Procedure for Nominations of Members to Commissions and Executive Council

Procedure for Nominations of Members to Commissions and Executive Council

1  Nominations for Commissions

The positions Chair, Vice-Chair and Secretary are collectively called the Officers of the Commission. Other members are called Ordinary Members when it is necessary to distinguish them from Officers.

People who are nominated for membership of Commissions should be aware that service on a Commission requires work on their part: responding to questions from the Chair of the Secretary, attending face to face or audio or video meetings, evaluating bids for conference support, and doing tasks that may be requested of them. The workload is clearly uneven in its pattern. Averaged over the year it may be a few hours a week, but there could be times when full days need to be devoted to Commission work.

Commission Members, individually and collectively, have responsibility to:

  • Represent their sub-discipline, according to IUPAPs mission and statutes, with distinction
  • Contribute to meetings of the Commission, in person and/or via electronic means
  • Ensure applications from the most appropriate international conferences, which support their sub-discipline and which satisfy IUPAP rules, reach IUPAP for consideration in the annual round of applications for conference
  • Contribute to the Commission’s consideration of applications for conference support
  • Ensure nominations for the Commissions Young Scientist Prizes are sought from the broad spectrum of their physics community, including with due regard to representation of equity groups, particularly women
  • Contribute to the process of deciding the Young Scientist Prizes following processes that ensure unconscious bias is identified and avoided
  • Explain to their national physics community the part that IUPAP and their commission of IUPAP plays in assisting in the worldwide development of physics, in fostering international cooperation in physics, and in helping in the application of physics toward solving problems of concern to humanity.
  • Assist their national physics community and their commission to identify, nominate and propose candidates for the next Commission.
  • Contribute to reporting activities within their physics community, especially those involving international cooperation, through IUPAP Newsletters and Commission reports, which in turn lead to an overall, high quality profile of current Physics in the international context. This profile is to be one of which the physics community can be proud.
  • Contribute to identifying projects and issues that should be the subject of an IUPAP Working Group.

The expected workload of those who become Chair, Vice-Chair or Secretary is significantly higher. Those asked to consider nomination to an officer position should ideally consult the present Chair about the likely workload, because it varies from Commission to Commission. However they should expect a high workload at the time of Commission meetings, Conference bids and evaluation of nominations for their successor commission. Chairs are also expected to attend the annual two day meeting of the Council and Commission Chairs. A crude estimate of a Chairs workload is about 3 weeks of full time work, and quiet times of 2-3 hours a week in between. The Vice-Chair and the Secretary would have about half the workload of the Chair.

The officers of a Commission are responsible for leading the Commission in exercising the above responsibilities, and for ensuring that the views of their sub-discipline of physics are adequately represented to IUPAP, and that the views of IUPAP about physics as a whole are adequately represented to their Commission and to physicists working in their sub-discipline.

There is no defined succession path from Vice-Chair to Chair, or from Secretary to Chair, but these officers often do go on to become the Chair of the Commission.

When submitting a nomination, nominees are asked to confirm that they have read the above description of the responsibilities of the positions for which they are nominating.

1.1         Nominations by Liaison Committees of National Members for positions on Commissions

  1.  Nominations by Liaisons for positions on Commissions are to be made on the form on the IUPAP web via THIS LINK.
     This form will be available for nominations from 11 March 2017.
  2. If, after you complete and submit a form, and receive a copy, you wish to make a correction, you will need to submit a new When you do so, the new form will replace the previous form on our database.
  3. Nominations may be made for Chair, Vice-Chair, Secretary and Nominees for Chair, Vice-Chair and Secretary will also be considered as nominations for members, in the event that they are not recommended as officers, if they are eligible for an additional term as a member.
  4. The initial nominations of physicists for Commissions are made by the Liaison Committees of National The closing date for these nominations is 11 June 2017.
  5. Liaison Committees should include women and applied physicists in their nominations.
  6. The Executive Council has determined that, in 2017-2020, there should be at least 4 women members of each Commission.

WG5 on Women in Physics can help you identify women nominees, through their Country Contacts for your country. Go to the WG5 website http://wgwip.df. uba.ar/, and click Country Contact on the left hand side, to discover your country contact.

If the country you seek is not listed, please move to the Contact us page, which will lead you to Jackie Beamon-Kiene. Jackie is very well positioned to find contacts.

Invited speakers in relevant conferences is another source for potential women and men candidates.

  1. Liaison Committees are asked to nominate at least the number of physicists equal to the integer greater than 1.3 times their number of shares. The proposed minimum number of nominations is

Shares

 Minimum Nominees

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This is to help ensure that they get a number of Commission members equal to their number of shares.

