Bye-Laws of the European Society for Research in Mathematics Education
Latest version, approved at the General Assembly on February, 7, 2019 in Utrecht.
TITRE 1: PRESENTATION OF THE SOCIETY
Article 1: Formation and designation
The society is founded between the members who form with the present statutes an association governed by the 1901 law, entitled: European Society for Research in Mathematics Education (Société Européenne pour les Recherches en Education Mathématique). The acronym of the society is ERME.
Article 2: Vision
The Society promotes communication, cooperation and collaboration in the following activities. The society organises congresses with a wide spectrum of themes to profit from the rich diversity in European research, summer schools where experienced researchers work together with beginners, and other thematic activities. The Society fosters and supports cooperative activities on common themes, topics and interests, aimed at:
1. finding out what research is going on in different places in Europe which might benefit from wider investigation;
2. going beyond local contexts to enhance knowledge and understanding in scientific areas;
3. bringing together and drawing on expertise in related areas to broaden scientific knowledge;
4. identifying key areas of scientific interest or concern which should be a major focus for collaborative research on a wider scale.
The Society aims to enable communication of information to enhance the visibility and availability of European research on mathematics education (in Europe and all over the world). Media of communication include proceedings, journals, newsletters, books, the internet, websites, video-congresses, interactive CD-ROMs, virtual groups.
The Society supports graduate students, thus preparing researchers in mathematics education through congresses, summer schools, provision of information, student and teacher exchanges, postdoctoral opportunities, and inter-European collaboration on thesis presentation.
The Society also supports other activities that help to achieve the objectives of communication, cooperation and collaboration between members.
Article 3: Localisation
The society is localised in Paris. The localisation may be changed by decision of the Executive Committee.
Article 4: Duration
The duration of the society is unlimited.
TITRE II: COMPOSITION OF THE SOCIETY
Article 5: Type of members
The society is composed of active members who pay fee decided every two years by the General Meeting. They are members of the General Meeting with voting. The executive committee may refuse membership with motivated notification.
Article 6: Membership and fees
Membership shall be open to those persons who wish to become members and agree with the aims of the Society as set out in Article 2 of the Bye-Laws.
Membership will be from one ERME Congress (CERME) to the next. The General Meeting will determine the fee for the next period on the recommendation of the Executive Commit-tee. The initial fee will be 30 € for ordinary membership and 10 € for Research Student membership.
Members who do not renew their membership by the due date will not be allowed to vote on subsequent occasions until their membership is renewed.
Should a member not renew his/her membership within six months of the due date, then it will be deemed that such a person no longer wishes to be in membership of the Society and the Secretary will remove him/her from the membership list.
The benefits of membership are:
• Reduced fees for attendance at ERME conferences and seminars.
• Summer schools organised for research students which allow such students to meet their peers from across Europe.
Article 7: Loss of the membership
The loss of the membership can follow from:
• The resignation in writing to the President of the society.
• Expulsion of a member from the Society can only be made by a decision of the Executive Committee following a full discussion by them of the issues of the case. Do-cuments shall be prepared detailing the reasons for possible expulsion. The member concerned has the right to put his/her defence in writing and these documents shall be circulated to the Executive Committee at least 21 days before they meet. At the mee-ting of the Executive that considers the expulsion, the member concerned has the right to be present and amplify his/her defence. The Executive Committee shall then meet in private to make their decision. This decision shall be given in writing (and verbally if the member is in attendance) to the member. The expulsion, if made, will take im-mediate effect and will preclude the person from becoming a member of the Society for a period of two years.
• The death.
TITRE III: ORGANISATION ET MANAGEMENT
Article 8: Executive committee
The Executive Committee (colloquially called ERME Board) comprises of the Officers of the Society President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer and in addition at most seven other members, of which two are the representatives of the Young Researchers, as stated at the article 8-bis. The Executive Committee will be elected at the General Meeting.
Each member of the Executive Committee is elected for a period of several terms (see Arti-cle 10), each term being two years long. After each term of office, except the last, if the member agrees, (s)he is automatically re-elected (without voting). Or, the member may leave the Executive Committee; in this case a successor is elected according to the rules defined by Article 10.
The Executive Committee shall have regular meetings the dates for which shall be posted annually.
The President in conjunction with the Secretary shall draw up the agenda for the meeting and this should be circulated at least fourteen days before the meeting takes place. Fixed items on the agenda should be Apologies, Minutes of the last meeting, Matters Arising and Treasurers Report – an interim report of the financial state of the Society by the Treasurer.
Decisions made at the Executive Committee shall be by a simple majority of those present.
Six members of the Executive Committee should represent each of the six European regions. The representatives of Young Researchers are not based regionally. The division of Europe into regions suitable for the Society is the prerogative of the Executive Committee who will take their recommendation to the General Meeting.
