An agenda for reform

Members will already be aware that IAH Council has asked the IAH Executive to make a thorough examination of the work of our Commissions and Working Groups. As Vice-President responsible for the Association’s scientific and technical programme, Ken Howard is seeking your input to this process of review and reform that we hope will streamline and significantly improve our scientific activities. The process was initiated in 2002 at Stana de Vale in Romania, when a special meeting of IAH Council considered the future of IAH. In 2005 and 2006 Andrew Skinner and Jiri Krasny pushed the process forward with a survey of members and a questionnaire which was sent to IAH Council and Commissions, and in the past few months Ken has consulted with Commission Chairs to bring the programme information up to date. Additional input was sought from Members of Council, National Chapter representatives and the broader membership during the Hyderabad conference in September 2009. Important goals of this initiative are to stimulate the work of the active Commissions and Working Groups while opening up opportunities for new activities in emerging global issues.

Following the discussions in Hyderabad, detailed proposals for reform are presently under development and will be discussed by the IAH Executive at its meeting in February, before being tabled at the next meeting of Council. Some of the changes under consideration for Commissions include formal reporting requirements, fixed periods of tenure that can be renewed subject to a peer review process, and access to some limited central IAH funding for well defined outputs. Reforms approved by Council could be implemented by the end of 2010. Ken strongly urges all members who have opinions on the Association’s current array of Commissions and Working Groups and the way they work to e-mail him urgently at gwater@utsc.utoronto.ca with any thoughts, comments, ideas and suggestions.