  1. To help us understand how our very different liaison committees work we are asking those making nominations to tell us a little about the consultation process which generated the nomination
  2. The nominations for a particular commission are sent to the Chair of that Commission, to the office and are copied to the nominator.
  3. Nominations for additional terms
    • Existing Commission members who have served one term may be renominated for the same position or for another position on the same Commission.
    • Existing Commissions members who have served two terms as ordinary members may be nominated only for Chair, Vice-Chair or Secretary.
    • Vice-Chairs, or Secretaries who have served two terms may be nominated as Chair, or for the officer position they have not served.
    • Chairs may not be nominated to any position on the Commission.
  4. Commissions may suggest possible nominees to Liaison Committees.

2    Nominations By Commissions for members of their commission

  1.  Commissions may nominate additional physicists to their Commission until 30 August 2017. The nomination form can be accessed via THIS LINK .
  2. Commissions will provide a recommendation for the officers and members of the Commission by 30 August 2017, with their comments on all of the nominations.  Chairs will be provided with the instructions and the link for this on 11 June 2017.
  3. Commissions are reminded of the requirement that To the extent practical, at least one member shall be from industry. If a Commission believes that this requirement is not practical, it shall inform the Council of its reasoning.
  4. The Executive Council has determined that, in 2017-2020, there should be at least 4 women members of each Commission.

WG5 on Women in Physics can help you identify women nominees, but a good source of potential nominees for Commissions is the Invited speakers at their conferences

  1. Nominations for additional terms
    • Existing Commission members who have served one term may be renominated for the same position or for another position on the same Commission
    • Existing Commissions members who have served two terms as ordinary members may be nominated only for Chair, Vice-Chair or Secretary
    • Vice-Chairs, or Secretaries who have served two terms may be nominated as Chair, or for the officer position they have not served
    • Chairs may not be renominated to any position on the Commission

2.1         Review by a Committee of Executive Council, and Executive Council

  1.  After nominations and Commission recommendations are received, a nominations committee of four will convene to produce the first draft of the slate.  The committee will be chaired by President Designate Kennedy Reed, and the other members will be President Bruce McKellar, Associate Secretary General Rudzani Nemutudi, and Deputy Secretary General Leong Chuan Kwek. The committee will meet on or about 23 Sept 2017.
  2. The draft slate will endeavor to balance geographical distribution, coverage of sub- disciplines and to ensure that each National Member has a number of commissioners equal to its number of shares.
  3. The committee may, on behalf of the Executive Council, make additional nominations to Commissions.
  4. The draft slate will be discussed by the Executive Council, modified if necessary, and provided to the General Assembly on the first day of the meeting.

3           Nominations for Executive Council

3.1         Nominations by Liaison Committees

 Liaison Committees may, with a closing date of 30 August 2017, make nominations for the following positions on the Executive Council, on the form available at THIS LINK.:

  • President Designate (Note that by the normal geographic rotation, the next President Designate is expected to be from Europe or Africa)
  • Secretary General
  • Associate Secretary General
  • Vice President at Large

Nominees for the above positions should consult the President for information on the likely workload

The Executive Council, at its meeting in October 2016 determined that each of the 5 Vice Presidents at large should have a special responsibility, namely

  1. Vice-President at Large with responsibility for Finance
  2. Vice-President at Large with responsibility as Gender Champion
  3. Vice-President at Large with responsibility for New Members
  4. Vice-President at Large with responsibility for Outreach
  5. Vice-President at Large with responsibility for the Centenary Celebrations

Nominations for Vice-President at large should indicate which responsibility the candidate wishes to exercise, and their qualifications for that responsibility. Now that the Vice-Presidents at Large have defined responsibilities they should note that the positions now have a non-trivial workload attached. The workload pattern will be very uneven, but it should be expected to add up to about 3 weeks a year. Because the finances of IUPAP are managed through the Company International Union of Pure and Applied Physics Singapore, a Singaporean Company limited by Guarantee, the Vice-President at Large with responsibility for Finance would normally become a member or Director of that Company.

Questions about the responsibilities of the Vice-Presidents at Large should be directed to the President.

3.2        Review by a Committee of Executive Council, and Executive Council

  1. The committee referred to above will recommend to the Executive Council the five Vice Presidents to be elected from the Commission Chairs, and for the five Vice Presidents to be elected at large.
  2. The committee may, on behalf of the Executive Council, make additional nominations for the position of Vice President at large.
  3. The President, the Past President, the President Designate and the Secretary General will recommend to the Executive Council nominees for President, President Designate, Secretary General, and Associate Secretary General, making additional nominations if necessary.
  4. These recommendations will be discussed by the Executive Council, modified if necessary, and provided as the slate of nominees to the General Assembly on 11 October 2017, the first day of the General Assembly.

4           The Election Process at the General Assembly

The General Assembly devotes some of each of its three days to the election of new members of Commissions and of the Executive Council

4.1         Receipt of the slate of nominees

The slate of nominees is simply the list of Commission members, and Executive Council members, which the Executive Council recommends to the General Assembly. Only people who have been nominated by Liaisons, Commissions, or the Executive Council, as described above, can appear on the slate.

