OCNS Director Elections

OCNS is a member-based society with an elected Board of Directors (see OCNS Bylaws). Each year several directors are elected in the Fall for a 3 year mandate, starting on January of the next year. On this page we provide information on candidacy, voting and rules governing the elections. The following roles are to be filled this year:

• Travels awards
• Newsletter
• Webmaster
• Social Media
• Membership
• Workshops
• Tutorials

New Directors will act as deputy chair in their roles (except for the Travel awards chair role) by shadowing the current Chairs for a year, and then take over when the current Chairs finish their terms. All Director duties are described here.

If you are considering applying, feel free to contact our EDI chair Eirini Mavritsaki ([email protected]) for a short informational meeting about joining the board.

Calendar for 2023

Submit your nomination (Now Closed)

View candidates and vote (Now Closed)

• September 19 - October 21 (final deadline): Candidate submissions on OCNS website (self-nominations only).
• October 12 - October 26: Nomination Committee evaluates candidates.
• October 30: Candidate list will be made public on OCNS website.
• November 1 - November 22: Voting by members.
• End-November: Results reported to members and candidates.

Candidacy

All members with active OCNS membership status (all dues paid before the application deadline) can self-nominate, provided they:
(i) have been a member of OCNS for a minimum of 12 months,
or
(ii) have attended an on-site CNS conference in the past.

Candidates must demonstrate prior involvement in the field of computational neuroscience. No two Directors should work in the same laboratory and candidacies may be refused if elections can cause this to happen. Current Directors and Officers whose mandate ends December 2023 may apply.

We strongly encourage members to consider candidacy for these elections. OCNS is committed to have a wide diversity among its Directors---across research areas, gender, abilities, career experiences, geographic locations, and personal backgrounds, and this is possible only if a broad range of members apply. The OCNS strives to be a diverse group and encourages a balanced and inclusive representation of women in leadership positions within the organisation.

The Nomination Committee evaluates and encourages candidates if needed. The aim is to have more than 10 candidates representing a wide range of gender, geography, seniority, experience, and scientific interest.

Elections

Members who paid their dues and with approved OCNS membership status will be able to login on the OCNS website to vote. A list of Candidates is presented with links to information about each Candidate.

Voting is anonymous. One can vote for as many Candidates as one likes, and we advise to vote for multiple candidates. Once the vote is submitted it is final.

Results

• Votes for each Candidate are computed and Candidates are ranked according to the number of votes they receive and the top Candidates are elected. We will ensure that at least one student/postdoc member (if there are any) is present among the elected members, and adapt the selection procedure accordingly.
• A candidate must receive votes from a minimum of 20% of the OCNS members who participated in the voting process.
• In the case of a tie for the last position the Nomination Committee will select the elected Candidate based on balancing gender, geography, seniority, experience and scientific interest.
• The list of the elected Directors will be made public, but detailed results will not be communicated. Election results with an indication of how well they fared in the election will be communicated to all Candidates in private.

Nomination Committee

The 2023 Nomination Committee consists of:

• Cengiz Gunay
• Christopher French
• Eirini Mavritsaki
• Shailesh Appukuttan