Rules for IAG Scientific Meetings

 

 

These new Rules were prepared during the Executive Committee meeting held in Paris, 3-10 March 1988. After some amendments they were adopted by the Bureau and then the Executive Committee.

They now become effective and especially applicable to scientific meetings organized by the association itself. They do not conflict with those rules contained in the By Laws which more generally concern Symposia and workshops approved or sponsored by the IAG. These new rules must be considered as a necessary and more detailed complement to Chapter VII of the By Laws, should they be approved by the Council.

1. Scientific Meetings relevant to IAG may take place

1. during Ordinary General Assemblies of IAG, held at the same time and in the same country with the Ordinary General Assemblies of the IUGG,

2. during Scientific General Assemblies and/or General Meetings of IAG, held in the period between successive Ordinary General Assemblies,

3. at times and places outside of the General Assemblies and General Meetings of the IAG.

 

2. During the (Ordinary and Scientific) General Assemblies the scientific meetings generally take place Section by Section (including the respectively assigned Commissions and Special Study Groups) under the Chairmanship of the Section Presidents (called Section Meetings). The study of some questions may require joint meetings of several Sections under a chairman, appointed by the Executive Committee. The inclusion on the agenda of scientific papers for presentation at sessions of a General Assembly is decided by a Committee consisting of the Presidents of Sections. Besides the scientific sessions the Sections, Commissions, and Special Study Groups are free to hold working meetings of their members under the responsibility of the respective Presidents.

3. If one or more Sections, Commissions, or Special Study Groups wish to arrange a scientific symposium during the General Assembly this is subject to the usual approval procedure for IAG-Symposia (ref. 7). Symposia should be arranged only if the topic covers at least the frame of one Section, one Commission, or two Special Study Groups.

4. General Meetings of IAG may be considered as a group of IAG-Symposia and Section Meetings held at the same time and place.

5. At each General Assembly joint Symposia covering topics interesting two or more Associations within the Union and/or other international scientific organizations may be arranged.

Though the IAG may be asked to act as convenor or co-convenor these Symposia follow the rules issued by the IUGG in these particular cases.

6. The IAG may participate also in Joint Symposia at any other time outside of the General Assemblies obeying the same procedures.

7. The IAG may sponsor scientific Symposia covering broad parts of Geodesy and having large attendance at any suitable time outside of the General Assemblies and/or General Meetings, and may call them IAG-Symposia if the following conditions are fulfilled :

the Symposium has to be sponsored by one or more Sections or Commissions or at least by two Special Study Groups of IAG ;
the host organization of the symposium must accept a Scientific Committee appointed by the Executive Committee of IAG with the advice of the proposer of that symposium ;
the symposium must be open to all bona-fide scientists in accordance with the ICSU Rules ;
the proceedings of the Symposium shall be published within 6-8 months after the end of the Symposium.

IAG expects that immediately after the end of the symposium the Chairman of the Scientific Committee supplies a short summary to be published in the Bulletin Géodésique.

8. Applications for approval as IAG-Symposium by the Executive Committee of IAG should be submitted to the Secretary General of IAG at least tow years before the proposed date of the Symposium. The following information is essential to the proposal :

1. Title

2. Date and duration

3. Location

4. Sponsoring and co-sponsoring Sections, Com-missions, SSG's of IAG, other co-sponsoring scientific organization : letters enclosed.

5. Suggested composition of the Scientific Com-mittee

6. Suggested Local Organization Committee, host organization

7. Name and address for maintenance of contact

8. Estimated number of participants

9. Financial support expected from sources other than the IAG

10. Names of the proposed Editors of Proceedings

11. The outlined Scientific Programme

12. A detailed account of why the proposed Sympo-sium is useful and necessary at the time proposed and its relationship with other meetings.

9. Guide-lines for the agenda of the symposium

activities of the Scientific Committee (SOC)

activities of the Local Organizing Committee (LOC)

financial considerations

publication of the Proceedings.

9a) IAG-Symposia have to be performed at a high standard of scientific value and organized in a very effective way. The agenda may consist of any or all of the following :

a) Invited Review Papers,

b) Invited Papers,

c) Contributed Papers,

d) Contributed Poster Papers,

e) Video Film,

f) Discussion, including Panel Discussions.

Discussion following papers is regarded as an essential form of communication. It should be necessary to devote at least 1/3 of total meeting time to discussion. The Scientific Committee should pay particular regard to adequate provision for poster sessions.

