Statutes


Name

International Society for Sample Environment (ISSE)

Preamble

The International Society for Sample Environment, ISSE, (in the following: “the Society”) is an international platform formed in order to improve the interaction between the sample environment groups at the different scattering facilities worldwide and to promote the use of sample environment techniques.

§1 Purpose

The purpose of the Society is the promotion of scientific and technical developments of sample environments at scattering facilities. This will be achieved by:

  • the exchange of information and mutual support between members
  • supplying information about sample environment to the scientific community
  • educational activities (schools, workshops, …)
  • establishment of standards for sample environment equipment

The Society promotes the communication between institutions, individual persons, and companies involved in sample environment for scattering applications. The Society will help institutions and individual persons in any questions related to sample environment. The Society supports new developments of sample environment for scattering applications.

§2 Organizational Form

The Society is a cooperative platform of institutions and individual persons, led by the scattering facilities with a focus on sample environment. The membership to the Society does not imply any legal obligations or consequences. The Society does not handle finances of its own.
Organs of the Society are: the Board, the Officers (Chair, Secretary, Communication Officer, Workshop Coordinator), the Plenary Meeting and the Committees. The relations between the different organs of the Society are illustrated in Figure 1.

Figure 1: Diagram of the relationship between the institutions of the Society:

ISSE_OrgDiagram

a)  The Board

The Society is directed by the Board of representatives of the Full Institutional Members (see §4 Membership). Every Institutional Member sends one representative to the Board. Only the Board members from Full Institutional Members have elective rights on the Board. Observing Institutional Members can be excluded from Board meetings at special occasions. Based on the cooperative character of the Society, all decisions of the Board shall be taken concordantly. For the details on the voting procedure of the Board see §3 Votes and Elections.

The Board proposes a Chair and a Secretary to be elected at the Plenary Meeting of all Personal Members (see §3 Votes and Elections). The Board appoints a Communication Officer and a Workshop Coordinator. The Board can appoint and dissolve committees for special tasks (see §5 Committees).

Further tasks of the Board are: acceptance of new members and exclusion of members according to §3 Votes and Elections, control of the Officers, preparation of amendments to the statutes.

Meetings of the Board will be convened by the Chair. Every year at least one Board meeting must be held.

b) The Officers

There are four Officers with different tasks. Two of them, the Communication Officer and the Workshop Coordinator are directly appointed by the Board. The Chair and the Secretary are
proposed by the Board and elected by the Plenary Meeting (see §3 Votes and Elections). During the Plenary Meeting, the appointed Communication Officer and the Workshop Coordinator shall be presented.

All Officers must be chosen from among the Board representatives of Full Institutional Members (see §4 Membership). The election period of all Officers is 2 years, reflecting the time between the Plenary Meetings. If an Officer resigns or is incapacitated to perform his or her duties, the Board will appoint an interim Officer and organize new elections as soon as possible according to §3 Votes and Elections.

i) The Chair

The Chair is the official representative of the Society. The Chair leads the Board, and convenes the meetings of the Board. The Chair has the right, together with the Secretary, to accept Personal Members on an interim basis. The Chair reports to the Board.

ii) The Secretary

The Secretary is the deputy to the Chair and assists the Chair. The Secretary is responsible for the communication in‐between the Board members, prepares the Board meetings, takes and distributes the minutes of the meetings and guarantees the availability of the Society’s documents.

iii) The Communication Officer

The Communication Officer is responsible for the communication with the members and the public. The main task is the maintenance of the Society’s webpage with its different contents (overviews, tutorials, announcement, forums etc.).

iv) The Workshop Coordinator

The Workshop Coordinator is responsible for the organization of the upcoming biennial (held every two years) Workshop for Sample Environment at Scattering Facilities and the Plenary Meeting. In addition, the Workshop Coordinator helps with the organization of schools on sample environment and other events or activities with the purpose of information or teaching within the objectives of the Society. As the Society is not allowed to handle tasks that imply a financial involvement, the workshop, schools and other events shall be organized under the financial responsibility of the Institutional Members of the Society.

c) The Plenary Meeting

The Society’s Plenary Meeting takes place at the biennial Workshop for Sample Environment at Scattering Facilities. During the Plenary Meeting the Officers of the ending election period report about the Society’s work of the past 2 years.

Every Personal Member of the Society has one vote in the Plenary Meeting. During the Plenary Meeting, the Chair and the Secretary of the Society is elected with simple majority of the attending Personal Members (see §3 Votes and Elections). The newly appointed Communication Officer and the Workshop Coordinator are presented by the Board.

The Plenary Meeting can formulate recommendations and suggestions for the work of the Society. If recommendations or suggestions are agreed upon by the Plenary Meeting by a motion seconded and voted by a simple majority, these recommendations or suggestions have to be discussed and taken into account by the Board.

Amendments to the statutes can only be proposed by the Board and have to be approved by the Plenary Meeting before they become effective (see §7 Amendments to the Statutes).

d) Committees

Committees are a tool for the Board to face special tasks that need a closer cooperation of a smaller number of specialists. In this sense a Committee is an appendix to the Board (see §5 Committees).

§3 Votes and Elections

In the spirit of the Society’s character as a cooperative platform, all decisions in the Society shall be made concordantly. This is especially the case for the work of the Board.

