Sensometric Society Information

Chairman
Per Bruun Brockhoff
Professor in Statistics
Informatics and Mathematical Modelling
Richard Petersens Plads, Building 321, room 032.
Technical University of Denmark
DK-2800 Kongens Lyngby.
E-mail: pbb@imm.dtu.dk
Phone: +45 45 25 33 65
Fax: +45 45 88 26 73
Homepage: http://www.imm.dtu.dk/~pbb

Chair: Per Bruun Brockhoff, DK, for 4 years, till 2010
Vice-Chair: Mostapha Qannari, F, for 1 year, till 2007
Honorary secretary: Guillermo Hough, Arg, for 4 years, till 2010
Honorary treasurer: Tom Carr, USA, for 4 years, till 2010
Ordinary members:
Garmt Dijksterhuis, NL, for 2 years, till 2008.
Hal MacFie, UK, for 2 years, till 2008.
Hildegarde Heymann, USA, for 1 year, till 2007.
Pieter Punter, NL, for 1 year, till 2007.
Pascal Schlich, F, for 1 year till 2007

Information

1. Title and aims

The group shall be known as the "Sensometric Society".

The main aim of the group is to:

increase the awareness of the fact that the field of sensory and consumer science needs it own special methodology and statistical methods improve the communication and co-operation between persons interested in the scientific principles, methods and applications of sensometrics act as the interdisciplinary institution, world-wide, to disseminate scientific knowledge on the field of sensometrics.

2. Membership

Membership of the group shall be open to all persons interested in sensometrics.

The committee may suspend membership of any person subject to such a decision being accepted at the next meeting, either the Biannual General Meeting or a General Meeting of the Group. In such cases, the suspended member shall continue to enjoy all privileges of membership until the next meeting and will be informed in writing of the Committee's decision.

3. Management of the Group

The management of the Group shall be vested in a Committee; the Chairperson of that Committee shall be the senior officer of the Group.

4. Officers and committee

The officers of the group shall be the Chairperson, the vice Chairperson the honorary secretary and the honorary treasurer, the committee shall consist of the officers of the section four ordinary members.

5. Officers and Committee - Election and Retirement

The Officers shall be elected at a biannual general meeting by the members of the group and shall retire at the end of the biannual general meeting 4 years from their election, except the Vice-Chairperson who shall be elected annually.

Two ordinary members shall be elected at each biannual general meeting and shall serve on the committee for two years, retiring at the need of the appropriate biannual general meeting.

The officers of the committee shall not be eligible for re-election in the existing capacity at the end of their period of service.

6. Committee business

Committee meetings of the group shall be called by the Chairperson or on written request of the honorary secretary by at least three members of the committee. The honorary secretary shall notify all committee members of the date, time and place of all committee meetings giving not less than 5 weeks notice of such a meeting.

At meetings of the committee, the chair shall be taken by the chairperson or in his/her absence by the vice-chairperson. In the absence of both, the chair shall be taken by one of the other officers elected b those member of the committee present at the meeting.

Any question involving a decision shall be decided by a simple majority of votes of those members of the committee present.

Any casual vacancy occurring amongst the officers or any other members of the committee may be filled by the committee and the member so elected shall remain in office for the unexpired period that his/her predecessor would have served.

The committee may set up sub-committees for specific purposes. Any such sub-committee shall remain directly responsible to, and may be dissolved at any time by, the committee. The committee shall also have power to invite additional persons to its meetings to discuss specific items on the agenda; such persons shall have no voting rights.

The quorum of the committee shall be four members which must include an officer.

7. Finances

There shall be a fund known as the 'Sensometrics Fund', to enable the objectives of the group to be met. These objectives shall be:

the arranging of conferences, meetings, newsletters, exhibitions and courses of instruction in sensometrics.
any other educational purpose that the committee may approve
any other activity that may be approved by the committee for the purpose of furthering the study or application of sensometrics and allied subjects.

The fund and income thereof shall be administered and dealt with by the committee.

The committee shall have the following powers:
to collect and receive donations, subscriptions, grants and other payments
to accept gifts of property
to use invested moneys or interest thereof for income
to decide for what purposes moneys are to be applied
to accumulate income
to invest moneys and change investments from time to time
to open and maintain a bank account or accounts and to draw cheques provided that any cheque so drawn shall need the signatures of any two officers.

The members of the committee and any appointed sub-committee may charge to the fund reasonable travelling, hotel and other expenses for attendance at meetings or in the execution of their duties.

The costs and expenses of the fund shall be paid from the fund.

The costs of any activities heading under paragraph 7a shall be paid fro from the fund.

The honorary treasurer shall keep proper records of all financial transactions of the fund. Such records shall be made available for inspection by the committee or honorary auditor, provided that at least fourteen days notice of such an inspection shall be given.

