Almost one year have passed since we met in Evora University and the proceedings of our conference are almost ready to be printed. We would like to thank you for your collaboration in delivering the final versions of your papers, both for the online and the paper version of the volume. The book will be edited by the Compostela Group of Universities in its series European Issues (number 2).
On the other hand, the report on European Protection Systems in Perspective by Lucie Paquy (EHESS, Paris), which was created thanks to the grant provided by the Portuguese Government, is already available in PDF format at our website and will soon be published by the Compostela Group of Universities with the collaboration of the Gulbenkian Foundation.

WORKING GROUPS

As you know, the PHOENIX TN working plan for 2002-2003 was decentralized and for this reason no big general conferences were organised this year, but just smaller events in the frame of the three working groups active in PHOENIX TN.
A first meeting was organised by the Texts, Pedagogical materials and Educational Political Recommendations for Ministries and Departments of Education of all EU members working group in Santiago de Compostela, last 25-26 April, chaired by Prof. Xosé Armas in the Instituto de Ciencias da Educación, Santiago de Compostela. The meeting was attended by some ten PHOENIX TN participants and you can have a glimpse of the agenda of the meeting and discussions going on there through the virtual forum of the group.
The second working meeting was organised by the Health and Socio-Political Recommendations for the European Union Governments group, chaired by Prof. Luis Capucha in the Instituto Superior de Ciências do Trabalho e da Empresa, Lisbon, and was held in 31 May - 1 June. Please, access its virtual forum for further details.
The working meeting of the PHOENIX TN working group on Establishing Quality Markers for Health Assistance, will be held in Perugia University next 30 August - 1 September, chaired by Prof. Mariapia Viola Magni.
Any input will be welcome! Take into account that as a virtual network our websites are the best place to exchange ideas and show the whole community what is going on within PHOENIX TN. Please, think about the impact of a multicast communication sharing your thoughts by using the PHOENIX TN e-mail lists and the virtual forums. If you have any problem while using these facilities or any suggestion, send a message to webmaster@phoenixtn.net, share it by using the list ITissues@phoenixtn.net or the IT Issues virtual forum. Thanks indeed.

In order to have a proper impact in universities, civil society, policy makers and public authorities, PHOENIX TN has strengthened its links with other networks and associations for common activities. This way, the organisers of the VI Conference of the European Association for the History of Medicine and Health has invited PHOENIX TN to chair two sessions in the conference they are organising in Oslo next 3-7 September. Several PHOENIX TN members have been invited to present their papers and recent research on health history issues at two sessions on Saturday, 6th September.
In the same way, the Health and Social Change Seminar - the first one being held last year in Evora after our main conference - will be organized in Charles University, Prague, next 11-15 September, in collaboration with the Milbank Foundation. The meeting will deepen in the cases of Sweden, Portugal, the Czech Republic, South Africa, the USA, Hungary, ... rapid social changes that took place in these countries during the past century and their effect on health.
During this meeting, the coordinators of the PHOENIX TN working groups will be able to present the work of their groups before the Scientific Committee.

Prague will be also be the venue for the preparatory meeting of the first PHOENIX TN "son": the Erasmus Intensive Programme on Health and Social Change, coordinated by Prof. Jan Sundin from Linköping Universit, has been recently approved by the European Commission and will start its activity next October 2003. The Intesive Programme is a joint effort by several PHOENIX TN universities, trying to develop a European approach to the social contents generally lacking in health teaching in European universities.

And last, but not least, we are pleased to inform you that PHOENIX TN third year of history as a European network has been just approved (29 July 2003) and this is a new challenge for all of us. We count on everyone of you and your partnership to be able to go on with the cooperation born two years ago and to reach the goals of the established working groups. This is the reason why we would like to encourage those of you who have lost the contact with your original working group during this academic course to re-establish it in order to be able to guarantee the success of this third and crucial year of activities and outcomes for PHOENIX TN. More information on the future ativities will be send late September.

Kind regards,

Laurinda Abreu
Coordinator
PHOENIXTN, European Thematic Network on Health and Social Welfare Policy
http://phoenixtn.org
laurinda.abreu@phoenixtn.net