9b) The Scientific Committee if responsible for a high standard of scientific value of the Symposium. The Chairman of the Scientific Committee

a) invites participants after the Symposium is approved by the Executive Committee,

b) accepts or rejects requested invitations,

c) invites contributions and sets a dead line for submissions of abstracts,

d) informs the Secretary General of all important things about the Symposium immediately after.

9c) The Local Organizing Committee takes care of the smooth running of the Symposium. It does not receive financial help from the IAG, the necessary expenses being met by the local funds or by contributions from the participants.

The requirements of local organizations are generally as follows :

1)

  1. Meeting Rooms suitable for the expected number of participants and for the presentation of scientific papers should be reserved.

  2. Adequate space for poster sessions should be reserved. It is important that the LOC make provision for a supply of pins, sticky tape, etc... for mounting poster material and for notification of participants of the time and venue of poster displays.

  3. Arrangements should be made for the display of visual materials : overheads, slides, films and videos. Participants should be advised of the film and video standard(s) available at the meeting venue.

2. Arrangements should be made for the reproduction of participant's documents.

3. Sufficient secretarial and technical assistance should be secured, with careful attention to the requirement for projection equipment microphones, tape recorders, etc...

4. In conjunction with the requirements of the SOC, arrangements should be made to record verbal discussion. Reliance on tape recordings if often unsatisfactory and providing each contributor with a sheet of paper on which to record or summarize his remarks is advisable.

5. Information on accommodation (hostels, hotels, etc...) should be agreed with the Chairman of SOC and sent

a) to the Executive Committee for acceptance and

b) to prospective participants in good time Block reservations are often advisable.

6. All participants should be asked to send their wishes as regards accommodation, excursions and social events to the LOC.

7. Receptions and excursions can be organized during a free period within the meeting, or just before or after the meeting. A Guest Programme is usually welcome.

8. Participants should be informed of the reservations made for them and how to reach their hotel or the meeting rooms on arrival.

9. The LOC should provide a Preliminary and a Final Programme, including g useful auxiliary information, to be distributed to each participant at the appropriate time; A list of Participants, produced on about the second day of the meeting is also extremely valuable if it corresponds closely with those actually present.

10. The IAG intends to arrange all the IAG-Symposia, that means the Symposia held during the General Assemblies and the General Meetings of IAG, and the Symposia approved in accordance with point 7 -in a series and so give each of them a number starting with the first IAG-Symposium which will be performed after the 19th General Assembly of IAG, held in August1987 in Vancouver, Canada.

11. The IAG Executive Committee shall recognize also the scientific meetings organized by the Commissions, their Subcommissions, and working groups, and the Special Study Groups of IAG alone or jointly with other international and national groups and bodies at any time outside of the General Assemblies, if they have been approved by the Executive Committee at the advice of the respective Section President in due time before the first announcement. If so the Meeting may be announced as "International Meeting, organized by the ....... of IAG".

Is is not permitted to use the term IAG-Symposium.

12. The IAG is willing to recognize also scientific meetings, organized by national bodies as important scientific event with benefit for the international geodetic community and to sponsor them if the respective meeting shall be open to all bona-fide scientists according to the ICSU Regulations and will be sponsored by one or more Sections, Commissions, or Special Study Groups of IAG and if the organizer shall obey the organisational standard for IAG-Symposia.

These Meetings may be announced as "International Meeting, organized by ....., sponsored by IAG". It is not permitted to use the term IAG-Symposium. Sponsorship by the IAG means only official recognition and does not imply financial support by the IAG. IAG may appoint an official representative to that meeting. IAG expects that the Proceedings of the meeting will be prepared by the local organizers and published within 6-8 months after the end of the meeting.

Applications for sponsorship should be submitted to the Secretary General not later than 18 months before the intended date of the meeting.

13. In its decision about approval and/or sponsorship the Executive Committee takes into account a balanced selection of meetings, a representative coverage of subjects and a good geographical distribution. The IAG intends to avoid duplication, overlapping and undue frequency.

The Secretary General shall publish annually a calendar of future IAG-Symposia and other scientific meetings organized by IAG-bodies or sponsored by IAG in the Bulletin Géodésique.

14. The Executive Committee shall appoint an official representative of the Association for each of the scientific meetings to be governed by these rules. The representative is obliged to watch the way in which the organizer of the meeting obey the IAG Rules for Scientific Meetings and to report about it to the Executive Committee in due time.