Draft:Spanish Society on Gravitation and General Relativity

The Spanish Society on Gravitation and General Relativity (SEGRE) was created in 2003 with the aim of gathering researchers and students in this field and its mathematical, theoretical, classical, quantum, numerical, observational, experimental and applied aspects, as well as people and institutions interested in promoting the development of this field in Spain. It has recently celebrated its twentieth anniversary.

Goals
The main goal of SEGRE is promotion of research and dissemination of Gravity and Relativity by all appropiate means, according to its statutes. In particular:


 * Provide an independent forum for the discussion of matters of common interest.
 * Join efforts to publicly defend its statutory aims.
 * Keep institutional relationships with other societies with similar goals.
 * Promote dissemination of research activities related to Gravity and Relativity, including organisation of scientific meetings, conferences and publications.
 * Support teaching and training of researchers in the fields of Gravity and Relativity.

The achievement of these aims is grounded on an equal opportunity basis.

SEGRE is a member of the Confederation of Spanish Scientific Societies Sociedades (COSCE) and collaborates with the International Society on General Relativity and Gravitation and the Spanish Royal Physics Society (RSEF).

Membership
SEGRE has four kinds of members:


 * Senior members: researchers in fields related to Gravity and Relativity.
 * Junior members: Ph. D. students in topics related to Gravity and Relativity.
 * Associate members: people interested in Gravity and Relativity, but not working professionally in the field.
 * Honorary members: retired scientists who have played a relevant role in research in Gravity and Relativity.

List of presidents

 * Leonardo Fernández, 2003-2009
 * José Antonio Font, 2009-2013
 * Carlos Barceló, 2013-2019
 * Ruth Lazkoz, 2019-2022
 * Jesús Fernando Barbero, 2022-

History
History of SEGRE is closely related to that of Spanish Relativity Meetings (formerly ERE, currently EREP).

During the 2002 meeting in Maó a commission was created to write the statutes for a scientific society which could provide institutional support to the Meetings, which had been celebrated since 1977.

This commission was formed by Leonardo Fernández, Ruth Lazkoz, Marc Mars, Tomás Ortín, Alejandro Oscoz, José Fernando Pascual and Alicia Sintes. On April 7th 2003 they finished their task and presented the new statutes to the Spanish Ministerio de Interior.

After approval of the statutes on September 3rd, SEGRE was presented to the Spanish Relativity Meeting assembly on September 12th in Alicante.

Conferences
Spanish Relativity Meetings (ERE), Spanish and Portuguese Relativity Meetings (EREP) since 2016, are yearly events which are held in a Spanish or Portuguese city, with participation of relativists and cosmologists from these and other countries.

Meetings were mostly held in September, but since 2023 they are held in July, organised by Spanish and Portuguese research groups. Sometimes they have been part of other meetings, such as El Escorial Summer School or Menéndez Pelayo International University in Santander, or Mediterranean Scientific Days (Trobades Científiques de la Mediterrània), among others.

The origin of ERE dates back to a course delivered by professor Lluís Bel at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona in 1976. At that time there were researchers interested in Gravity and Relativity just in Barcelona and Madrid. Following Bel's leadership, there was interest in keeping contact and scientific collaboration, as well as meetings where everyone could disseminate and discuss their work in the field. As a consequence, a first meeting was held at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid together with researchers from Barcelona. This first meeting, named "zeroth meeting", was not called Spanish Relativity Meeting ERE at that time, but it is considered the starting point for ERE.