EAN – European Aniridia Network Meeting
Skype, 3rd of April 2011
REPORT
On April 3rd, 2011, a European Aniridia Network Meeting was held via Skype.
Participants were from Denmark, Finland, Germany, Italy, Norway, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom
Minutes
It was proposed to publish on the website a short report of EAN meetings. All the group agreed.
News on the strengthening of our network
Aniridia Finland was constituted during the Stockholm Conference in March. It is now being registered and its website is being developed.
Becoming a federation: name and logo
After preliminary work in the previous weeks, the group arrived at three options, which were discussed. Opinions were given and the group finally agreed that Aniridia Europe is the simplest and the clearest way to represent what the federation is about and where it is, so the name was adopted.
Discussion on the logo is was postponed as existing proposals need to be redesigned with the new name.
Becoming a federation: location
After preliminary work in the previous weeks, the spokespersons group came to the conclusion that the federation must be established in a country where there is already a strong association and the possibility of funding. This lead to Norway where there is also a strong commitment to cooperation.
It was asked whether the fact the Norway is not currently an EU member would pose some problems. Checks revealed this to not be problematic.
Aniridi Norge accepted to host the federation, under the condition that all the
representatives of different countries are involved and will cooperate in the work.
Neven Milivojevic was entrusted with the task of following the necessary procedures which would result in the formal administrative registration of the federation in Norway.
The Aniridi Norge board will identify a contact person in Norway.
European Website
The group expressed a preference for aniridia.eu, which will be the new site domain.
Conference Oslo 2012
The Conference will be held from Friday 8th to Sunday 10th of June 2012. Sunday activities will be mainly for patients but some doctors will be there too. The group agreed that it should try to find ways to facilitate participation from Southern countries.
Report on Swedish Conference March 26th-27th
Swedish delegates reported that the conference was successful, with 45 people attending and two doctors. A lecture about corneal diseases was held. People could also talk and exchange experiences during lunches and dinners.
Feed back on European Scientific Committee
Work is ongoing.
Adoption of the Action Plan 2011-2013
The Action Plan 2011-2013 designed by Rosa Sánchez de Vega is a very ambitious one and it could be challenging to achieve it. All the participants were fully aware of the difficulties, nonetheless all agreed that it is a good thing to cultivate higher aspirations and do one’s best to fulfill them, so the Action Plan was adopted.