and it was particularly encouraging that employees from a number of poorly funded ombudsman offices were able to attend thanks to I.O.I. scholarships. The five recipients of financial support were from Burkina Faso, Djibouti, the Gambia, Mali and Zambia. Feedback has been very positive, and a further training course of a similar nature will be held in Vienna in June 2011. New Executive Committee elected New Executive Committee members were elected in autumn 2010, at the Annual Board Meeting, held from 16-20 October in Bermuda. The new President, Beverley Wakem, became a New Zealand Ombudswoman in March 2005, and the country’s Chief Ombudswoman in April 2008. She has been an I.O.I Board member since 2008. Tom Frawley took office as Northern Ireland Ombudsman in 2000. He has already been the I.O.I’s Vice-President from 2006 to 2007 and a Board member since 2004. The new Treasurer Alan Lai has been Ombudsman of Hong Kong since April 2009 and an I.O.I Board member since June 2009. Pursuant to the I.O.I’s By-Laws, Secretary General Peter Kostelka is an Executive Committee member automatically. Outcome of the meeting of the Board of Directors At the Board meeting, the Board of Directors proposed formal approval for the I.O.I's business year and noted that the past year had been very successful. The I.O.I stepped up its activities during the year, and methods for handling member requests were reorganised. The number of members rose by around 5%, with new members from Europe, Asia and the Caribbean. The positive trend in membership, which reflects worldwide acceptance of the I.O.I’s activities, was also beneficial from a financial standpoint. Members were reliable in paying their membership fees, which meant there were sufficient funds for additional projects. At the Board meeting the I.O.I also officially thanked the Republic of Austria for its support for the I.O.I. Research and training Also, the Board passed a resolution to provide support for training projects in the I.O.I regional groups (Africa, Asia, Australasia & Pacific, Europe, the Caribbean & Latin America and North America), and to step up scholarly research activities. Following completion of an academic study of Europe’s ombudsman offices by Professor Gabriele Kucsko-Stadlmayer, their focus will broaden to include ombudsman offices in all the other I.O.I regions. A research project focussing on the Australasia & Pacific region, to be carried out by the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Human Rights (Vienna), is currently in the implementation phase. 18