The Board has the quorum if 3/4 of the Board members representing Full Institutional Members are present. In the case that no unanimity on a motion can be obtained, but at least 3/4 of the total number of the Board members representing Full Institutional Members support the motion, the Chair can put the motion repeatedly to a vote, with appropriate time for discussion in between the votes. In this case, at the third vote on the same motion, a majority of 3/4 of the total number of the Board members representing Full Institutional Members is sufficient to accept the motion.

All motions presented by a Board member to be subject to a vote of the Board must be seconded by another Board member.

The only elections are the election of the Chair and the Secretary by the Plenary Meeting. In the Plenary Meeting all attending Personal Members have one vote. The respective candidate for the Chair and the Secretary is proposed by the Board. For a successful election, the simple majority of the attending Personal Members is necessary. If a candidate proposed by the Board is not elected by the Plenary Meeting, the Board shall present alternative candidates until the Plenary Meeting agrees on one candidate. If a third candidate proposed by the Board is not elected by the Plenary Meeting, the Board has the right to appoint an interim Officer for the election period. The election period is 2 years, reflecting the time between the Plenary Meetings.

§4 Membership

There are four different types of memberships: Personal Membership, Full Institutional Membership, Observing Institutional Membership and Corporate Membership. All applications for membership shall be directed to the Board and be approved by the Board. Interim Personal Membership may be agreed upon by the Chair and the Secretary in between Board meetings. Applications for Full Institutional Membership, Observing Institutional Membership and Corporate Membership have to be in written form with a signature of the director or equivalent responsible of the institution. Moreover, a representative of the institution has to be named. A change of the representative has to be communicated to the Board. For Full Institutional Members the announcement of a change of the representative (i.e. the Board member) has to be in written form with a signature of the responsible of the institution.

a) Personal Membership is open for all interested persons involved in sample environment for scattering applications. The Personal Membership is necessary to obtain access to some of the information provided by the Society on its website. All Personal Members are invited to participate to the Plenary Meeting taking place at the Workshop for Sample Environment at Scattering Facilities. All Personal Members have one vote at the Plenary Meeting.

b) Full Institutional Membership is open for all institutions fulfilling the following criteria:
‐ The institution is a scattering facility.
‐ The scattering facility is running a user service program.
‐ The scattering facility has a strong focus on sample environment becoming manifest for
example in the existence of a sample environment group.

c) Scattering facilities not satisfying all three criteria (for example facilities before
commissioning) can apply for an Institutional Membership with observer status (Observing Institutional Member).

All Institutional Members send one representative to the Board. Only the Board members coming from Full Institutional Members have elective rights in the Board. Observing Institutional Members can be excluded from Board meetings at special occasions with a vote of the Board.

d) Corporate Membership is open for companies, corporations or other organizations involved in the objectives of the Society. The Corporate Membership is necessary to obtain access to some of the information provided by the Society on its website. The Corporate Members are invited to attend the biennial Workshop for Sample Environment at Scattering Facilities. Corporate Members shall name a representative to the Society.

The membership to the Society does not involve any legally binding rights or duties.
All memberships can be ended by the member itself or by a decision of the Board with a vote according to the rules stated in §3.

A Full Institutional Membership ends if the criteria for the Full Institutional Membership are no longer satisfied (for example the end of a user service program). The Full Institutional Membership is then converted in an Observing Institutional Membership by a decision of the Board. If the criteria for an Observing Institutional Membership are no longer satisfied, the membership is converted in a Personal or Corporate Membership by a decision of the Board.
Declarations for the end of a membership shall be directed to the Board. Declarations for the end of an Institutional Membership or a Corporate Membership shall be in written form with a signature of the director or equivalent responsible of the institution.

§5 Committees

The Board can appoint committees to assist the Board in carrying out specific tasks related to the Society objectives. Every committee is headed by a speaker. This speaker must be a Board member and is appointed by the Board. The committees report to the Board. The Board can create and dissolve committees at any time. Members of the committee can be chosen between the members of the Society and the general public. The composition of a committee is defined by the committee’s speaker.

§6 Website, Information on the Society’s Webpages

The webpages of the Society are stored on a web server managed by one of the Institutional Members, at no cost for the Society. Facilities of other Institutional Members can host mirror servers to guarantee a quick and reliable access worldwide. If the facility managing the webpages of the Society wants to end this service, it should give notice one year in advance and help to organize the transfer of the webpages to the new location.

One main purpose of the Society is creating a platform for the exchange of information concerning sample environment. Most of this information is publically available. However, access to some information published on the Society’s webpages can be restricted to the Society’s members or to specific groups of members. All information on the Society’s webpages has to be correlated to the individual provider of the information. The Society does not take responsibility for any information presented on its webpages as well as the protection of the information.

§7 Amendments to the Statutes

Amendments to the statutes shall be proposed and agreed upon concordantly by the Board. The Plenary Meeting must approve any amendment to the statutes with a simple majority of the attending Personal Members. All Full Institutional Members shall agree to the amendment in written form. An amendment motion only becomes part of the statutes after it has been seconded and voted by a majority of 3/4 of Full Institutional Members (refer to §3) and approved by a simple majority of the Plenary Meeting.

§8 Dissolution of the Society

The Society can be dissolved if all of the Institutional Members apply for the dissolution in written form. The Society is dissolved when the Board registers the necessary number of application letters for the dissolution of the Society.

A PDF version of statutes can be downloaded here.