThis event is taking place in this\u00a0region for the first time (excluding\u00a0Greece), and it in my estimation Belgrade\u00a0had both the capacities and\u00a0the infrastructure required for successful\u00a0organisation.\n2015 – Taipei, Taiwan\n 2016 – The Hague,\u00a0The Netherlands\n 2017 – Providence, USA\n 2018 – Bologna, Italy\n 2019 – Cape Town,\u00a0South Africa\n 2020 – Belgrade, Serbia\nLet us also not forget the fact that\u00a0Belgrade is still a cheap city, so when\u00a0compared with other destinations,\u00a0its offer is equally good and less expensive\u00a0\u2013 from accommodation prices\u00a0to social activities and organisation\u00a0costs.\nIn addition to all this, we\u00a0have proven many times that we are\u00a0good at organising and anyone who\u00a0visited Belgrade for similar events\u00a0left with only positive impressions.\u00a0Finally, I also believe that Belgrade\u2019s\u00a0night life reputation has at least a little\u00a0influence on the final decision.\n3. How many participants are expected\u00a0at the meeting in Belgrade?\nDepending on the location, the European\u00a0ISE meetings are attended by\u00a01,000 – 1,500 people.\nThe numbers are somewhat lower\u00a0when the meetings take place outside\u00a0Europe (it is an ISE rule that a European\u00a0country organises the event\u00a0every even year, and a country outside\u00a0of it every odd year).\nThe number of attendees, of course,\u00a0is affected by the world economy,\u00a0and we hope to see the end of the\u00a0crisis by 2020, and considering all of\u00a0the advantages of Belgrade, we expect\u00a0the number of participants to\u00a0be closer to the higher mentioned\u00a0number than the lower one.\nISE\n4. In your opinion, what significance\u00a0does this event have for Serbia as a\u00a0meetings destination?\nAny answer besides \u201cgreat or quite\u201d\u00a0would be unexpected and unreasonable.\u00a0Any well organised event of\u00a0this\u00a0type could mean a lot to Serbia\u00a0(not just as a congress, but also as\u00a0a tourist destination), and especially\u00a0to those who are still just planning to\u00a0organise or apply for similar events.\nOf course, this event is not the first\u00a0nor the biggest of its kind in Serbia.\nThat is why in our application we were\u00a0able to specify several examples\u00a0of well organised big events and\u00a0scientific\u00a0meetings as a proof that\u00a0Belgrade\u00a0and Serbia have both the\u00a0possibilities\u00a0and the ability.\nUnfortunately, besides Belgrade I think\u00a0that there are few meetings destination\u00a0in Serbia that are able to\u00a0organise an event of this magnitude,\u00a0mainly due to poor transportation\u00a0infrastructure and insufficient accommodation\u00a0capacities, except maybe\u00a0in Novi Sad or Nis.\nThere won\u2019t be long before the sentence\u00a0I said at the beginning can be\u00a0also said about Belgrade: they\u2019ve already\u00a0visited Belgrade many times…\u00a0For example, Kopaonik or Vrnjacka\u00a0Banja\u00a0could serve as beautiful destinations,\u00a0but if after an hour or two\u00a0of flying it takes you another four or\u00a0five hours of driving to get to your final\u00a0destination, it\u2019s not likely that anyone\u00a0will want to entrust the event\u00a0to such a place, even if it would be\u00a0able to accommodate around 1,000\u00a0attendees.\nISE is an international association\u00a0of the highest rank in\u00a0this scientific field, bringing\u00a0together scientists from all\u00a0over the world and holding\u00a0a global meeting every year.\u00a0The Electrochemical Department\u00a0of the Serbian Society\u00a0of Chemistry is one of the\u00a0oldest, most prestigious and\u00a0active departments of the\u00a0Society, and the winning\u00a0candidacy for the 71st Annual\u00a0Meeting of the ISE serves as\u00a0a great acknowledgement\u00a0both for the department and\u00a0the Society.\nThe post Belgrade will be the center of world\u2019s electrochemistry for 5 days appeared first on SEE Business travel & meetings magazine.", "date_published": "2015-07-09T15:30:01+02:00", "date_modified": "2017-12-18T16:53:27+01:00", "author": { "name": "Mirjana Novitovic", "url": "https://www.seebtm.com/en/author/officebs/", "avatar": "https://www.seebtm.com/wp-content/uploads/slika-.jpg" }, "image": "https://www.seebtm.com/wp-content/uploads/uhv-scanning-micro-2.jpg", "tags": [ "belgrade", "ise 2020", "Interviews" ] } ] }