ISST Committees:  Terms of Reference, Membership and Responsibilities of Chairpersons

These regulations are based on decisions of the Executive Board taken at meetings on 6th August 2018, 9th April 2019, and 6th October 2020.

1. Committees are established by the Executive Board which approves their aims, scope, terms of reference and membership.
   
   
2. Each Committee has a webpage on the ISST site which includes
   • information about its terms of reference,
   • the names of the Chairperson and members,
   • a contact page for the Chairperson or other committee representative.
   • whom it reports to (The Executive Board or a specific Board Member).
3. Committee Chairpersons are appointed by the Executive Board usually on the recommendation of one or more Executive Board members with an interest in the committee’s activities.
   
   
4. Committee Chairpersons are responsible for ensuring that
   • … the committee meets regularly (usually online) at least four times a year (unless this is obviously inappropriate, for example in the case of the Election Committee).
   • ... minutes of meetings are taken and published on the Committee’s web page.
   • … one or more members are designated as backup to the Chairperson so that they can ensure the Committee continues to meet should the Chairperson be indisposed.
   • … although it is understood that backchannel email communication is a valuable way to exchange information and discuss matters, formal decisions are ratified at meetings, minuted and passed on as recommendations, for example to the Executive Board.
   • …  information on the website related to the responsibilities and activities of the Committee is kept up to date and this includes providing information about ISST statutes and regulations relevant to the functioning of the committee (or links to the relevant pages on the website).
5. In accepting appointment as Chairperson of a Committee, a member must complete and sign an agreement form that summarises the responsibilities being undertaken (as summarized in §4 below).
   
   
6. In guiding the work of their committees, Chairpersons, are encouraged to reflect on and implement the spirit of Paragraph 8 (9) of the ISST statutes which require the Executive Board to understand itself to be a  “collegial executive team” which “makes its decisions following thorough and consensus oriented discussions.”
   
   
7. Chairpersons who do not meet the responsibilities set out above will be asked by the Executive Board to step down.
   
   
8. Committee members are approved by the Executive Board, on the recommendation of the Committee Chairperson and interested Executive Board members.
   
   
9. Committee Chairpersons are reminded that the ISST encourages representation on committees from a wide range of countries, so that activities and decisions take into account the different concerns and conditions of our widespread membership. Chairpersons are encouraged to keep this in mind in establishing committee membership where appropriate.
   
   
10. An ISST member may not be a member of more than three committees expect with special approval by the Executive Board. This is to prevent members becoming overloaded and thus unable to contribute appropriately to the work of a committee.
    
    
11. According to the membership regulations, members must “notify the ISST Board if convicted of a felony, sanctioned by any professional ethics body, licensing board or other regulatory body or by any other professional or scientific organization.”  Under such circumstances, committee members will be asked to stand down or resign.