DIVISION IV / WORKING GROUP ABUNDANCES IN RED-GIANTS

1. Meetings The main activity of the WG on Abundances in Red Giants has been to propose a JD for the IAU GA in 2009. The increasing evidence for distinct populations within globular clusters is leading to the view that there is a continuum between globular clusters and the smallest of the galaxies. Our JD was designed to investigate this link. However, our JD was incorporated into IAU Symposium No. 266 Star Clusters: Basic Building Blocks throughout Time and Space for the IAU XXVII in Rio de Janeiro, 2009. We will be responsible for organising one session in the Symposium to cover the agenda put forward in our JD proposal. On a similar topic, many researchers associated with the WG will be attending a MaxPlanck Workshop on the similar topic Chemical Evolution of Dwarf Galaxies and Stellar Clusters in July 2008. Members of the WG were closely involved in the organisation of a Royal Astronomical Society specialist discussion meeting on Super-AGB stars, in London, February 2008. The conclusion of this meeting was that the single biggest problem for these stars is mass-loss, because it is both crucial and unknown.