The eighth General Meeting of the International VLBI Service for Geodesy and Astrometry (IVS) was held March 2-7, 2014 in Shanghai, China. The keynote of the eighth General Meeting is the establishment of the VGOS (VLBI Global Observing System) network under the theme "VGOS: The New VLBI Network". 156 participants were invited to attend the meeting. Among them, 94 international participants came from USA, Canada, Chile, Germany, Russia, Austria, Norway, France, Italy, Holland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea and other countries.

The IVS General Meeting is held every two years. The previous General Meetings have been held in Germany, Japan, Canada, Chile, Russia, Australia and Spain respectively. The 8th General Meeting is hosted by the Shanghai Astronomical Observatory (SHAO) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). CAS is one of 41 member organizations of the IVS. Shanghai VLBI station, Urumqi VLBI station, Shanghai VLBI Correlator and SHAO data analysis center are important components of the IVS. Dr. Shu Fengchun served as a member of the program committee, while Dr. Zheng Weimin served as the chairman of the local organizing committee.

The program of the General Meeting consists of six sessions focused on evolution of the VGOS network, technology development for VGOS, VLBI operations, data analyses, VLBI results and new horizons for VLBI. There are 7 invited talks, 76 oral presentations and 52 posters. Dr. Zheng Weimin gave an invited talk on the use of the real time VLBI technology for orbit determination of Chang’E-3 probe. During the meeting, an excursion was arranged to visit the VLBI center, Tianma Radio Telescope, Seshan 25-m antenna and Shanghai Astronomical Museum. Three software tools for VLBI data analysis have been demonstrated. Furthermore, an IVS Analysis Workshop and an ICRF-3 (next generation of International Celestial Reference Frame) meeting were held on March 7. The 31th IVS Directing Board meeting was held on March 8.

The General Meeting assembled representatives from all IVS components to share information, hear reports, and plan future activities. The meeting also provided a forum for interaction with other members of the VLBI and Earth science communities. It also provided a unique opportunity for SHAO to strengthen the cooperation with our international partners.

More information can be found at the meeting website：

http://ivs2014.csp.escience.cn

The 8th IVS General Meeting was financially supported by Chinese Academy of Sciences.