The last year has been very positive for COGER. The annual meeting was held at the University of Manchester on 16-18 September 1996. This was attended by 94 delegates, representing a return to the usual numbers over recent years, which were probably reduced below normal in 1995 as a result of the early date of the meeting and the distant (for the average participant) location. The Manchester meeting was highly successful with the usual multi-disciplinary emphasis being reflected in lectures being given on marine geochemistry, pathways and processes in coastal wetlands and freshwaters, pathways in terrestrial ecosystems, migration of buried nuclear waste, deposition and interception of radionuclides, response to nuclear emergencies, and developments in radioanalysis. The cross sectional interests in environmental radioactivity were amply demonstrated by delegates attending from four NERC institutes, five governmental or quasi-governmental organisations, 14 universities, 2 independent research institutes and four private or state companies.

The highlight of the meeting was the annual COGER lecture given by Professor Elis Holm of the University of Lund, entitled 'Four Decades of Radioecological Concentration Processes'. This was an entertaining, if sometimes disturbing lecture, ranging from the discovery of the concentration of bomb-fallout radioactivity in Arctic foodchains in the 1960s to recent radioecological investigations connected with the French nuclear tests in Mururoa. We look forward to the 1997 meeting to be held at the University of Liverpool on 15-17 September. The COGER lecture will be given by Dr Doug Harkness of the NERC Radiocarbon Laboratory and there will be a second invited talk on the subject of nuclear waste disposal.

The NERC has recently reviewed the future of COGER and other similar organisations operating within its remit. As a result, I has to appear before the NERC Terrestrial and Freshwater Science and Technology Board on 15 October 1996, to explain the activities of COGER and its value to the scientific community, not the least by providing a forum for research students to present their work in a friendly and informal atmosphere. This appears to have been well received as COGER continues to exist and retains its devolved budget. In the latter respect, funds are just about sufficient to cover our activities. Thus it is vital that all participants who are entitled to claim on COGER funds keep their travel costs to a minimum. Another pleasing devlopment last year was the opportunity that I had to write an article, entitled COGER - NERC's Watchdog on Radioactive Issues', for the Spring 1997 Issue of NERC News., which covered the history and purpose of COGER, as well as looking towards the future. This brought back happy memories of the meetings, which I have attended every year since NERC decided to open up COGER to a wider audience, starting at the Institute for Marine Environmental research in 1982.