22nd General Assembly of IUPAP (1996) - Future Role and Future Structure

Appendix 4 : Future Role and Future Structure of IUPAP

 4.1 REPORT of the Working Group on Future Role and Future Structure of IUPAP

 1. General Assembly (GA)

The General Assembly meets every three years. In addition to the votes of the National Liaison Committees, each Commission Chairman (or Secretary) present at the General Assembly has one vote; these votes are not transferable.

In its election procedure, the GA will elect the President, the President-Designate, the Secretary-General, and the Associate Secretary-General. Together with the Past-President, they are the five ex-officio Members of the Council.

These five officers of the Union and the Chairmen of the regular Commissions of the Union will meet about half a year after the GA. This meeting should in particular be devoted to a discussion of an action programme to implement the policy laid down by the General Assembly. In this meeting five addition Members of the Council will be elected from the group of Commission Chairmen; they are the five Vice-Presidents of the Union and normally serve for one term. In the election, a balance of regions and of fields of physics should be considered.

 2. Council (C)

The Council consists of President, President-Elect, Past-President, Secretary-General, Associate Secretary-General and five Vice-Presidents. The Council meets annually.

 3. Relations to other Organizations

  1. The Presidents of regional physical societies as well as the Director of ICTP Trieste may be invited as observers to the Council Meetings, to the General Assembly as well as to the follow-up meeting of the officers of the Union and the Commission Chairmen. At a later stage, a full membership of these ob servers may be considered.

     

  2. Proper relations to UNESCO and OECD should be under further discussions. Representatives from these organizations should be invited as observers to the GA.


4. Miscellaneous

  1. Agenda
    The Agenda of the General Assembly and its follow-up meeting as well as of the Council meetings should be sent to the Chairmen and Secretaries of all IUPAP Com missions as well as to the observers. They should be allowed to add items to the agenda.

     

  2. Applied/Industrial Physics
    A working group should be set up to look into the relations of IUPAP to applied/ industrial physics.

     

  3. Newsletter
    A Member of the Council should be in charge of the IUPAP newsletter. In each issue at least one of the Commissions should place a short article about recent scientific developments in their field and about the Commission's activity. The person in charge of the newsletter should also try to place short articles about IUPAP's activities in journals like Physics Today, Europhysics News, Physikalische Blätter, etc.

 

 

4.2 Proposal for a New Structure of the COUNCIL

Background:
The General Assembly is the governing body of the Union. In between the General Assemblies the Council serves as its executive body. The Council is guided by the resolutions on policy matters passed by the General Assemblies.

To serve the different subdivisions of the global physics community there are on the one hand the Liaison Committees representing the different geographical constituencies, and on the other hand the International Commissions representing the different branches of physics. The Liaison Committees appoint delegates to the General Assembly which in turn elects all officers of the Union including the members of the International Commissions. To ensure a better balance between regional interests and the interests of the different sub-fields of physics it is suggested that also the Commissions be given a role in the General Assemblies. Furthermore, it is suggested that the Council be given a new structure linking the Council and the Commissions more strongly together.

After a careful study of the problem the Council has drafted a resolution to be introduced at the forthcoming General Assembly at Uppsala next September. The content of the resolution is as follows:

Resolution concerning the General Assembly

At the General Assembly each Member is represented by a number of official delegates with one vote each. The number of delegates representing a member is determined by the number of shares held by the member as specified in the sta tutes of the Union. With the present membership of the Union the Members represent a total of 109 votes.

In addition to the votes of the Member delegates each Commission Chairman, or in his/her absence the Secretary, will carry one vote on all motions including elections. This will add a maximum of 21 votes in the General Assembly.

The General Assembly will elect the President, the President-Designate, the Secretary-General, and the Associate Secretary-General. Together with the Past President they make up the five ex-officio members of the Council.

The General Assembly will also elect all officers of the Commission as specified in the current statutes.

The five ex-officio members of the Council together with the Chairmen of the Commissions will meet about half a year after the General Assembly to discuss an action program to implement the policy laid down by the General Assembly, and to elect five additional members of the Council among the Commission Chairmen. One shall strive to strike a balance between regions as well as between the various branches of physics in the membership of the Council.

Consequences for the nominations

The resolution changing the structure of the Council will affect the elections if passed. The resolution will be introduced early in the General Assembly so that the election procedures can be adjusted to accommodate the changes if necessary.

Awaiting the outcome of the vote on the resolution Liaison Committees and Commissions are requested to submit nominations for Commissions members and for Council members assuming that the General Assembly will elect a President, a President-Designate, a Secretary-General, an Associate Secretary-General, and eight Vice-Presidents as specified in the statutes. If the resolution is pas sed there will be no elections of the eight Vice-Presidents.

It should be noted that one and the same person may be nominated to stand for election both for office as Vice- President and for office as Chairman of a Commission at the same time.

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