The first Business Meeting took place during the ECPR General Conference in Oslo, chaired by Manuela Moschella and Daniela Irrera.

The aim was to meet members for the first time, introduce the steering committee and describe present activities. A light lunch was offered to all participants during the meeting.
An informal agenda was followed:

 

1. Homepage and membership
2. Summer school update
3. Sections at ECPR and EISA
4. Hedley Bull Prize
5. EJIR
6. Endorsement

The audience was composed of members but also some few non-members. Therefore, a brief overview of the SGIR, of the steering committee composition and roles and of aims and missions was offered, together with an explanation on the procedure to follow for joining and renewing membership. The website was shown and described as well.
Then, Daniela talked about the summer school, its topic and achievements and the sections she has submitted to the General Conference itself and to the Pan-european conference in Barcelona.
Manuela mentioned she acts as SGIR treasurer and, then, as a member of the evaluating committee of the Hedley Bull Prize briefly reported about the book which had been awarded in Oslo. She also reminded that SGIR is co-responsible of the management of the European Journal of International Relations.
Finally, it was reminded that SGIR is happy to endorse proposals to be submitted to ECPR events and that initiatives from members are most welcome. It was also underlined the fact that these activities are fully part of SGIR mission to promote and revitalise the interest towards IR within the ECPR community and will continue until this steering committee will be in charge.
At the end, the floor was opened to comments and suggestions. Some non-members expressed their satisfaction in being informed about SGIR and manifested their intention to join.
Among the suggestions, the need to include in the website a clear link to something similar to a contact form and to involve the national associations should be mentioned.
As for the first one, it was clarified that even though members are aware of the myecpr procedure to join, there may be other people interested in contacting the committee for questions or info.
As for the second one, it was stressed the importance of making more publicity to the diverse activities and extending the network. Therefore, national association can help.