The records of the financial transactions of the fund, duly certified be the honorary auditor, shall be laid before the biannual general meeting.

8. Biannual General meeting

The biannual general meeting shall be held each second at a place and time to be determined by the committee. All members of the group shall be entitled to vote. Any question of a division shall be decided by a simple majority of votes of those members of the group present.

All members of the group shall be given 3 months day notice of the time and place of the biannual general meeting and shall be asked to nominate those officers and members of the committee to be elected at the biannual general meeting. Such nominations shall be received by the honorary secretary at least three weeks before the date of the biannual general meeting. Any member shall be able to place items on the agenda of the biannual general meeting provided at least three weeks notice is given to the honorary secretary.

The biannual general meeting of the group shall be chaired by the Chairperson or in his/her absence by the vice-Chairperson. In the absence of both, the chair shall be taken by one of the officers elected by members present at the meeting.
The business transacted shall be:

if the honorary auditor is absent to elect a teller for the meeting

to agree the minutes of the previous biannual general meeting and of any general meetings held during the previous year

to receive the Chairperson's report
to receive the honorary secretary's report
to receive the honorary treasurer's report
to receive the honorary treasurer's records of financial transactions
to elect the officer of the committee whose period of office has expired
to elect two ordinary members of the committee
to elect an honorary auditor
to determine the subscription to be paid by members of the period to the next biannual general meeting
to transact any other business of which due notice shall have been given to the honorary secretary at the first biannual general meeting of the group.

The Chairperson shall be elected for two years, the honorary treasured for one year and the honorary secretary for three years. Four ordinary members shall be elected, two to serve two years and two to serve until the end of the nest biannual general meeting.

The quorum for the biannual general meeting shall be ten members or ten per cent of the membership whichever is the lower figure and must include an officer of the group.

9. General meetings of the group

A general meeting of the group shall be called by the committee at any time provided that not less than 6 weeks days notice shall be given of the time and place of the meeting to all members.

A general meeting of the group shall be called by the committee at the written request of ten members of the group. Such a meeting must be held within 6 weeks of such a request being received either by the Chairperson or honorary secretary. The request must specify the item or items to be discussed or voted upon. The committee may, at such a general meeting, add an item to the agenda, provided that at least fourteen days notice shall be given to members of an resolution or amendment to a resolution to be voted upon.

The quorum for a general meeting shall be ten members or ten per cent of the membership of the group whichever is the lowest figure.

The Chairperson of the group shall chair a general meeting or in his/her absence the vice-Chairperson. In the absence of both, the chair shall be taken by the honorary secretary, of in his/her absence the honorary treasured. If no officer is present, then the members present shall elect a Chairperson for the meeting from amongst the members present at the meeting.

A Scientific Sensometrics Meeting will be organised every two year. For this meeting a scientific committee and an organising committee will be formed. The meeting will be in the spirit of the 1st through 5th Sensometrics Meeting, this means a rather informal meeting with a scientific focus and ample opportunities to discuss and meet fellow scientists interested in sensometrics. This meeting shall not have any commercial aims, but will serve the aims in section 1 of this constitution. Candidates for organising this meeting will be sought and appointed by the committee.

10. Honorary auditor

The honorary auditor shall be elected at a biannual general meeting and shall hold office until the end of the next biannual general meeting.

11. Tellers

At the biannual general meeting or any general meeting, the honorary auditor shall be responsible for telling of any votes taken. In his/her absence, the meeting shall elect a teller. The teller shall not vote.

12. Minutes

The honorary secretary shall keep written records of the proceedings of all biannual general, general and committee meetings. Such records shall be available for inspection by all members of the group provided that no less than 6 weeks notice, in writing, shall be given to the honorary secretary.

13. Changes in the rules

Changes in the rules of the group may be made at the biannual general meeting provided that:

at least 100 days before the biannual general meeting, the honorary secretary shall be given, in writing, such proposed changes to the rules
the honorary secretary shall circulate with the notice of the biannual general meeting, the proposed changes to the rules
no change in the rules shall be effective until voted upon at the biannual general meeting.

Such a change shall require that at least tow-thirds of members present at the meeting shall vote for such a change.

14. Rules of the group

A copy of the rules of the group shall be made available to any members on written request to the honorary secretary .

15. Membership

The committee shall keep a list of members. This list shall be available to any member for his/her personal use.

16. Dispersion of funds

In the event of the group being wound up, all funds and assets of the group remaining after payment of any debts shall be given to a group with similar aims. If such another group cannot be identified, the funds and assets shall be given to an educational institution to support teaching in sensometrics, as decided I if necessary b a special general meeting.

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