Published on: 18-07-2025
“London Calling”, The Clash
Dear Members of TIAFT,
Recently, after many video meetings, the new TIAFT Board met together in person at the Royal Society of Chemistry in London for the annual Mid-Year Board meeting. It was a very busy but important few days, as even with regular meetings there was a lot to review and action. These meetings are essential to support the function and activities of TIAFT, and I thank all Board members for their commitment and contribution to the Association for what is a voluntary role on top of everyone’s usual work. The outcomes will be communicated in due course but below are some of the many highlights.
In terms of the membership, it is good to see the continued joining of new members (especially from some new countries), but equally it has been unfortunately necessary to drop members because of unpaid dues and lack of logging into the members website despite many, many reminders. This is not a new issue, and we know there can be many reasons but as an Association we want to encourage an active membership so please be mindful of any deadlines to avoid any re-joining fees due to the extra administration involved.
The threshold for DCF status was also reviewed and increased to $45 000 USD (GDP PPP) to reflect World Bank data. This means there are no changes to any country’s status. It is reminded that DCF members are determined by the country they reside and work in and can still choose to pay dues as a Standard member to financially contribute more to the Association (which is needed more than you think) even though they are in a DCF country. The members are also reminded that donations to the DCF fund can be made at any time through the website and we are looking to make this easier at renewal as well.
There was also the usual review of the Regional Representatives and changes will be communicated directly to those involved. Furthermore, for this Board a key policy decision was made to remove the formal minimum member threshold required for a country to have a Regional Representative. This move reflects a shift toward a more flexible and strategic model, allowing the Board to appoint representatives justified by engagement and opportunity, regardless of specific membership numbers. Appointment is based on proven commitment to TIAFT, ability to effectively communicate and genuine interest in promoting the Association’s objectives, and the Board will be appointing new Regional Representatives from previously unrepresented countries very soon. These decisions featured within an overarching evolution of membership engagement that started with worldwide representation on the Board and is part of the strategic plan goal to expand and strengthen TIAFT in multiple regions.
The Board also discussed and evaluated the many applications for TIAFT Travel Grants as well as the TIAFT Huestis & Smith International Travel Award and the Bryan S. Finkle Visiting Scientist Grant. Given the high quality and calibre of applications it is always challenging to make the selections for these. It was a great pleasure in particular to award Karolina Nowak (Poland), Asli Atasoy Aydin (Turkiye) and Jari Rubbens (Belgium) the inaugural Huestis & Smith International Travel Award to represent TIAFT and their research at the forthcoming SOFT meeting in Portland. Moreover, look out for nomination announcements for the longstanding TIAFT Awards such as the Achievement and Alan Curry Award amongst others.
Along with discussions around the soon to be launched new public website (more about that in some specific communications), the Board also received updates from the various Committees who have all been busy with their duties and activities, many of which you will have already been seeing including the newly expanded all-digital Bulletin, more webinars (with the most recent one being interesting clinical and post-mortem case studies), HighResNPS updates, more ToxPod episodes and letting everyone know what’s happening, the communications team. The new members of the Ethics Committee hopefully won’t be called into action too soon though and the Young Scientist Committee are planning the usual events and awards for the TIAFT Annual meeting in November.
Talking of the New Zealand meeting, the Board had a comprehensive update from Matt Hosking dialling in from the other side of the world with exciting information about all the things we can look forward to in Auckland with an excellent scientific and social programme ready for those attending. If you’ve not registered already, the early bird registration is now finished but consider registering for what will no doubt be an annual meeting to remember. There were also meeting updates for the future Annual meetings in the USA (joint with SOFT in 2026), Türkiye (in 2027) and Brazil (in 2028). There will be announcements soon to call for applications for the 2029 Annual meeting with voting to take place at the business meeting in Auckland, so anybody thinking of putting in a bid should read the Annual meeting hosting guidelines available in the Documents section within the members website. Another exciting meeting update was the upcoming Latin America Regional TIAFT meeting to be held in Brazil in September and it will be my pleasure to be there along with other speakers to support the event. Likewise, myself and some other Board members are excited to support and be speaking at the Asian Forensic Science Network (AFSN) meeting in Seoul also in September. Recently, I also spoke at and represented TIAFT at the meeting of The European Association of Poison Centres and Clinical Toxicologists (EAPCCT) in Glasgow with the intention that our organisations may collaborate on prospects such as joint webinars, etc. and I thank the EAPCCT President, Dr Paul Dargan.
Last but certainly not least, aside from the usual review of TIAFT procedures and documentation - thank you Past President Le Beau for that legacy ;) the Board reviewed our progress and planning for the 2025-2027 strategic plan. If you recall, the focus was on: rationalising costs whilst maximising member benefits, establishing “TIAFT Task Forces”, further enhancing the role of TIAFT in relation to NPS, improved meeting support for annual TIAFT conferences, and expanding and strengthening TIAFT in multiple regions around the world. The Board was pleased to acknowledge progress on much of these and an update from the Artificial Intelligence TTF was well received pending a final report later in the year along with a special ToxPod session at Auckland amongst other outputs – thank you to all TTF members. We also decided on the next TTF so look out for an announcement about that.
So there you have it, consider yourselves updated and lots to digest but I hope there’s lots for members to look forward to. See you in Auckland if not sooner!
Very best wishes to all,
Dr Simon Elliott,
TIAFT President
www.tiaft.org