IAVCEI: from small beginnings to a vibrant international association

Abstract

The International Association for Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth's Interior (IAVCEI) was formed following the end of World War I at the inaugural general assembly (GA) of the International Research Council in Brussels in 1919, where the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics (IUGG) was constituted. IAVCEI was then known as the Section for Volcanology (SV) and was one of six scientific disciplines that made up IUGG. The first president of IAVCEI (or SV) was Annibale Riccò (Italy), its first two vice presidents were Alfred Lacroix (France) and Henry Washington (USA), and the first secretary-general (SG) was Alessandro Malladra (Italy). A secretariat office for SV was established in Naples, Italy, following the first IUGG and SV General Assembly in 1922, in Rome, Italy. At that meeting SV established its own scientific journal called Bulletin volcanologique, the first edition of which was published in 1924 with Alessandro Malladra as the editor. SV officially became the International Association for Volcanology (IAV) in 1933 at the 5th IUGG General Assembly in Lisbon, Portugal. At the 14th IUGG General Assembly in Zurich, Switzerland, in 1967, IAV was renamed IAVCEI in recognition of the importance of geochemistry and geochronology in understanding volcanic processes. Bulletin volcanologique was renamed the Bulletin of Volcanology in 1986, at the time that its editorial board was restructured to be more representative of the international community. IAVCEI became a fully democratic association in 1995 with the introduction of individual membership, which entitled members to nominate, be nominated and vote in the election of the IAVCEI Executive Committee. Although the IUGG By-Laws allowed scientists only from the union's member countries to hold various positions within IUGG, in 2015, the IUGG Council removed this restriction, and now a scientist who is a member of IAVCEI from any country can hold any position in IAVCEI, except the position of the president.