27th General Assembly

27th General Assembly

Resolutions

IUPAP 27th General Assembly, London, UK, 2-4 November 2011

1. To increase membership dues by 3% each year, for the years 2012, 2013 and 2014 and to introduce a regular annual inflationary increase from then on based on an international inflation indicator.

2. The statutes will be revised to permit a further two Vice-Presidents at Large to be elected so that there are a total of five Vice-Presidents at Large.

3. To amend the bylaw IIB to the following:

  • All elections are for a term of three years.
  • Chairs may not be re-elected to any position on the Commission beyond their term as Chair, and Vice-Chairs and Secretaries may not be re-elected to the same positions nor be re-elected as an ordinary member – except in extraordinary circumstances, and, in such circumstances, special approval by the General Assembly is required. Ordinary members may be elected twice.
  • Normally the Secretary, Vice-Chair and Chair are to be chosen from among those who have served at least one term on the Commission.
  • Service in all capacities shall not exceed three terms.

The General Assembly may grant exceptions for those Commissions that undertake long-term projects or where continuity is particularly important.

4. That IUPAP endorses the global project led by the European Physical Society (EPS), the Optical Society (OSA), the Institute of Physics (IOP), the IEEE Photonics Society, SPIE, the International Commission on Optics (ICO) and many other international partners to work through UNESCO to request a United Nations proclamation of an International Year of Light in 2015.

IUPAP expresses its strong support for International Year of Light goals that encompass science, education, outreach, and particularly its aims to promote physics education and improve the quality of life of citizens in the developing world.

5. The General Assembly approves the Executive Council’s recommendations on the review of the structure of commissions and agrees to delegate powers to the Executive Council to approve changes of commission names and mandates that arise from working groups on this review.

Executive Council recommendation: Chair of C4 should consult with C4 members and broader community in order to bring a recommendation on the action to be taken on this proposal to the late 2012 Executive Council meeting.

The proposal is to better connect both Commissions. The chair of C6 is a member of AC4 but the chair of AC4 is currently not an official member of C6. This should be corrected.

Executive Council recommendation: The chair of AC4 is an associate member of C6 and this is considered a satisfactory way of ensuring good connections between C6 and AC4.

There is a substantial overlap between the Commissions C5, C8, C9 and C10 all covering aspects of condensed matter physics. It is proposed to dedicate C10 specifically to the emerging field of soft matter physics. The name could be either “Commission on Soft Matter” or “Commission on the Structure and Dynamics of condensed and soft matter”.
Executive Council recommendation: Chair of C10 should consult C10 members and broader community in order to bring a recommendation on the action to be taken with this proposal to the late 2012 Executive Council meeting.

The on-going efforts to align C17 with the research topics of modern optics and photonics are strongly supported. Possible new names to be considered for C17 include “Laser Physics and Photonics”, “Quantum Optics and Photonics” or “Optics and Photonics”.
Executive Council recommendation: Working group to be set up by chair of C17 and to include representatives of all relevant commissions and affiliated commissions with remit to put some recommendations regarding Commission name to late 2012 IUPAP Executive Committee meeting.

The GA will delegate power to the Executive Council to approve the change of name that might be resolved by the Working Group.

The GA will delegate power to the Executive Council to approve the changes of Commission names and mandates that might arise from working groups that might be established from the reporting back of C4 and C10 chairs in late 2012. It is envisioned that such working groups would report back in late 2013.

6. IUPAP fully endorses the proposal to establish an International Year of Crystallography.

7. IUPAP endorses the revision to the IUPAP statement on the Universality of Science made at the 2008 GA to include opposition to discrimination on the grounds of disability, gender identity, sex or sexual orientation.

  1. The principle of the Universality of Science is fundamental to scientific progress. This principle embodies freedom of movement, association, expression and communication for scientists, as well as equitable access to data, information and research materials.
  2. In pursuing its objectives with respect to the rights and responsibilities of scientists, the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP) actively upholds this principle, and, in so doing, opposes any discrimination on the basis of such factors as ethnic origin, religion, citizenship, language, political stance, gender, gender identity, sex, sexual orientation, age or disability. IUPAP should only sponsor conferences and events at institutions and in countries that uphold this principle. If scientists are excluded from attending IUPAP-sponsored international conferences by a host institution or country on the basis of any of these factors, IUPAP should register its concern at the highest level of that institution or country, and should not sponsor any future events in that country until such exclusions have been eliminated.

8. The General Assembly notes with approval the decision taken by the Executive Council to re-establish the Working Group on Energy.

9. That IUPAP will appoint a gender champion from the Executive Council. A Vice-President will act as gender champion. The chair, or other representative, of the Women in Physics Group is requested to liaise with the Gender Champion.

10. IUPAP resolves to support the International Association of Physics Students (IAPS).

In order to support the International Association of Physics Students in its central aim of encouraging and facilitating interaction between physics students from different countries, IUPAP should encourage all national bodies adhering to IUPAP to:

  • support the formation of national organisations of physics students in their home countries;
  • encourage these organisations to take part in the international activities organised by IAPS; and
  • set aside a small budget to enable one or more student delegates to attend the annual International Conference of Physics Students through paying conference fees and contributing towards their travel costs.

Furthermore the Secretary General should contact IAPS and establish whether there are other ways in which IUPAP itself could support and encourage the development of IAPS.

11. The IUPAP General Assembly formally accepts the following names and symbols:

  • Element 110 darmstadtium, symbol Ds
  • Element 111 roentgenium, symbol Rg
  • Element 112 copernicium, symbol Cn

12. IUPAP will adopt the resolution on women in physics.  IUPAP resolves to:

  1. To improve the effectiveness of girls’ education in physics, encourage the C14: Commission on Physics Education to collaborate with the Working Group on Women in Physics to summarize guidelines for the training of physics educators at all levels with special attention to research-based and gender-aware teaching.
  2. Encourage the complete analysis of the Global Survey of Physicists and the wide dissemination through IUPAP Liaison Committees and physical societies of its results, and endorse collaborations between physicists and social scientists, to understand barriers to women’s participation and advancement and to shape interventions.
  3. Encourage its commissions and member countries to have a clear and transparent list of criteria for awards ensuring that women are nominated for prizes and that there are women on the selection committees for prizes and awards.
  4. Request a response from each IUPAP Liaison Committee to its country’s report in the proceedings of the 4th IUPAP International Conference on Women in Physics, including the progress of women physicists within their country and the actions taken or proposed to improve the inclusion and advancement of women in the field. The reports should be submitted to the IUPAP Working Group on Women for analysis.
  5. Charge the IUPAP Working Group on Women in Physics (a) to make useful resources available globally through the Internet; (b) to analyse brief reports from country team leaders and IUPAP Liaison Committees regarding the status and progress for women in physics; (c) to organize the 5th International Conference on Women in Physics in 2014 and require IUPAP member countries to send a small delegation, and (d) to report at the 28th IUPAP General Assembly in 2014.

13. IUPAP strongly endorses the principles and practices of peer review and recognises that peer review is an essential part of the scientific endeavour.

14. IUPAP continues to express very strong support for the establishment of SESAME as a critically important regional scientific facility, noting the progress to date. As a matter of urgency, IUPAP calls upon the relevant bodies to come up with the necessary funding to enable the project’s objectives to be achieved. IUPAP commits, within its own resource limits, to provide financial support to SESAME.

15. That the proposed slate of candidates for commission members and officers be adopted.

16. That the proposed slate of Executive Council members be adopted.