The aim of this extraordinary GA was to vote on some modifications of the statutes of the ISC as well as the election of the members of the 2021 Elections Committee. Even though the GA extended from the morning of February 1, to 12am on February 5th, the main meeting and discussions took place on the afternoon of February 1st (CET) and on the morning of February 2nd (CET). The rest of the time the ISC members had access to the expo space, various informal meetings, gatherings and discussions and had time to vote until the 5th.
The GA was organized on the platform Hopin which offered a variety of possibilities concerning attendance to various rooms and spaces during the whole week. The management of the GA by several people working in the headquarters of ISC was excellent and the chairing by president Daya Reddy extremely efficient. A dedicated working group had prepared a draft for the possible changes of the Statutes and Rules of Procedure. Ahead of the GA several members proposed amendments, after which the dedicated group developed a revised version, which was presented to the GA participants. During the GA other amendments were proposed regarding the composition and election procedures of the future governing body of the ISC, as well as many little, but important, details concerning the elections themselves and the 2021elections committee. Sometimes the propositions were clearly accepted or dismissed by a majority expressing their views through the online chat and sometimes a quick poll was organized to see what the majority wanted to see in the final questions to be put to the vote of all members.
ICIAM participated in the eGA, and was represented by its past-president, and chair of the ISC committee, Maria J. Esteban. As ICIAM is only an affiliated member of ISC, ICIAM cannot vote in any ISC election. Maria J. Esteban and two other representatives of affiliated members were asked to act as tellers, responsible for overseeing the voting at the GA.
The main changes made to the Statutes are concerned with:
Membership (categories and application) - There were changes in the names and definition of the different categories. No big changes though.
Governing Board (composition and role Officers & Chief Executive Officer) - new composition, new roles and different ways to choose them.
The votes showed a huge majority of acceptance to the changes proposed for the statutes, which in some sense had been ‘negotiated’ ahead of the eGA and during the discussions that took place during the eGA. Concerning the election of the members of the 2021 Elections Committee, there were 16 candidates, and among them, 8 were elected, 6 women and 2 men.
The composition of the 2021 Elections Committee can be accessed via https://council.science/about-us/governance/committees/ec-2021/.
The new version of the ISC Statutes and Rules of Procedure is now available on the ISC website via https://council.science/publications/statutes-and-rules-of-procedure/.
