2008 Elections for Royal Society Council

As you will be aware, the Royal Society of New Zealand (RSNZ) Council is restructuring and the new Council will be in place on 1 July 2008.

The new RSNZ Council will be constituted as follows:
(a) One President;
(b) Six elected Vice-Presidents with specific responsibilities as listed below:
    (i) Biological and Life Sciences;
    (ii) Physical Sciences, Mathematics, Engineering and Technology;
    (iii) Social Sciences;
    (iv) International;
    (v) Education, Public Awareness and Outreach; and
    (vi) Commercial Development;
(c) One elected Representative of the Regional Constituent Organisations;
(d) One elected Representative of the Constituent Organisations; and
(e) Up to three Co-opted Members

To help the transition, elections for only five positions on the Royal Society Council will be held by electronic ballot in May 2008. This election will determine the membership of the Royal Society Council for the ensuing two years. Postal voting will be available for those who can not vote on line.

Nomination forms: (word format)

Nominations must be submitted by 5 pm on Friday, 2 May 2008 on the prescribed nomination form (see above).

This election is for three Discipline-based Vice-Presidents, each of whom must be a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand, one Constituent Organisation representative, and one Regional Constituent Organisation (Branch) representative. Council agreed at its December meeting to stagger the terms as follows:

Vice-President (Biological and Life Sciences) for a 1-year term;
Vice-President (Social Sciences) for a 2-year term;
Vice-President (Physical Sciences, Mathematics, Engineering and Technology) for a 3-year term;
One Constituent Organisation representative for a 3-year term;
One Regional Constituent Organisation (Branch) representative for a 3-year term;

At this stage there will be no elections for the non-discipline-based Vice-President Positions and Council agreed that the positions be filled as follows during the transition phase:

Vice-President (International) -Professor Marston Conder for a term ending June 2009;
Vice-President (Education, Public Awareness, and Outreach) -Hon Margaret Austin for a 2-year term until June 2010;
Vice-President (Commercial) -Dr Garth Carnaby until November 2008.

The three non-discipline-based Vice-President positions will eventually be for 3-year terms but in the interim there will be different terms to help the transition.

See list of Fellows of the Royal Society of New Zealand.

Every Companion and financial Member of the Society is entitled to vote.

If eligible, you will receive voting papers in early May for the positions in which you are eligible to vote, by virtue of your class of membership in a particular Electoral College as indicated when you joined the Society. A Member is entitled to one vote in each of the Electoral Colleges that the Member is eligible to vote in. Please read Appendix 1 to see how Council has constructed the relevant Electoral Colleges under each Vice-President.

The governing body of each Constituent Organisation or Regional Constituent Organisation will vote on behalf of that organisation.

Nominations of Candidates: Any person or corporate entity (e.g. society) may nominate candidates for election. Candidates must be paid-up members of the Society. Nominations must be received in the Society's office on or before 5pm Friday, 2 May 2008

We hope all eligible Members will take part in the elections.

Dr Di McCarthy
Chief Executive
1 April 2008