Council, Committees and President

The President of the Society is a prestigious role, acting as a figure-head in promoting and representing the interests of the Society to key stakeholders.

They preside over all of the Society’s activities and strategic developments, and chair Council Meetings, the Awards Committee, and the Annual General Meeting.

The President will deliver at least one Presidential Address during their two-year term of office. The President shall normally serve as a Vice-President the year before and the year immediately after being President.

The Vice-Presidents of the Society play an important role in helping to shape the strategic direction of the organisation. 

They undertake duties requested by and agreed with the President or Council as the need arises.

At any one time, the Society has four Vice-Presidents: one is the incoming or outgoing President and one is the Vice-President for Scotland with a three-year term of office. The other two Vice-Presidents have a three-year term of office and may chair committees, such as the House Committee.

Vice-Presidents shall normally take ownership of at least one of the Society’s strategic initiatives on behalf of Council. This may involve participating in a project team established to deliver this initiative.

In addition to the specific roles defined here, Vice-Presidents are entitled to take up membership of whichever of the Society’s committees they may wish to become involved with.

The Treasurer plays a key role as one of the senior Officers of the Society in helping to shape and develop the future direction of the organisation during their five-year term of office.

The main duties of the Treasurer are outlined as follows:

• Keep under review through the House Committee, for the purposes of audit, all financial and contractual commitments of the Society, which entails membership of the House Committee, the Strategic Planning Group and the Salary and Remuneration Committee;
• Take responsibility for agreeing the Chief Executive’s financial delegations on behalf of Council and, as appropriate, authorise on behalf of Council any capital operational expenditure items that exceed the Chief Executive’s financial delegations;
• On behalf of the House Committee, oversee the Headquarters work on the preparation of the Annual Accounts and take specific responsibility for overseeing the policies and practices related to the Society’s Investments that are implemented by the HQ team;
• Be the principal cheque signatory for the Society.

In addition to the specific roles defined here, the Treasurer is entitled to take up membership of whichever of the Society’s committees they may wish to become involved with.

The General Secretary plays a key role as one of the senior Officers of the Society in helping to shape and develop the future direction of the organisation during their five-year term of office. 

The main duties of the General Secretary are outlined as follows:

• To be the person responsible for all of the Society’s non-executive staff issues and be the point of appeal for staff on matters of grievance;
• Chair of the Salary and Remuneration Committee;
• Chair of the Membership Development Group;
• Chair of the House Committee and oversee matters relating to the House Committee’s Terms of Reference not covered by the Treasurer;
• Attend the Strategic Planning Group representing projects that would come from changes in policy or procedures made at the House Committee;
• To be one of the cheque signatories for the Society.

In addition to the specific roles defined here, the Treasurer is entitled to take up membership of whichever of the Society’s committees they may wish to become involved with.

The Society has a number of main Committees overseeing the programmes of work, these include Professional Accreditation Board, Climate Science Communication Group, Education and Outreach Committee, Scientific Publishing Committee and Meetings Committee. 

The role of a Committee Chair is an important one in ensuring that the programme of work of that committee is dealt with appropriately and meets with the wider strategic aims of the Society.

All Committee Chairs keep the Terms of Reference for their committees under regular review and report to Council on a regular basis. The majority of Committee Chairs will sit on Council if appropriate.

Other Members of Council actively contributes to the affairs of the Society and help shape the direction of the organisation.

A Member serves a three-year term of office and no person who has previously been a Council Member for three successive years can hold office as a Member of Council unless at least one year has elapsed since that person’s last period of office.