ITC Activities Report

date: 21.08.2019

ITC’s 24th In-session Meeting (to be held in Lyon-France on Sunday, 1st September 2019) nearly marks the 46th anniversary of the International Tribology Council (ITC) which was established on 24th September 1973.

Since its foundation, ITC’s key interest has always been on scientific, technological and educational matters involving tribology. Prof. Peter Jost was elected unanimously as its 1st President and with the help of many other volunteers over the years, ITC has grown into a global organization of world tribology societies, associations and groups. Sadly and unexpectedly, Peter has passed away on June 7, 2016. Without any doubt, he was responsible for bringing the world tribology community together. Immediately after his passing, it has become very clear that there was an urgent need to develop a roadmap for the succession of future leadership and how to restructure and run ITC in the future (as existing statue has not provided any guidelines on such matters). Accordingly, the esteemed members of ITC came together and formed a sub-committee first and then selected Prof. Kenneth Holmberg to act as the Interim President of ITC until the next In-Session Meeting (in Beijing, China) during which the new President and Executive Committee members could be elected. Out of the In-session Meeting in Beijing, Dr. Ali Erdemir (USA) was elected as the next ITC President and Profs. Kenneth Holmberg (Finland), Mitjan Kalin (Slovenia), Ian Sherrington (UK), Philippe Kapsa (France) and Jianbin Luo (China) as Executive Committee members and  charged with the following tasks until the next In-Session meeting in Lyon:

  1. Review and update the status of ITC
  2. Review and update the contact information of all ITC member societies
  3. Update the ITC web page
  4. Elect a Deputy President
  5. Assist Tribology Trust in establishing new guidelines for the Tribology Gold Medal
  6. Work very closely with WTC organizers for a successful outcome
  7. Identify new ITC members and prepare for approval
  8. Solicit hosts for WTC 2025

I am very pleased to inform that great progress has been made in all of these tasks during the 10 video conferences that Executive Committee have held since the last In-Session meeting. Specifically,

  1. In close consultation with member organizations, Executive Committee has completed its work on a new/revised statue and will present the final version to its members for their final consideration in Lyon
  2. Contacted all existing or active members for changes/updates in their organizations
  3. Developed a new ITC website
  4. Elected Prof. Mitjan Kalin as the Deputy President of ITC
  5. Worked closely with Tribology Trust on matters related to Tribology Gold Medal
  6. Worked with WTC organizers toward a successful WTC
  7. Identified a number of corresponding and full members for further consideration and approval
  8. Solicited 5 candidates for the next WTC in 2025.  

Other significant matters which were also deliberated by the ITC Executive Committee included the establishment of an ITC Award honoring our founding father Prof. H. Peter Jost; formation of a Distinguished Advisory Board; initiation of a quarterly newsletter featuring most significant developments, accomplishments, and trends in tribology. This Committee has also considered the establishment of an international committee focusing on the impact of tribology on energy, environment, global economy, and sustainability.

In summary, ITC leadership has been very busy during the past two years and will continue to serve the greater interest of world tribology community.