Dear colleagues,
After our first two years of work together, it is time for UNICollaboration to undertake its first election process for its executive board.
Our statutes say that the Executive Board will be re-elected in a staggered manner in order to ensure a balance between continuity and renewal. This means that the following officers will step down in 2018 following their two-year term: President, Vice-President, First Research Coordinator, First Publications Officer, First Training Officer.
The board members who are currently ‘second’ research, publications and training officers will now automatically assume the roles of ‘first’ research, publications and training officers.
This means that the following colleagues will be stepping down in April 2018 at the UNICollaboration conference:
- Robert O’Dowd as President
- Sarah Guth as Vice-president
- Tim Lewis as First research officer
- Melinda Dooly as First publications officer
- Mirjam Hauck as First training officer
- Sake Jager as First communications officer
The following colleagues will remain on the executive board until the UNICollaboration conference in 2020:
- Elke Nissen will now assume the role of first research officer
- Breffni O’Rourke will now assume the role of first publications officer
- Gosia Kurek will now assume the role of first training officer
- Teresa MacKinnon will now assume the role of first communications officer
So, the following positions now require filling in the elections at our conference in April 2020:
- President
- Vice-president
- Second research officer
- Second publications officer
- Second training officer
- Second communications officer
We are also holding elections for two new positions:
- Organisation Secretary: The secretary will be responsible for taking the minutes of meetings and maintaining the organisation’s documentation. They will also have responsibility for sharing all major decisions taken with the Organisation’s membership. Furthermore, they will maintain custody of the Organisation’s records and serve as the “institutional memory” for the Organisation, and maintain an easily readable written record of decisions made, and policies currently in force. Finally, they will work with the president to coordinate and run the organisation’s elections.
- Organisation Treasurer: The treasurer is responsible for administering the Organisation’s accounts and reporting to the Executive Board on the state of the Organisation’s finances. They are also responsible for liaising between the Organisation and the accountancy company in Spain who have been hired to deal with legal and tax issues.
As regards the elections for the positions of ‘second’ officers, treasurer and secretary, our statutes state the following:
- Candidates for the Executive Board must be paid-up members of the Organisation.·
- Candidates must be nominated by two Organisation members – excluding self-nomination.
- At the time of nomination, nominees will submit a short biographical sketch of no more than 200 words and candidate’s statement of no more than 300 words to the Organisation secretary.
- It is possible for members of the existing Board who have held one position (e.g. first Training Coordinator) to put forward their candidature for a different position (e.g. vice-president or second Publications officer) in the following term.
Please note, the organisation would particularly welcome candidatures for positions from members coming from different academic disciplines.
As regard the elections of the President and Vice-President:
- Candidates for the position of President and Vice-President must have been members of the Executive Board for the previous two consecutive years and should nominate themselves for the positions.
- At the time of nomination, nominees will submit a candidate’s statement of no more than 300 words to the Organisation secretary.
It was agreed in a recent meeting of the board that the elections will be held in situ in Krakow at our conference.
Candidates should please complete the nomination form which carries the details of the two nominating members as well as the 200 word statement by the candidate.
We are setting a deadline for Monday 2 April for nominations to be sent to us at the following address: exec@unicollaboration.orgl
If you wish to have a vote in the elections, it is vital that you or your organisation have their membership fees in order. To become a member, please go to: https://www.unicollaboration.org/index.php/join/
On behalf of UNICollaboration,
Robert O’Dowd,
President
Nomination form: Nomination form UNICollaboration Executive Board Elections 2018