BY-LAWS OF THE EUROPEAN ASSOCIATION OF PLASTIC SURGEONS

1. The EURAPS Research Council (EURAPS RC) comprises the research section of EURAPS and holds an annual meeting directly prior to the annual EURAPS meeting. Its goal is to promote the experimental research activities in European Plastic Surgery and to assure a scientific platform for young investigators in this field.
2. The EURAPS Research Council consists of the Chair, all national delegates and the EURAPS Secretary General and Treasurer ex-officio. Each national delegate must be personally involved in ongoing experimental research projects. Nomination is for a term of three years and the representative cannot serve more than one term consecutively. Each representative may propose a new nominee for his country at least 1 year prior to the end of his term at the Council meeting.
3. The administrative meeting of the delegates is on occasion of the annual scientific meeting of the EURAPS Research Council. It is organised and conducted by the Chair of the EURAPS Research Council. The nominee CV should be sent out to ERC secretary at least 3 months prior to the meeting to all those, who are actively involved, national delegated, with ERC. During the meeting new nominees are introduced with their CV and voted by the Council.
4. The Chair of the EURAPS Research Council is the national delegate who organizes the EURAPS Research Council meeting and is elected for a term of one year and cannot be re-elected.
   The Chair of the EURAPS Research Council is the administrative coordinator of the Research Council, a member of the EURAPS Executive Council in a non-voting capacity. The Chair is responsible for sending out the invitation to all EURAPS Research council members, the EURAPS General Secretary and the EURAPS treasurer ex officio.
5. EURAPS ensures infra structural support through its website. The Chair of the EURAPS Research Council maintains continuous contact with the Secretary General and the Treasurer of EURAPS.
6. The annual meeting of the Research Council is organized, after a vote at the General Assembly of the EURAPS Research Council, by a national delegate of the country where the EURAPS annual meeting takes place.
7. The EURAPS Research Council is its own entity. The EURAPS treasurer, however, collects the registration fees of the EURAPS Research Council meeting in collaboration with the EURAPS Research Council chair after the annual meeting. Depending on the balance of EURAPS itself the costs of the EURAPS Research Council meeting may be covered partly by EURAPS to keep it in the frame of a low budget meeting with low registration fees. By that young researchers and basic scientists should get easy access to the EURAPS Research Council meeting without financial hindrance.

EURAPS Research Council – Information

The ECSAPS (European Congress of Scientists and Plastic Surgeons) has been conceived in May 1997 in Amsterdam during the Annual Meeting of EURAPS in order to provide a working environment where scientists and plastic surgeons with a specific interest in research can meet. The ECSAPS met annually under the aegis of EURAPS. Founding members are Alfred BERGER (Germany), Willy BOECKX (Belgium) and Roy SANDERS (UK). The first Meeting took place under the Presidency of A. BERGER in Hannover in October 1997. In 1998, EURAPS voted to establish a formal affiliation with the ECSAPS and agreed that a prize is given for the best presentation and that the winning paper is invited for the next EURAPS Meeting. To strengthen this affiliation, EURAPS decided in 2011 that the name of its research wing should be changed to EURAPS Research Council and the meetings of both associations should be organized in sequence at the same place. A combined scientific session is the first scientific session of the EURAPS Annual Meeting and is including the three best papers presented at the EURAPS Research Council meeting the year before.

Date and Location of the EURAPS Research Council Meetings

Information on the EURAPS Research Council and abstract submission for future annual meetings at the new and permanent EURAPS Research Council website: www.research-council.euraps.org