The 9th Biennial Meeting of the International Quantum Structures Association

Abstract

The 9th Biennial Meeting of the International Quantum Structures Association (IQSA),hosted by the University of Gdansk, was held in Sopot, Poland, from 6 to 12 July 2008.´Sopot is a renowned spa on the Baltic Sea, located at 15 km from Gdansk. On the IQSA´website (http://www.vub.ac.be/CLEA/IQSA/conferences.html) the conference is referred toas ‘Quantum Structures 2008 Brussels–Gdansk Meeting’. The reason for this is that it was´jointly organised by teams from Gda´nsk and Brussels, with members of the Institute ofMathematics and the Institute of Theoretical Physics and Astrophysics of the University ofGdansk providing the ‘hardware’ and representatives of the Center Leo Apostel of the Free´University of Brussels ensuring the ‘software’ of the conference. Although originally the9th Biennial IQSA Meeting was to be held in Brussels, it was mainly because of the highcosts involved that it was rescheduled to take place in Poland, but maintaining the Brusselsteam’s significant organisational role. Until the current divide between low-cost and high-cost countries within the European Union is bridged, this is something that organisers offuture conferences may do well to take into account in choosing their venue.The Meeting was organised as a low-budget conference to facilitate the participation ofIQSA members from emerging countries. The great success of this formula was largelythanks to the University of Gdansk, which allowed participants to use its facilities at no cost´and made its student dormitories available at extremely modest prices. The number of activeparticipants in the Meeting was close to 90, whilst the overall number of people attendingwas over one hundred. On Wednesday 9 July 2008, they first enjoyed a sightseeing tourof Gdansk’s historic centre and then set off for a Medieval Evening at a restored medieval´settlement in the Sopot area. Here, they were treated to a formidable piece of roasted wild