Boards and Committees

Steering Committee

The operational and organizational function of the Steering Committee (SC) includes:

• Self-governance
  • Creation and Termination of WGs.
  • Recognition of Interest Groups (IG).
  • Creation of new committees.
  • Other actions in the spirit of these by-laws as needed.
• Proposing any changes to the by-laws to the GA for approval by vote.
• Making Conflict of Interest determinations, other than those related to the Editorial Review Board (ERB).
• Modifying the guidance documents like the Best Practices (BP), Terms of Reference (ToR) and Code of Conduct (CoC) documents.
• Issuing “Request for Comments” as described in the BP.
• Approving Best Practice level documents aimed at the community that are not intended to be submitted to journals for publications or have not yet reached the publication status.
• Approving the release of stable protocols.
• Sanction activities by members of the consortium in the name of the consortium.

Executive Council

The SC forms an Executive Council (EC) either by election or acclamation by all members of the SC. The EC consists of nine (9) members that may hold other offices within the SC. Two co-chairs, the SC secretary, the treasurer and the chair of the Annual Meeting Committee (AMC) are statutory members of the EC and four EC members get elected from within the SC.The function of the EC is to allow for fast responses on actions and topics that require so.59 The EC may meet via conference calls or through other electronic methods. EC decisions require a simple majority. EC decisions must be presented to the full SC at the next SC meeting for endorsement or correction.

Editorial Review Board

The Editorial Review Board (ERB) is charged to facilitate coordination of work products at the level of scientific publications and other major work products. The ERB provides WGs with a timely, and direct feedback mechanism. The outcome of an ERB review shall consist of

1. feedback to the WG about maturity of their work;
2. a written review that the WG can decide to use to improve the work product;
3. an endorsement of work products as either “Discussion Level” (an important contribution to an area that is still in development or that challenges established views) or “Full Endorsement” (a contribution that aligns across QUAREP-LiMi and provides an important contribution to the field). Additionally, WGs can ask the ERB for
4. a letter to the editor to accompany the WGs work product at submission to a journal. The letter may contain the ERB review of the work product as attachments.

Ombuds Board

Within QUAREP-LiMi every member is valued for their unique knowledge and perspective. No single member can be present at all meetings within the QUAREP-LiMi consortium, which might result in a situation where a mechanism is required to expediate the escalation of a concern. Additionally, within a consortium of the size of QUAREP-LiMi, we will find members advocating for opposing perspectives, approaches, and solutions. While our code of conduct aims to facilitate an open and honest exchange of thoughts, it is likely that occasional situations will arise that require mediation.

Utilizing the model of Ombudsmen allows a fast escalation of concerns, provides the opportunity to utilize a spokesperson to minimize barriers to escalating a concern, and provides a framework for the mediation of conflict within QUAREP-LiMi.

The Ombuds board (OB) and its members shall represent any member of the consortium that requests representation. They shall seek to mediate situations identified by the member that sought representation. The OB and its chair may seek additional help for mediation in the form of a SME (Subject Matter Expert) or others as they deem helpful. The full OB may close a case if either a consensus solution is found, i.e., the parties agree that the situation/case is resolved or, if no resolution can be found, decide on the case/situation. Such a determination shall occur after the presentation of the situation/case by the OB member directly handling the representation, listening to the member seeking representation, giving due process to any other party involved in the situation and consulting with SMEs as advocated for by the handling OB member. The OB member shall act in the best interest and in representation of the member that sought out the OB. The OB shall seek a balanced position founded primarily on facts and expertise as is applicable and guided by the best interest for all participants involved in a case/situation as well as the consortium overall. For conflicts concerning the operation of the consortium determinations of the OB may be binding.

For the use within QUAREP-LiMi we will use Ombudsperson(s) instead of Ombudsman or Ombudsmen and refer to the organized group of Ombudspersons as Ombuds Board.

Annual Meeting Committee

The annual meeting committee (AMC) organizes the annual meeting, its meeting agenda, and organizes elections for the General Assembly (GA) and by request for WGs, boards and standing committees of the consortium. The chair of the AMC shall preside over the annual meeting. The chair of the AMC shall call into session the GA as set forth within the GA section and chair the GA while it is in session. Candidates for elections can self-nominate to the chair of the AMC. A member may nominate another member to the chair of the AMC but must present documentation that the nominated member agrees to the nomination. Candidates need to be endorsed by two members of the consortium.32 Endorsement will be requested by the AMC. Election results will be shared with candidates by the AMC and candidates need to accept their election prior to release of the election results to the consortium. AMC membership is confirmed by the steering committee (SC) and open to all consortium members. The chair of the AMC should be an elected or appointed member of the SC, unless no SC member has the resources available to chair the AMC, in which case the SC can appoint a chair for
the AMC who is not a member of the SC.