BERA COUNCIL POSITIONS AVAILABLE FOR ELECTION IN 2015

We are pleased to invite nominations of interested candidates to stand for election to BERA Council.

There are currently 4 vacancies on BERA Council, with 1 position elected to the role of Treasurer.
The nomination period will begin on February 1st, and end on February 20. All BERA members will receive an electronic elections notice on Monday February 1st.

BERA Council

BERA Council is the governing body of the Association and the members of the Council are, de facto, the Trustees of the Association as a registered Charity and Directors under Companies House regulations.  The Council is the governing body of the Association and has ultimate authority and decision-making over all business including policy, planning and resources. BERA is a company limited by guarantee with registered company number 08284220 and regulated charity number 1150237.  As such, any individual elected to BERA Council will be required to sign a declaration to confirm that they are not disqualified from acting as a charity trustee.

Council meets 3 times a year with one of those meetings being a residential Awayday.  In addition to these meetings, Council members are expected to serve on a BERA committee which will meet up to 3 times a year.  These committees are:

• Membership and Engagement Committee
• Academic Publications Committee
• Conference Committee

While we understand that other commitments and circumstances might prevent attendance at all these meetings, members of Council should be able to make a commitment of a minimum of 8-10 days per year to BERA activities. The term of office for Council membership is three years.

Council wishes to see its membership reflective of the field as a whole and therefore encourages under-represented groups to stand for Council.

BERA Treasurer

The Treasurer serves for a four-year term. (S)he is also the Honorary Secretary of the Association. His/ her role is to:

• Oversee the Annual Budget of the Association in conjunction with the Executive Director;
• Work with the Executive Director to ensure robust financial monitoring is in place;
• Make periodic reports to Council on BERA finances;
• Oversee the production of the annual accounts to the AGM of the Association;
• Ensure any delegated budgets are properly spent and accounted for;

The Treasurer serves as an Officer of BERA and candidates should be able to make a commitment of a minimum of 12-15 days per year to BERA activities.

Further information about how BERA operates and the roles and responsibilities are available on our website: https://www.bera.ac.uk/about

If you want any further information or want to talk to us before standing, please contact Nick Johnson, Executive Director at n.johnson@bera.ac.uk

The term of office for all elected positions start in September 2015. However, successful candidates will be invited to the BERA Council Strategic Awayday as observers.

This takes place in Durham on the 18th to 20th May.

Candidates are strongly encouraged to keep these dates free as attendance will be an important part of their induction.

Application Process

If you wish to stand as a candidate a nomination form can be downloaded on this page.

Emailed and scanned nomination forms are accepted and should be emailed to: nominations@electoralrefrom.co.uk. Faxed nomination forms will be accepted on 020 8365 7013.

Forms can be returned in hard copy to ERS with appropriate signatures to the following address:-

Mr Alex Lonie
Electoral Reform Services Ltd
Independence House
33 Clarendon Road
London N8 0NW

Telephone: 020 8365 8909

All current paid-up individual members of BERA are eligible to be nominated for election to BERA Council.

Nominations must be supported by at least two current paid-up individual members of BERA with the agreement of the nominated individual.

Timetable for elections

Nominations open                        2 February

Close                                                  20 February

Voting commences                      9 March

Close                                                  27 March

Results announced                      10 April

Any queries should be addressed to:

Alex Lonie (alex.lonie@electoralreform.co.uk)
Electoral Reform Services
33 Clarendon Road
London, N8 0NW