Call for Nominations: International Science Council Governing Board 2021 – 2024

The International Science Council (ISC) has announced that the Elections Committee has now opened the call for nominations and invites all ISC Members such as the Royal Irish Academy to nominate candidates for the Governing Board. The Royal Irish Academy can nominate multiple candidates for the 10 Ordinary Members of the Governing Board.

In particular, the ISC is seeking individuals with unequivocal international and/or regional standing and scientific recognition that will enhance the status, accessibility and impact of the ISC in global issues. Nominees should be expected to have an awareness and understanding of emerging and current issues in both science itself and in the relationship between science and the international agenda. Moreover, as the chairs and vice-chairs of the ISC’s Standing Committees will be drawn from the membership of the Governing Board, the ISC must secure candidates with relevant expertise to lead the advisory work of the Committees in the areas of:

• Science Planning
• Outreach and Engagement
• Freedom and Responsibility in Science
• Finance

Qualities and responsibilities

In addition to the information specified in relevant articles of the ISC Statutes and Rules of Procedure (Statutes 16 – 17, 25, 31, 32; RoP 5 – 7, 10) the ISC stresses the importance of the qualities of the Council’s leadership for the success of the organization.

The ISC’s high-level strategy refers to the importance of including ‘a relevant range of scientists of vision and exceptional achievement, recognized experience and distinction’ as Officers and Board members in order to ensure the Council’s ‘legitimacy in the scientific community that it claims to represent, credibility with the institutions and individuals that it seeks to influence, and convening power to engage members of the scientific and policy communities, the private sector and civil society in its work’.

As well as assisting its membership and supporting global and regional science initiatives, increasingly the ISC’s role is global and with global agencies and their leadership. 
There will be a significant time commitment required of members of the Board. While the workload is uneven over the year and is still evolving as the ISC matures, ISC Board members will be expected to take active roles in ISC governance, relationship management and programme activities; the time commitment will be on average 2-4 hours per week.

Board meetings will increasingly be electronic – perhaps 6-8 per year – but once international travel is again possible, there will also be at least one and perhaps two in-person meetings per year of 2-3 days duration. It is intended that a major meeting, the Muscat Global Knowledge Dialogue, will be held in early 2023 on international science–policy interactions and Board members will be expected to attend.

To express an interest in being nominated as a candidate for the ISC Governing Board by the Royal Irish Academy please submit the attached application form to policy@ria.ie by midday on Tuesday 4 May 2021.
    
This opportunity is publicly advertised by the Royal Irish Academy 

All expressions of interest received will be considered by the Academy’s Policy Oversight Group - the unit tasked with advising upon the initiation and implementation of all of the Academy’s policy and international activities and responsible for overseeing a standardised quality process for all outputs. Chaired by the Academy’s Secretary of Policy and International Relations, the six members of this group are all elected Members of the Royal Irish Academy and come from a variety of disciplinary backgrounds in several institutions across the island of Ireland- both north and south of the border. On occasions, the Policy Oversight Group may also consult additional experts to inform their assessments and evaluations.

The Royal Irish Academy values diversity and strives for a culture of equality and inclusion in all of its activities. As outlined in its Strategic Plan 2019-2023, the Academy is committed to ensuring greater gender, disciplinary, institutional and overall diversity in every area of the Academy and its work throughout the island of Ireland. It particularly welcomes nominations from under-represented groups and communities.

The Royal Irish Academy is happy to nominate suitable candidates for this role. While the Academy will fully endorse successful nominations and assist in communicating the delegate’s activities to national academics and policymakers, any costs involved will be self-funded by the nominee, or if applicable, funded by the nominee’s home institution.

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