EMA Editorial for January 2023

Dear colleagues,

We hope that you had a good start to the new year and would like to send you and your families our best wishes for 2023. During the end-of-year period, many of us allowed ourselves a true break from work and enjoyed time with our families and friends. Returning to work at the beginning of the year is always a great opportunity to think about our priorities and set goals for the future. In this first newsletter of the year, we would like to do the same with respect to EMA; we will look back at some of EMA's actions in 2022 and share our roadmap for the coming years, putting a special focus on the milestones the association would like to achieve in 2023.

One of the most concerning events in Europe in 2022 was undoubtedly the devastating war launched by Russia against Ukraine on 24 February, with the support of Belarus. On behalf of EMA, the Presidents and Executive Board immediately expressed support to all those in danger and distress (link). Our message was directed to all Ukrainians, but also to individuals in Belarus and Russia who opposed the war. We strongly believe that peace can only be achieved based on mutual respect and understanding. Thus, we established the policy that, although no longer allowed to display their affiliation, colleagues based in the Russian Federation or Belarus are still welcome at EMA events (link).

Scientifically, there are many highlights and milestones that can be listed looking back at the year 2022. We are very happy about all the exciting research activities of our colleagues in the magnetism community and their achievements, as reflected, e.g., by the Young Scientist Award received by Jan Masell for his ground-breaking theoretical work on topological magnetic textures. EMA also established clear guidelines to reduce its Carbon Footprint and worked on a new framework concerning Gender and Diversity. Other milestones included the organization of the European School on Magnetism (ESM2022) in Saarbrücken, Germany, and the Joint European Magnetism Symposia (JEMS2022) in Warsaw, Poland, the election of the third President and Vice-President of the association since it was founded in 2016, and EMA becoming a member of CoARA, i.e., the coalition for advancing research assessment.

As President (Olivier Fruchart) and Vice-President (Dennis Meier) of EMA, we feel deeply honoured that we have the chance to serve the European magnetism community and - together with the Officers of EMA (i.e., the Executive Board) - we are doing our best to identify the challenges and opportunities ahead of us and to develop the association accordingly. For 2023, different new key actions are on the agenda: We would like to strengthen the association by better defining "membership", foster a sense of belonging to EMA, and invite young scientists and early-stage researchers to get involved. Furthermore, we will expand actions pertaining to industrial relations, refine our model for remote and hybrid events, and discuss to what extent EMA can possibly help regarding broader societal challenges, scientific outreach, and open science. We took the first steps to define a roadmap during discussions with the Officers of EMA in the autumn of 2022. We would also like to rely on your help and input. Thus, to gather feedback and learn more about your expectations and your vision for EMA, we have designed a survey. In this survey for the magnetism community, we address different key topics ranging from certain outreach activities to EMA events. You can find the survey following this link (https://magnetism.eu/survey/2023) and we would like to invite you to participate in it to help us shape the future of EMA. The survey is anonymous and will remain open until 28^th February 2023. The information will be evaluated by the Executive Board and used to define and adjust our roadmap and priorities in the years to come.

Please stay tuned to learn about EMA's new initiative and actions in 2023.

We wish you all the best for 2023 and look forward to promoting the visibility and networking of magnetism-related activities in Europe with your help in 2023.

Thank you,
Olivier FRUCHART, President
Dennis MEIER, Vice-President