Nominations are invited for vacant Council position each year and are ratified at the December AGM.
How to stand for a postion:
Candidate can self-nominate or be nominated by another Member of the Association for any vacant role on Council. The role of Council Members is set out in the Association's Constitution. There are no geographic restrictions on who may stand for election and we encourage nominations from candidates from diverse backgrounds (especially those that historically have been underrepresented). Each nomination must be accompanied by the candidate’s written agreement to stand for election, and a short personal statement (less than 200 words) describing their interests for publication (before the AGM) in the Newsletter. In addition, each candidate must be proposed by at least two members of the Association and any individual may not propose more than two candidates. If more than one nomination is received for any one position a vote of the Membership will be undertaken in advance of, and ratified at, the AGM in December. In rare cases candidates may be nominated for more than one position, in these cases we will ask the candidate to state an order of preference, as no person may hold more than one role simultaneously. The order of voting for Council positions will, where possible, take candidates’ preferred positions into account.
What to include in the submitted nomination document:
- Candidate's full name, email address, and Assoication Membership number (if known)
- Candidate's two nominators' full names, e-mail address, and (if known) their Assoication Membership mumbers.
- A short written statment from the candidate of their agreement to stand for election. This can take the form of: "I [full name] agree to stand for election to the Palaeontological Assoication Council and, to the best of my knowledge, I am eligible for [this role/these roles] under the rules set out by the Association's Constitution."
- The postion(s) the candidate wishes to stand for; if more than one please state a preference order.
- A short personal statement from the candidate (less than 200 words) describing their interests for publication (before the AGM) in the Newsletter.
- A completed Professional Standards and Behaviour Self-Declaration form filled in by the candidate. The stated reason on the form should be 'Standing for Council'. Form can be downloaded here: .
The nominations should be sent in PDF format to the Secretary: secretary@palass.org
Deadline for Nominations
The closing date for nominations is 1st September each year.
Council Vacancies at the 2023 AGM
Vice-President (x1 | two-year term)
The Vice-President is one of the more loosely defined Council offices. Vice-Presidents are normally long-serving Council members who have previously held one of the other offices. They have no formal portfolio or duties other than to deputize for the President if and when required, but are present on Council to provide independent input on all matters, backed up by experience arising from their long service. They are also expected to lead or at least participate in important subcommittees, particularly those tasked with making recommendations for the awards of grants.
Diversity Officer (three year term)
The Diversity Officer leads the Diversity Group in developing strategies to support and promote diversity within the Palaeontological Association and broader palaeontology community. The Diversity Officer should aim to identify issues and barriers that arise for under-represented groups and work with the Diversity Group on trying to provide solutions. The officer will also liaise with the Public Engagement Group (PEG) with the aim of promoting palaeontology as a diverse and welcoming scientific community to a wider audience. The officer should also promote the code of conduct and facilitate efforts to ensure it is being upheld at Palaeontological Association sponsored events. The Diversity Officer may volunteer to sit on one or more of the Association sub-committees to review grants and awards.
Education Officer (three year term)
Together the Publicity Officer, Outreach Officer and Education Officer comprise the Public Engagement Group (PEG). These posts have responsibility for all the Palaeontological Association outreach activities. Currently they include organizing the Association’s presence at Lyme Regis Fossil Festival and the Yorkshire Fossil Festival, coordinating the Engagement Grants, answering relevant enquiries, and initiating other activities that promote and develop palaeontological outreach and education for the Association. The members of PEG work closely together and their roles often overlap, but responsibilities associated with the Education Officer post include leading the Association’s educational activities, e.g. delivering dedicated activities at schools’ days associated with fossil festivals and communication with ESTA. Members of PEG also work closely with the Diversity Group. The Education Officer may volunteer to sit on one or more of the Association sub-committees to review grants and awards.
Newsletter Editor (three year term)
Editing the Palaeontology Newsletter is an intense role three times a year with relatively little in between apart from collating some content and attending Council meetings. The main responsibilities are approaching people and commissioning content, ensuring that permission for all reproduced images and content has been sourced, editing all content in the Palaeontology style, and reminding contributors of deadlines as necessary. The Newsletter Editor may volunteer to sit on one or more of the Association sub-committees to review grants and awards.
Reviews Editor (three year term)
The main duty of the Reviews Editor is to provide a range of new and recently-published scientific book titles for members to review, as well as soliciting reviews of any other relevant media (e.g. film, TV programme, online blog, YouTube series, podcast, computer game, educational resource, software package). The books available to review span all areas of palaeontological and evolutionary research and, as such, it is necessary to establish and maintain contact with a broad range of publishers, search for new titles and request review copies from publishers. For each Palaeontology Newsletter, a list of recently-acquired titles is prepared and, as requests come in from members to review the books, each copy must be sent to the prospective reviewer. Reviews recently received from members must be edited in time for each Newsletter deadline. It is often necessary to remind reviewers when their text is required and so records must be kept monitoring movement of books and receipt of reviews. The Reviews Editor may volunteer to sit on one or more of the Association sub-committees to review grants and awards.
Ordinary Members (x1 vacancy; three year term)
Ordinary members do not have a formal portfolio. They attend Council meetings and contribute to discussion, decision making and future planning. They often participate in important subcommittees, such as those tasked with reviewing and making decisions upon grant applications.