EMS Handbook: Standing Committees

2.3.1 Committee renewals procedure

Normally committee renewals are ratified every year at the autumn meeting of the EC. In case of early resignation of a committee member(s) an extra committee appointment can take place at the spring EC meeting. The term of members selected at the autumn EC meeting starts on January 1 of the next year, the term of members selected at the spring EC meeting starts on January 1 of the current year.

Nominations for the EMS standing committees

To keep the track of the committee members and the number of vacancies to be filled in, the EMS Office prepares a report on committee membership and sends it to the liaison persons and committee chairs well in advance (for example in June for the autumn EC meeting). This report contains the following information:

  1. Members whose second term is expiring, and they cannot be renewed.
  2. Members whose first term is expiring, and they can be renewed for the second term.
  3. Checks of the terms of service and need of any appointments of the Committee Chairs and Vice Chairs.

When these parameters are known, each committee chair and the corresponding liaison person work together as follows:

  1. Ask the committee members from 2 above if they would like to continue their work in the committee and be re-appointed for the second term.
  2. Ask the rest of the members if there are any early resignations before the end of their term.
  3. Ask all the current committee members for name suggestions for the new committee members to fill in the vacancies. Committee chairs and EC members can also make suggestions and send them to the corresponding liaison. An appropriate gender, mathematical fields, and regional balance in the membership of standing committees should be taken into consideration.
  4. The liaison person should contact the proposed candidates and ask if they would be willing to serve in case of being selected by the EMS EC at the next EC meeting. These candidates must also be informed that the individual EMS membership is required for the committee service.
Committee report for the EC meeting

Each committee prepares and submits a report through the corresponding liaison person 11 days prior the EMS EC meeting, so that it is added to the EC meeting papers compilation. This report should contain, in addition to the information on the committee activities and other related business, the following information on the committee membership:

  • members whose term is expiring, and they confirmed that they would like to continue in the committee for the second term;
  • members whose term is expiring, and they wish not to be re-elected;
  • any members who wish to resign earlier than the actual end of their term;
  • suggestions of replacement candidates at least for the number of vacancies in 2 and 3 above, preferably in a table format (name, email and postal address).
Appointments and resignations

The EMS EC makes decisions on standing committee membership taking care that it reflects an appropriate gender, mathematical field, and regional balance. The EMS EC:

  • approves early resignations;
  • approves re-appointments;
  • appoints new committee members.
Nomination letter and a thank you note

After the EC meeting nomination letters in PDF format are sent by the EMS Office to:

  • newly elected candidates;
  • members elected for the second term.

This letter should contain the information on the rule that committee member must be an individual member of the EMS, so that nobody can later say they were not informed about it when accepting the nomination. Elected and renewed members must accept their nomination and notify the EMS Office about it (since their plans might have changed after they initially agreed to serve).

The EMS President sends a thank you note to the members finishing their service in the EMS Committees.