The slate of nominees is received by the General Assembly on its first day. The personal details of the nominees, whether or not they are placed on the slate, are confidential to the delegates to the General Assembly, and to members of Commissions and the Executive Council. Access to the nomination papers which contain those details is restricted to the above, and will be available from the presentation of the slate on 11 October 2017.

Liaisons may of course note that some of their nominees are not on the slate. They may note their special concerns during the discussion on the first day.

4.2        Re-nominations

On the second day of the General Assembly, people who were not placed on the slate may be renominated by the member or Commission which originally nominated them. If this renomination is supported (seconded) by an additional member, the person who is renominated and seconded will be added to the slate, which will then have more names on it that the number of members of that Commission, thus requiring a vote.

It is also possible for the slate to be varied by negotiation. One nominee for a Commission listed on the slate, may be replaced by another nominee for that Commission, not originally listed on the slate, if the exchange is agreed to by the leaders of the delegations of representing the nominating members for each, and the Chair of the Commission and the President Designate.

4.3        Election and ballot for positions on Commissions

If the slate for any Commission now contains more names than there are positions on the Commission, on the third day of the General Assembly a secret ballot will be held to elect the members of that Commission. In the ballot the leader of a members’ delegation will cast the number of votes held by that member.

If the slate for any Commission now contains a number of names equal to the number of positions on the Commission, on the third day of the General Assembly those members will be declared elected without any ballot.

4.4        Election of members of the Executive Council

The General Assembly elects the next Executive Council by a procedure completely equivalent to the above procedure for elections to Commissions.

5           Privacy policy

Nominees are providing personal details so that members of IUPAP can reach a decision on whom they wish to be members of Commissions and the Executive Council for the period 2018-2020. The personal details of the nominees may be accessed, on a confidential basis, only by present members of the Executive Council and Commissions, and by the delegates to the General Assembly.

When submitting a nomination, nominees are asked to confirm that they have read and accept this privacy policy.

6           Relevant By Laws regarding Commissions and Elections to Commissions

 II. COMMISSIONS

    • In addition to a Member’s official Delegation, all other members of Liaison Committees may attend without
    • The President may invite Guest Observers without vote as deemed appropriate
  • Membership
    1. Commissions shall be composed of a Chair, Vice-Chair, Secretary and eleven other members.
    2. Normally, there shall be no more than one commission member from any Some Commissions may believe their work would be hindered by this rule. They may ask the Council for an exception. If the Council believes the exception is warranted, it will propose an exception to the General Assembly for ratification before the election.
    3. Commissions may have important links to other Commissions, Scientific Unions or international Each Commission may propose to the Council up to four associate members. The Council will appoint associate members about one year after the election of regular members. Associate members do not vote at Commission meetings and are not eligible for IUPAP travel funds.
    4. To the extent practical, at least one member shall be from the If a Commission believes that this requirement is not practical, it shall inform the Council of its reasoning.
    5. When new Commissions are formed the Council will make ad hoc arrangements for membership until the normal rotation of membership can be established
  • Terms of Office
    1. All elections are for a term of three years.
    2. 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.
    3. Normally the Secretary, Vice-Chair and Chair are to be chosen from among those who have served at least one term on the Commission.
    4. Service in all capacities shall not exceed three terms.
    5. The General Assembly may grant exceptions for those Commissions that undertake long-term projects or where continuity is particularly important.

III. ELECTION

(A) Procedure

  1. Nominations
    1. A call for nominations to Commissions and the Council shall be sent to all Liaison Committees and Commissions at least six months before a General Assembly.
    2. Nominations from Liaison Committees must be received by the Secretary- General no later than four months before a General Nominations from Commissions must be received no later than six weeks before a General Assembly. A statement of the candidate’s qualifications sufficient to allow an evaluation of the candidate must accompany nominations. It is preferred that nominations be submitted electronically.
    3. The Council will prepare a slate of nominees for the Commissions and Council from the nominations and may itself suggest names (in which case a statement of qualifications will be prepared). Special consideration will be given to continuity, geographic distribution, and coverage of major sub-fields within the Delegates will receive the slate of nominees at the start of the General Assembly.
    4. Liaison Committees may resubmit nominations at the General Assembly of persons not on the Council’s slate, but these re-nominations must be supported by at least one other The Council then will prepare a final ballot with its recommendations and list any re-nominations for a position.
    5. It may be necessary because of unforeseen circumstances, such as the unavailability of a candidate, to make nominations at the General Assembly. If so, nominations can be made by the Heads of Delegations, Commission Chairs, or Members of the Council. Such nominations re- quire a seconder.
  1. Elections
    1. If more names are included on the final ballot than there are positions, the election will be by secret Each Delegation Head will vote its block of votes.
    2. Two tellers appointed by the General Assembly count v Assistance may be provided, if desired, by Secretariat personnel