ABIL Constitution

 

1 The Title

The Association shall be called the Association of British and Irish Lusitanists.

 

2    Aims

The Association aims:

a)    to promote in Great Britain and Ireland the study of the Portuguese language and the cultures associated with that language throughout the world;

b)    to encourage scholarly research into all aspect of that language and cultures;

c)    to secure the support of governments and of other appropriate agencies and institutions for those activities and to promote the widest possible awareness of their cultural, educational and vocational importance;

d)    to provide a forum for the discussion and elaboration of these aims by members and to consult, in particular with the Associação Internacional de Lusitanistas and with the Association of Hispanists of Great Britain and Ireland;

e)    to represent the views of Lusitanists to appropriate bodies.

 

3    Membership

There shall be three classes of membership:

a)    Ordinary Members

Lusitanists who hold a full-time or part-time academic post and have a current research interest in the Portuguese language and the histories, literatures and cultures associated with it throughout the world; also others who share these aims and interests and whose written application to the Association shall be considered by the Committee following nomination by two ordinary members of the Association.

b)    Associate Members including leitores, language assistants, graduate teaching assistants, postgraduate students, postdoctoral research fellows and persons of equivalent status, and retired ordinary members of the Association.

c)    Honorary Members who may be elected by the Association from time to time. Other persons may be invited, as individuals and not as representatives of institutions – to attend the Conference of the Association, either as guests (paying or otherwise) or as speakers, at the discretion of the Committee, to whom their names must be submitted, through the Secretary, at least two months before the date of the Conference.

 

4    Subscriptions

The annual subscription, the amount of which shall be determined by the General Meeting, shall be payable to the Treasurer not later than 1 October in each year. Only Members who have paid their subscription may present papers at the Conference. Only members who have paid their subscription are entitled to attend and vote at the General Meeting. Associate Members will pay a reduced subscription.

 

5    Meetings

There will be a Conference at intervals determined at successive General Meetings. At the General Meetings, the General Secretary, the Treasurer, and the Conference Secretary shall make their reports. The Officers and Committee shall select subjects for discussion from among those submitted by Members.

 

6    Officers, Committee, and Decision-Making Procedures

All Committee Members and Officers, with the exception of the postgraduate representative, must be Ordinary Members of the Association who, at the time of election, are based in UK or Irish academic institutions. The Association will strive to ensure that both British and Irish interests are represented on the Committee.

 

a)    Between General Meetings, the affairs of the Association shall be conducted by a Committee comprising the following members:

i.    A President, who shall be elected for a term of office which will span two Conferences and General Meetings and who shall not be eligible for immediate re-election;

ii.    A General Secretary, who shall be elected for a term of office which will span two Conferences and General Meetings and who shall be eligible for re-election for normally one further such term;

iii.    A Treasurer, who shall be elected for a term of office which will span two Conferences and General Meetings and who shall be eligible for re-election for normally one further such term;

iv.    A Conference Secretary, who may be a member of the university which hosts the Conference of the Association following the General Meeting, whose term is 2 years and who may be re-elected for up to three terms;

v.    The immediate Past President;

vi. A postgraduate representative, who shall be a registered Postgraduate student at a British or Irish university at the time of election, shall be elected for a two-year term, with the possibility of re-election for a further two-year term subject to continued postgraduate status. The postgraduate representative shall be excluded from decisions about the allocation of postgraduate funds to individuals by ABIL.

vi.    Two other Members, who shall be elected for a term of office which will span two Conferences and General Meetings and who shall not be eligible for immediate re-election;

 

b)    The Committee shall have power to co-opt up to two additional members, who need not be based in UK or Irish institutions, for a term of office determined by the Committee.

 

c) Where there is no consensus, decisions of the committee, including budgetary decisions, shall be taken by vote with the president having a second, casting vote when there is an equality of votes.

 

7    Quorum

The quorum at any General Meeting will be fifteen Members.

 

8    Changes in the Constitution

Changes in the Constitution shall be made only at the General Meeting. Any proposal to effect such changes must be submitted, through the General Secretary, to the Committee at least fourteen days before the General Meeting. The proposed change(s) shall be presented to the General Meeting and shall be adopted if passed by a simple majority of the Members present, so long as the latter represent a quorum.

 

9    Communication to Members

The General Secretary shall issue three communications to all Members between Meetings:

       a)    The Agenda for the General Meeting, to be issued no more than fourteen days before the Meeting or the first day of the conference; whichever is the earlier;

       b)    The Minutes of the General Meeting, which shall be full enough to act as abstracts of the discussions, proposals and resolutions of the General Meeting;

       c)    Annual accounts

 

10   Elections

Nominations for the committee  open at least fourteen days before the General meeting. Nominations must be endorsed by the nominee and two other members of the Association. They must be communicated to the General Secretary and may be received up to and including the General Meeting.  If two or more candidates are nominated for any office, an election will be held at the General Meeting.

 

 

Approved unanimously at the General Meeting held at the University of Exeter, 7 September 2015.