If you weren’t present at the first General Assembly of the Marie Curie Alumni Association you are probably wondering what happened…Below you’ll find everything you need to know about this very special day!

The Marie Curie Alumni Association’s first General Assembly took place on 23 November at Square Brussels Meeting Center, Belgium. 85 Alumni attended this event, enjoying the opportunity to meet and to network, as well as to participate in the election of the MCAA Board.

Representatives from the European Commission – DG EAC – were present and led the discussions, as well as representatives from both contractors INOVA+ and INTRASOFT International.

1. The Association should be able to provide attractive benefits to its Members in general, and aims to serve the particular needs of its Members. Alumni attending the meeting were welcomed and reminded that the Association should be established as a legal entity and gradually become independent.
2. The Association will be established as an Association Internationale Sans But Lucratif (AISBL) under Belgian Law and provide the Alumni services and activities that can enhance their careers and foster their networking activities, namely cross-sector and cross-cultural networking activities.
3. The MCAA web-portal provides a wide range of services. The website’s sections and the opportunities provided by the portal for communication with other Alumni were presented. Alumni may send any comment, question or suggestion to the following address: contact@mariecuriealumni.eu.
4. Some 4 537 replies were received and more than 90% of the Fellows replied to all of the survey questions sent between early August and mid-October 2013, which were intended to increase understanding of Alumni’s expectations about the Association and the web-portal. An overview of the survey responses was shared with the audience.
5. The 27 candidates for the MCAA Board were allocated 2 minutes to present themselves and share their motivation to serve as Board Members.
6. Marie Curie Actions will become Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) under Horizon 2020. Participants learned about Horizon 2020 and the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions that will evolve under this new framework programme.
7. Some participants were interviewed in a dedicated space. You may read some interviews in the next articles!
8. 11 MCAA Board Members were elected. 81 Alumni participated in the voting process and elected Snezana Krstic as the Chair, Francesco Grassi and Axelle Viré as the Vice-Chairs, Roy Someshwar as the Treasurer, Maria-Antonietta Buccheri as the Secretary and 6 Ordinary Board Members: Wuraola Akande, Zoran Andjelic, Mauricio Manfrini, Kiran Kumar Chereddy, Annett Kiss and Francesco Sanna.
9. The Articles of Association currently count eight sections. The proposed articles were formulated under supervision of both lawyers and a Belgian notary. Based on comments of Members and collaboration with the newly elected Board an improved version will be submitted to the Belgian authorities for establishing legally the association.
10. The 2014 MCAA Plan of activities comprises the consolidation of legal structures, the recruitment of more Members, the development of web services and synergy with other organisations.