It is my honour to be elected as President of EASE for a three year term starting 2016. Serving the EASE community has been my pleasure as I have found myself to be in the company of dedicated science education researchers from different regions. As the Chair of the EASE conference in 2013 in Hong Kong, I was glad to see that EASE had expanded its membership with a total of 349 participants from 12 different regions gathered to exchange ideas and findings in science education. The number of participants and sessions reached new heights at the 2015 EASE conference in Beijing, and I am sure that all the members would be happy to see the growth of the EASE community with each conference. This expansion means that EASE is providing more opportunities than ever for the exchange of ideas and research collaboration.
As the fifth President of EASE, I am in debt to those who have strived hard to establish EASE and have led the Association from strength to strength. Since EASE was first established at the Seoul National University, Korea, the first President, Prof. Masakata Ogawa, the second President, Prof. Jinwoong Song, the third President, Prof. Chi-Jui Lien, and Prof Wang Lei, the most recent President, have demonstrated strong leadership, and EASE has successfully organized many important academic events. Apart from the 2013 Hong Kong conference "Building an International platform for exchange between scientists and science educators" and the 2015 Beijing conference, the EASE community has had success in organizing two other conferences including the first biennial conference (EASE-2009) themed "Science Education for Tomorrow (SET): Voices of East Asia", Taipei, Taiwan; and the second biennial conference (EASE-2011) themed "Lighting the World with Science", Kwangju, Korea. With the aim of enhancing the learning and research experience of postgraduate students working in the area of science education, EASE has run two summer schools, 2010 in Taipei, and 2012 in Beijing, and a winter school, (EASE-APCTP winter school 2014), in Seoul, Korea.
I am glad to work with the new executive group comprising Prof Young-shin Park from Korea and Prof Yoshisuke Kumano from Japan as Vice-Presidents, Prof Wang Jian from China as Secretary, and Prof Sung-Tao Lee from Taiwan as Treasurer. With the transfer of the EASE headquarters to Hong Kong, Dr Wan Zhi Hong has kindly offered his service to be the secretary of the headquarters. I would also like to thank Prof Young-shin Park for taking up the chief editorship of the EASE newsletter and for all the colleagues from different regions who serve as editors or contributors. Together with the 20 executive members from the five different regions, I am confident that EASE will continue to develop and make a distinctive contribution to science education.
Last but not least, I would like to thank Prof Masakata Ogawa and his colleagues who have been working diligently for the preparation of the 2016 conference in Japan. I look forward to meeting you all. Looking into the future, I hope that new partnerships and opportunities for collaboration can be built. Apart from planning for conferences, summer and winter schools, we welcome your ideas and thoughts. Please send in your ideas and suggestions to the executive members in your region or directly to the EASE headquarters at ease@eduhk.hk.
Wishing you all a prosperous year ahead!
May CHENG May Hung, (鄭美紅), Ph.D.
The Fifth President, East Asian Science Education Association (EASE)
Associate Vice-president cum Registrar,
Chair Professor of Teacher Education,
Department of Curriculum and Instruction
The Education University of Hong Kong
