Richard Brown, President, presiding welcomed the attendees and presented the agenda.

1. It was moved (Tees) and seconded (Herdman) that the minutes of the 1998 Ottawa meeting (circulated electronically) be adopted. The motion carried.

2. Richard Brown introduced Michèle Carlier and noted that she would be presenting on "Research in Psychology in France" which would be of interest to any members contemplating collaborations and/or sabbaticals in France. Dr. Carlier presented a listing of psychological research in French universities, which will soon be available on our website.

3. Ottawa Office

Richard Brown noted that the Society funds were used to run the Society office at Carleton and the major personnel expenses included administrative costs and part time clerical assistance. It was moved (MacLeod) and seconded (Tees) that these arrangements continue. The motion carried. Web page upgrade was identified as a task for the near future. The electronic election process was judged a great success. Richard Brown pointed out the need for volunteers to make the society run smoothly and accomplish our advocacy goals, and indicated that the Executive would inform members when their volunteering would be required.

4. Budget

Richard Brown called upon Chris Herdman to present the budget. Chris showed the balance sheet for the society (see Table 1), noting that our net assets were increasing steadily and heading toward our $50,000 goal. When this goal is achieved the society will consider how to spend these funds.

5. Relations with CPA

5a. Richard Brown announced that the CPA Board had voted to give CCDC, CPAP and our society formal represention on the CPA Board. Showing the members a Psynopsis article by the CPA president, Gary Latham, entitled "Speaking with One Voice" [www.cpa.ca/psynopsis/], Richard indicated that the CPA Board and our executive were concerned that politicians and granting councils were often getting different messages from representatives of our discipline, and that this was disadvantaging us in relation to our more unified counterparts in other disciplines in today's dynamic political and funding environment. It was moved (Klein) and seconded (Tees) that we accept this invitation. John Vokey noted that we had little in common with CPA and wondered what we would get out of representation on their Board. In speaking for the motion, Klein pointed out that he attended 1.5 days of CPA Board Meetings in Halifax on behalf of Richard who was out of the country. Ray was impressed with the CPA executive's desire to reach out to the CSBBCS community that had split off from CPA and noted that in recommending to the CPA membership that 3 board positions be reserved for CCDP, CPAP and CSBBCS, the CPA Board was taking an unprecedented step that still required approval of the CPA membership next year. Ray indicated that CPA would bear the full cost of our membership on their Board. Considering this, he suggested that CPA's invitation that we appoint a Presidential officer (past president, president or president-elect) to serve on the CPA Board was a no-lose opportunity to try to improve advocacy, lobbying and CPA-CSBBCS relations. The motion carried, nearly unanimously.

5b. Richard Brown informed the meeting that CPA would like to have a CSBBCS member serve on their Scientific Affairs Committee and that the executive had decided to ask Ray Klein if he would volunteer to do so. Ray agreed, so long as this would not require him to attend CPA Board Meetings. Apparently much of this committee's deliberations are conducted via e-mail, and Richard Brown didn't think the appointment would require attending CPA committee meetings. Mel Goodale pointed out that meeting with granting councils or their representatives might be a requirement of this volunteer position, and Ray indicated his willingness to participate in such meetings.

5c. Currently the Editor of CJEP must be a member of CPA. The CPA Board, recognizing that CSBBCS constitutes a large percentage of the editorial board of CJEP, of the Canadian readership of CJEP and of the contributors to CJEP, believes that it would be reasonable for the editor to also be a member of CSBBCS. Richard Brown wanted to know whether our membership would object if CPA decided that the CJEP Editor would have to be a member of both CPA and CSBBCS. An informal poll of the membership revealed no objection to this change.

5d. Richard Brown informed the membership that Pierre Jolicoeur was going to explore the possibility of our Society implementing an electronic publication, perhaps in collaboration with CPA and CJEP. Pierre indicated that his proposal was to look into the issue of publications more broadly.

5e. Hebb Award. Peter Suedfeld (outgoing President of CPA) had written to Richard Brown, on behalf of the CPA Board to express their concern that we have launched a D. O. Hebb Award when they already had one. Richard Brown has sent a carefully considered reply, noting that there is no limit to the number of ways a great person might be honoured. In response to his request for feedback from the membership, several views were expressed, but the consensus was that we are satisfied to continue naming our prize after Hebb.

6. Relations with other societies

Richard noted that in addition to CPA, our society has or should consider having relations with CCDP, APS, EPS, IUpsyS, BDP, CCR. With respect to the last group, the Canadian Consortium of Researchers, we have been participating, but had neglected to pay our dues which were estimated at $500/year. Chris Herdman said participation in CCR was valuable, and moved, (seconded by Vokey), that we formally join. The motion carried. Chris indicated that we could evaluate the benefits of membership after we have some experience. Janet Werker noted that our society might benefit from joining another organization, the Canadian Federation of Biological Societies. Discussion of this suggestion revealed disagreement concerning the cost of joining CFBS, and Janet was volunteered to look into this and report back to the executive. The tremendous improvement at NSERC (Brzustowki the builder versus Morand the destroyer) was noted as was the Government's much welcomed increased support for reasearch. Mention was made of the "thank you" letter to the important politicians that Vince DiLollo had drafted for Richard Brown's and Lorraine Allen's signature, and it was noted that this letter could be found on the society web page <http://www.carleton.ca/bbcs/>. Richard noted that a second "Psychology in Canada" meeting was being planned by Jim Ogloff (CPA President-Elect), and urged our participation in the process. Richard Tees pointed out that the last meeting was a huge waste of time and money and that while it was useful, the report that emanated from the meeting could have been produced without the meeting. It was suggested that Richard Tees meet with Jim Ogloff to discuss lobbying generally and the costs & benefits of holding the 2nd "Psychology in Canada" conference.

