Welcome to AsCA

Among the three Regional Associates of the International Union of Crystallography (IUCr), the American Crystallographic Association (ACA), the European Crystallographic Association (ECA) and the Asian Crystallographic Association (AsCA), we are the youngest and the fastest growing. Established at the Perth IUCr Congress in 1987, AsCA has now been in existence for more than 20 years and is entering a mature phase of its life and looks forward to further growth in keeping with economic developments in the region.

The past two decades have witnessed great progress in the crystallographic activities of the region and AsCA has helped in this. The meetings of the Association continue to have grown in size and stature over this time, with the Hong Kong meeting in 2004 having 350 participants, the Taipei meeting in 2007 attracting over 400 delegates, the Beijing meeting in 2009 attracting over 500, and the recently concluded meeting in Busan over 600. The quality of the science at the recent meetings has been outstanding and was commented on by several attendees from Europe and the United States.

A significant step towards improving the participation of AsCA region crystallographers in the affairs of the IUCr was taken at the General Assembly in 2008, where a Regional Association of countries including Bangladesh, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam were admitted as a member of the IUCr. The dues will be paid by the Crystallographic Association of Japan (CrSJ) and the Society for Crystallographers in Australia and New Zealand (SCANZ).

The next AsCA meeting, as the Bragg Centennial meeting, will be held jointly with the Society for Crystallographers in Australia and New Zealand (SCANZ) during December 2-6, 2012 at the Adelaide Convention Centre. November 2012 will mark the centenary of the presentation of Lawrence Bragg's paper to the Cambridge Philosophical Society that detailed the first crystal structure and Bragg's equation. Bragg was born in Adelaide and spent his first 19 years there.

I look forward to seeing you all in Adelaide, Australia in December, 2012 (AsCA/SCANZ meeting) and in Dhaka, Bangladesh in December, 2013 (AsCA'13 Conference).