2025 Annual General Meeting Minutes

Held during ISTA11/CAP-Niagara in St. Catharines, ON (June 23-27, 2025) and online (Teams) on June 23 from 4-6 pm Eastern Time.
In person: Brock University, South Block STH 201. Online: Teams.

Members in attendance at commencement:
Aaron Alderson, Alwynne Beaudoin, Manuel Bringué (CAP President, meeting chair), VâniaCorreia (CAP Newsletter Editor), Pierre Richard, Sarah Finklestein, Julia Hathaway (CAP Website Editor), Elisabeth Levac, Zhen Li, Francine McCarthy (CAP Secretary/Treasurer), Sandy McLachlan (Recording Secretary), Peta Mudie, Lauren Nesbitt, Saif Al Silwadi and Vera Pospelova (CAP Councillor to IFPS). Joined later: Nick Riddick. Quorum reached.

Call to Order – 4:12 PM EDT

1. Acceptance of agenda

MOTION: to accept agenda; Vera moves and Elisabeth seconds. Motion carried.

2. Minutes of the 2024 Annual General Meeting

MOTION: to accept the Minutes of the 2024 AGM: Vera moves Zhen seconds. Motion carried.

3. Business arising from Minutes

No business arose.

4. President’s report, Manuel Bringué

Manuel thanked all executive members, and Francine in particular for filling different roles and logistical planning over the last year.

Of note, the recent special recognition of Anne de Vernal. Francine collected tributes to Anne, and Manuel expressed an interest in interviewing Anne for next newsletter on reflections from her time in the field and those who influenced her career.

Manuel relayed that conversations are ongoing with Christopher West (of the Royal Tyrrell Museum) with regard to planning for the next International Palynological Congress-International Organization of Palaeobotany Congress (IPC-IOPC) meeting to be held in Calgary in 2028.

Manuel mentioned that the 2025 CAP Student Research Award recipient is Stephen Magohe (PhD student at the University of Calgary) for his research contributing to paleoenvironmental reconstructions of Pleistocene early Homo habitats in Tanzania, East Africa.

5. Secretary/Treasurer’s report, Francine McCarthy

Francine opens with financial break down noting CAP membership declining. We need more members in good standing and members encouraging their students to join.

Francine emphasized the international reach of the field and how much mentorship is essential to the integrity and future of the professional palynological community. Francine proceeded to read a series of tributes submitted in honour of Anne de Vernal highlighting her illustrious career of over 22 years and her efforts to encourage her students to take an active role in CAP.

Francine was pleased to announce that CAP has been the recipient of $5000 through the generous donation of Pierre Richard. So, the society’s bank account has effectively doubled.

Manuel noted that two CAP student awards (2024 and 2025) were cashed this reporting period.

Manuel worked with Francine a lot behind the scenes as to ensure that everything has been settled with the CAP account held with the Bank of Montreal.

6. Auditor’s statement, Kelly Biagi

Manuel noted Terri Lacourse’s recommendation of an auditor external to the association. Auditor confirmed the financial statement is in order. Kelly Biagi was thanked for her help.

7. Newsletter Editor’s report, Vânia Correia

Vânia relayed that the December newsletter featured a dedication letter for Rob Fensome who was recently the recipient of the AASP-TPS Medal For Scientific Excellence, and that the May issue highlighted Graham Williams having received the highest award of the Atlantic Geoscience Society, the AGS Distinguished Scientist Award 2025 (Gesner Medal). Rob wrote a dedication letter for Graham. The May issue also featured an article by Stephen Magohe on his PhD research.

The implementation of the ‘Paly Gallery’ space was highlighted, which is a section of the newsletter where images of palynomorphs can be featured. Manuel noted that these images should be unpublished as to avoid copyright infringement, and also that short things like images relating to members’ research can be pulled from the newsletter in an effort to gain societal traction on social media via the Outreach Officer.

8. Website Editor’s report, Julia Hattaway

Julia relayed that she is becoming accustomed to the role, and that the website received almost 1000 views so far in 2025. The Homepage ranks first for most views and the Opportunities page ranks second. Also, an announcement for 2025 Student Award has been posted. Additionally, a tab has been added to the top menu of the website for the 2028 IPC-IOPC conference. As always, palynomorph photos are being soliciting for the website.

9. CAP Councillor to IFPS’ report, Vera Pospelova

No news to report.