7. Membership

After consulting with the conference organizer (Alan Kingstone) Chris Herdman announced membership figures for 1997-1999, which were 248, 421 and 275, resepctively. Richard Tees described the system that was used to produce the improvement seen in 1998 ("shop steward's" were appointed at each university who were given lists of NSERC grantholders and paid up CSBBCS members with instructions to explain to the non-member NSERCers the benefits of CSBBCS membership), and suggested that we reinstitute that system.

8. NSERC

Lorraine Allen, Chair of GSC 12, was called upon to report. Lorraine noted that for the first time in many years it was a rewarding experience serving on this committee. The across the board increases in grant funds as well as special earmarked funds that had been granted for "Animal care and molecular techniques" and for "Neuroimaging studies" meant that it was no longer necessary to decrease the grants to good investigators in order to fund new ones. Success rates by category were shown (see Table 2). Lorraine noted the importance of applying for equipment grants. Not only might the applicant receive one, but the funds allocated to each GSC for equipment depend on the total requested. There was some discussion of the history of the name change for GSC 12, and it appears that the new name will be: Psychology: Brain, Behavior an Cognitive Science. It was announced that Colin MacLeod will be the next GSC 12 Chairperson.

9. BASICS

For the past 2 years CSBBCS has assisted with the funding for the Banff Annual Seminar in Cognitive Science. Mike Masson, one of the co-organizers, thanked the Society for its support noting that this year's conference was a great success.

10. CIHR

Richard Brown noted that the world of health research was changing forever as MRC was being folded into the new Canadian Institutes for Health Research. The increased funding for health research is a big plus, but there is tremendous uncertainty about how things will work and what the implications will be for research in behavioral neuroscience, particularly with regard to NSERC funding for research that touches upon health issues. It is recommended that interested members consult the CIHR web page [www.cihr.org] for regular updates.

11. Edmonton Meeting.

Alan Kingstone, the organizer, stated that there were 275 registrants so far and over 200 posters and presentations. The meeting was judged a great success and the conference organizer, Alan Kingstone, and his chief helper Geniva Liu were given a warm thank you.

12. Future Meetings.

In 2000 we are scheduled to go to Cambridge, England to meet with the EPS. The dates for this meeting are July 19-21. Gus Craik and Karalyn Patterson will coordinate. Pierre Jolicoeur polled the group to get a rough idea of the number of individuals who expected to attend, and of these how many hoped to give talks and would be willing, if necessary, to give a poster. In 2001 we had previously agreed to try to meet immediately after or before CPA in the same city so that members of each group could easily attend both meetings if they so wished. Previously CPA had indicated it would be trying to meet with APS in Toronto. Ray Klein, however, learned at the CPA Board Meeting that this plan had fallen through, and that CPA was now planning to meet in Quebec City, possibly at Laval U. in June. The CPA Board wants to make every effort to reduce the costs of attending meetings so that students and scientists are not discouraged from attending, and this is one reason for their consideration of Laval as a venue. We should liaise with CPA soon to determine the timing and location of their 2001 meeting.

13. Elections and 1999-2000 Executive

Pierre Jolicoeur - President

Pierre accepted his new role and thanked Richard Brown for his leadership during the past year.

14. The meeting was adjourned at 7:00pm .

(These minutes were taken by Ray Klein who was volunteered to do so by the executive).

Table 1.

Balance forward as at May 26, 1998 $39,392.16

Total Revenue:

Membership fees and T-shirts $11,477.00

Conference residence, food &program 9,106.33

Interest on account 966.98

TOTAL INCOME $21,550.31

Carleton University (catering &residence for 1998 conference) $ 6,879.27

Teaching relief (1998-1999) 3,850.00

Stipend paid to Administrator (December-May, 1999) 1,200.00

Stipend paid to Administrator (July-November, 1998) 1,000.00

Carleton University (deposit to on-campus research account) 902.38

Letterhead and envelopes purchased from UBC 842.57

Stipend paid to six persons who did work for 1998 Conference 730.00

Conference supplies, Executive luncheon and entertainment 542.98

Residence refunds 366.00

NSF cheques and service charges incurred 271.00

Oliver's Pub (deposit and crew fee for 1998 Conference event) 221.00

1998 Hebb Award 64.86

Supply of 200 cheques purchased from TD bank 41.03

Postage stamps 40.03

Carleton University (TLRC) fee for WebPage Workshop 35.00

Photocopy card purchased from Carleton University 15.00

TOTAL EXPENSES ($17,001.12)

Table 2 A, B, C and D. NSERC GSC12 Success Rates for 1999.

*Proposal 1—Funds to counter increased costs of animal care and in the application of molecular techniques.

**Proposal 2—Funds to support imaging studies.