The current regions are (each region represented by one person):
• Middle Europe (Germany, Austria, Switzerland)
• Western Europe (UK, Ireland, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg)
• Northern Europe (Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Iceland)
• South Western Europe (Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, Malta)
• South Eastern Europe (Turkey, Israel, Greece, Cyprus, Serbia, Croatia, Bulgaria, Romania, Slovenia, Albania, Montenegro, Macedonia, Boznia-Herzegovina)
• Eastern Europe (Poland, Czech Rep., Russia, Ukraine, Slovakia, Hungary, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Belarus)
Two members of the Executive Committee do not represent regions (this is in addition to the President and the two representatives of the Young Researchers). The President will be elected in a separate ballot (according to article 11). The two repre-sentatives of the Young Researchers will be elected separately.
The executive shall set up such Sub-committees of the Executive Committee, which shall ensure the efficient and effective running of the Society. Relevant members of ERME may be co-opted to such Sub-committees.
Article 8-bis: Representatives of Young Researchers
Eligible as representative of Young Researchers is any person who at the deadline for nomi-nation fulfils the following criteria:
• she/he is doing her/his doctoral study or has completed it not more than 3 years earlier, and
• she/he has attended CERME or at least one official event for Young Researchers organized by ERME).
The seats are for two terms (4 years) each, interchanging in such a way that a new repre-sentative of Young Researchers is elected every two years. For the first election, one of the representatives will only be elected for one term (2 years).
ARTICLE 9: General meeting
1. The President of the Society will act as Chair of the General Meeting. At the meeting, the President, on behalf of the Executive Committee shall give a report of all its work since the previous General Meeting. Any Sub-committees of the Executive Committee shall present their reports, which will include a financial report and audited set of ac-counts. Resolutions may be presented to the General Meeting in one of two ways:
• By the Executive Committee if circulated to all members of the Society at least fourteen days before the meeting;
• By ten or more members signing a resolution which must be in the hands of the Secretary at least four weeks prior to the date of the General Meeting to allow for its circulation at least fourteen days before the date of the meeting.
2. An extraordinary general meeting can be convened by the president of the society when necessary, for example to a change in the statutes or the dissolution of the association. This is a general meeting as another in form, but the agenda includes only one item.
Article 10: Elections
Elections to the Executive Committee will be held at each biannual General Meeting. The election of the President and of the representatives of Young Researchers shall be ad-ministered separately from the election of other Members.
The election for Vice-President, Secretary and Treasurer will be by the members of the Executive Committee and will take place at the first Executive Committee meeting following the General Meeting.
The term of office of members of the Executive Committee is two years. The seats are for three terms (two for representatives of young researchers) after which the member may not seek immediate re-election.
Normally three or four new members will be elected at each General Meeting in accord-ance with the representation listed above in articles 8 and 8-bis. The Chair will announce the names of those members of the Executive Committee who are not seeking re-election. Written nominations for President and members of the Executive Committee, in accordance with the representation as listed in articles 8 and 8-bis, must be in the hands of the Secretary not less than four weeks before the General Meeting. Any nomination must be sup-ported by a seconder and have the agreement of the nominee.
The Secretary will circulate the membership of ERME by electronic means, two weeks before the General Meeting, the names of the candidates being nominated together with a brief profile supplied by the nominee.
For the election of the President each member of ERME will have one vote. For the election of each representative of Young Researchers each member of ERME will have one vote. For the election of other members of the Executive Committee, members of ERME will have the number of votes equal to the number of vacancies.
A member of the Executive Committee who was elected in her previous term as a non-regional representative is not necessarily reelected in her next term as a non-regional rep-resentative. In case that in her next reelection there would be a vacancy for a regional rep-resentation of her region, this responsibility will be granted to her.
In this way, there will still be six regional representatives in the Executive Committee, while a new non-regional representative can be elected.
If a Regional Representative is to be elected, the candidate from that region gaining the most votes will be deemed to have been elected. If non-regional representatives are to be elected, they are elected in the order of their numbers of votes, among all candidates for regional and non-regional representative, except those already elected as regional repre-sentative. In the event of a tie, the names of the tied candidates will be put on identical pieces of paper, folded, placed into a closed receptacle and an independent member of the Society asked to draw one out at random. The person whose name is so drawn will be deemed to have been elected.
Article 11: Changes in Bye-Laws and dissolution
11.1. Any proposal to amend the statutes or to dissolve the society should be addressed to all members of the society at least one month before the meeting of the executive committee where it should be approved.
11.2 To be accepted, this proposal must receive at least two-thirds of the votes.
11.3. In case of dissolution, one or more liquidators will be appointed by the executive committee, the remaining funds will be transferred to society with similar goals.
Article 12: Language of communication
The usual language of communication within the association is English.
Article 13: Adoption of the Bye-Laws
The current version of the bye-laws has been adapted by the general meeting held on February, 7, 2019 in Utrecht (The Netherlands).