10. CAP Outreach Officer Report, Diana Tirlea

Relayed via Manuel, efforts are being made on the platform Instagram toward social media outreach with the assistance of Nick Riddick. Manuel noted that he has now joined Instagram to this end, and that Jen Galloway (GSC-Calgary), who is savvy with social media, has offered to help with postings in an unofficial capacity, which will help maximize exposure on the platform.

MOTION: to accept all director reports; Zhen moves seconded by Vânia. Motion carried.

11. Appointment of auditor, Francine McCarthy

Kelly Biagi, who has now reviewed CAP’s finances twice and is familiar with the process, will likely be willing to help again next year.

12. Vacancy on Executive, Manuel Bringué

Manuel announced that Zhen Li has put herself forward for the position of CAP President-Elect, the only current vacancy on CAP’s Executive. Sandy questioned if there should be a formal nomination process and vote to instate the President-elect. Francine noted that there will be an email sent out introducing Zhen to the broader membership, along with any possible other nominee, followed by a vote by email.

13. The Future of CAP – Priorities and Goals

Manuel relayed that the venue has been booked for the IPC-IOPC at Telus Convention Centre in Calgary for August 7–11, 2028. This will see the conference take place over the week preceding the International Geological Congress (IGC), which will have a large draw, and IPC-IOPC stands to capitalize off of the momentum leading to the IGC. CAP will likely contribute to field trips. Christopher West emphasized that fundraising as crucial at this juncture. Jen Galloway, adjunct at U-Calgary, will assist in this effort. Manuel also indicated that help will be needed with respect to members sitting on scientific committees for reading abstracts. Furthermore, the planning committee is open to ideas for special sessions (i.e. marine and terrestrial environments).

Francine suggested that CAP could target the Royal Alberta Museum in Edmonton as a partner and to assist with support. Francine also inquired if a field trip(s) could happen during a weekday, such as on the Thursday or Friday, so as to not conflict with IGC field trips.

Manuel spoke to strategies for increasing membership and ways to bolster the ranks, noting that a full executive is crucial to signal a dynamic and successful organization.

The idea of a shared spreadsheet on Google Docs was revisited, which would serve as a resource for the management and organization of membership and contact information. Vera suggested a shared folder hosted by an institution is one way, while Vânia said that another approach would be to have a single association account accessible to all executive members with permission. Manuel will look into the options.

14. Other business

Discussion on whether to decrease the amount of CAP student award

Vera noted that major expense to the society has been the annual Student Award, and that the increase to $500 did not really result in increased applications as intended. Vera proposed a discussion to decrease the amount by half to ease the burden on CAP’s finances.

Francine argued against reducing the amount for the reason that the goal is more so to financially support students of palynology and encourage their scientific pursuits, not to reel them in as future members. Francine also noted precedent of $500 being split into two $250 Student Awards.

Manuel stated that the wording is currently $300–500 for the award, and that it could be reverted back to 300 + a 1-year subscription, although Vera suggested cutting it to $100–200 + a 1-year subscription.

In light of the fact that Pierre Richard’s generous donation to CAP was primarily to support students, Manuel made the decision to leave the award description as is; however the discussion served as a healthy reminder that the amount to be awarded is contingent to the number and quality of applications at the discretion of the adjudication committee and does not need to default to the higher range.

Outreach

Zhen noted that the Geological Survey of Canada (GSC) – Pacific has in-person outreach activities and wondered if it was possible to use such activities to conduct outreach on CAP matters, for instance showcasing members’ research in palynology. Nick Riddick mentioned that social media is the conduit for this form of outreach. Zhen said that she has some ideas as to how to promote CAP at GSC–Pacific events.

Francine says she will volunteer to do some outreach at the Royal Ontario Museum, which has an opportunity starting September 27th with regard to Crawford Lake. This is geared toward school kids and the general public.

15. Adjournment

Meeting adjourned – ~ 5:25 PM EDT

2025 CAP AGM attendees. Top panel: in-person attendees at ISTA11/CAP-Niagara in St. Catharines, ON; from left to right: (bottom row) Peta Mudie, Anne de Vernal; (2^nd row) Sarah Finkelstein, Francine McCarthy, Martin Head; (top row) Aaron Alderson, Nick Riddick, Lauren Nesbitt and Saif Al Silwadi. Bottom panel: online attendees; from top left to bottom right: Manuel Bringué, Vânia Correia, Julia Hathaway, Zhen Li, Vera Pospelova, Sandy McLachlan, Alwynne Beaudoin, Pierre Richard and Elizabeth Levac.