(a) These Rules shall be construed with reference to the Royal Charter, Statutes and Rules of The British Psychological Society and no Rule shall have any validity or effect if it amounts to or involves alteration of or addition to the Royal Charter, Statutes and Rules of the Society, which could only legally be made by alteration of or addition to the said Royal Charter, Statutes and Rules of the Society.

(b) Alterations or additions to the Rules of the Section shall only be made by resolution passed at an Annual or Extraordinary meeting of the Section, after the proposed alterations or additions have been submitted to and approved by the Board of Trustees.

(c) The Honorary Secretary - Treasurer shall send the Rules of the Section to each new Member, Affiliate or Student Subscriber of the Section and shall notify all Members, Affiliates and Student Subscribers of alterations and additions to the Rules.

3. MEMBERSHIP OF THE SECTION

(a) Membership of the Section shall be confined to Members of the British Psychological Society. To become a Member of the Section a Member shall have been nominated and elected by the Section as is hereinafter provided. A person not already a Member of the Society may stand for election as a Member of the Section at the same time that he or she stands for election as a Member of the Society, but such a candidate shall not be deemed elected a Member of the Section unless he or she is elected both a Member of the Society and a Member of the Section.

(b) Applications for Membership of the Section shall be on the official form and be submitted to the Honorary Secretary.

(c) When applications are received the Honorary Secretary shall consider whether or not the candidate is is suitable for membership of the Section. The names of all suitable candidates shall be provided by the Honorary Secretary to the Section Committee at the next Meeting of the Section, at which the Committee shall approve thecandidates for election to the Section. For all candidates not approved, it shall be the duty of the Honorary to report the name of the candidate to the next meeting of the Representative Council together with a statement of the grounds on which the Section Committee has witheld its approval , whereupon the Representative Council shall decide whether the candidate shall be elected and the decision of the Council shall be final.

(d) All candidates elected to the membership of the Section shall receive a welcome pack from the Honorary Secretary, containing information about the Section and the Section Rules.

(e) At the Annual General Meeting of the Section, the Honorary Secretary will inform the membership of the number of candidates that have been approved for membership of the Section in the preceding year.

(f) A person who has been elected an Affiliate or Student Subscriber of the Society may by application become an Affiliate or Student Subscriber of the Social Psychology Section. Affiliates and Student Subscribers of the Section shall have notice of and shall be entitled to attend Scientific Meetings of the Section, but they shall have no right to speak or vote on any matters concerning the administration of the Section.

4. MEETINGS OF THE SECTION

(a) The Section shall hold such Scientific Meetings each year as it feels able to support including normally an annual conference during which the Annual General Meeting of the section will be held, at which the following business shallbe transacted in addition to any business that the Section Committee shall decide to put before the Annual General Meeting, namely:

(1) A report by the Honorary Secretary on the activities of the Section during the previous year. Such Report shall include a record of attendances of Members of the Committee at Committee Meetings held since the last Annual General Meeting;

(2) A report by the Honorary Secretary on the election of officers and members of Committee and the number of candidates approved for membership of the Section;

(3) A report by the Honorary Treasurer on moneys expended by the Section during the year.

(b) At least twenty-one days' notice of any Annual General Meeting and of the business to be transacted at that Annual General Meeting shall be given to all Section Members by means of notice in The Psychologist.

(c) An Extraordinary Meeting of the Section may be summoned at any time by the Committee of the Section and an extraordinary Meeting of the Section shall also be summoned at the request in writing to the Honorary Secretary of the Section of not less than twenty Members of the Section.

(d) Fourteen days' notice at the least shall be given of an Extraordinary Meeting to all of the Members of the Section.

(e) Only the Members of the Section shall be entitled to receive notice and to attend and vote at Annual General and Extraordinary Meetings of the Section.

(f) Voting on business, other than the election of Officers and members of Committee, shall be in the same manner as is provided in the Statutes for General Meetings of the Society and voting on the election of Officers and members of Committee shall be as is hereinafter provided.

(g) The quorum necessary for the transaction of business at any Annual General or Extraordinary Meeting of the Section shall be ten Members personally present, and entitled to be present and vote thereat, and no business shall be transacted at any such meeting unless a quorum be present.

(h) If within fifteen minutes from the time appointed for an Extraordinary Meeting of the Section a quorum is not present, the Meeting, if convened upon the requisition of Members, shall be dissolved: in any other case it shall stand adjourned until such other day and at such other time as the Section Committee may determine, and if at an adjourned Meeting a quorum is not present within fifteen minutes from the time appointed for the Meeting the Members present shall be a quorum.

5. THE COMMITTEE OF THE SECTION

(a) The business of the Section shall be conducted by a Committee consisting of a Chair (or two co-Chairs), who shall be Chair of the Committee and of meetings of the Section, an Honorary Secretary of the Section, an Ordinary Treasurer of the Section, and up to nine ordinary members, all of whom shall be Members of the Section.

(b) Casual vacancies in the Committee shall be filled by the Committee by co-option from Members of the Section for the remainder of the current year. In addition the Committee may after election co-opt not more than two Members of the Section to its own membership. All co-opted members shall hold office until the Annual Meeting following their appointment, after which, however, they shall be eligible for election as ordinary members of the Committee or may again be co-opted.

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(d) The Chair, the Honorary Secretary, and the Honorary Treasurer shall retire from office at the conclusion of the Annual General Meeting following their appointment. They shall, however, be eligible for re-election except:

(1) that the Chair shall not hold office for more than four consecutive years;

(2) that after retiring, or after becoming ineligible, there shall be a lapse of one year before the Chair becomes eligible for re-election;

(3) that the Honorary Secretary and Honorary Treasurer shall not hold office for more than five consecutive years;

(4) that after retiring or after becoming ineligible, there shall be a lapse of one year before the Honorary Secretary and the Honorary Treasurer shall become eligible for re-election.

(e) Ordinary Members of the Committee shall serve a term of one year. At the end of this term they shall however be eligible for re-election for a further term of three years.

(f) A retiring ordinary member of Committee who has served four continuous years shall be ineligible for re-election as such until after the lapse of one year.

(g) Any committee member failing to attend for three consecutive meetings during their term shall be deemed to have disqualified themselves from further membership of the committee and shall retire at the next Annual General Meeting.

6. ELECTION OF OFFICERS AND MEMBERS OF THE SECTION COMMITTEE

(a) Any Member of the Section may seek election as an Officer or member of the Section Committee by completing the appropriate application form. The applicant will require the nomination of at least two Members of the Section (proposer and seconder), and will also be required to provide a statement of interest. The completed application form and statement of interest must be deposited with the Honorary Secretary not later than fourteen days prior to the Annual General Meeting. The Honorary Secretary shall notify Section Members of the last date for the receipt of nominations by means of notice in The Psychologist.

(b) The Section Committee may make nominations.

(c) All nominations shall be circulated to Members of the section by means of Section email database not later than seven days prior to the Annual General Meeting. Voting for the election of Officers and ordinary members of the Section Committee shall take place at the Annual General Meeting of the Section. Section members who will not be in attendance at the Meeting may indicate their voting preferences in writing to the Honorary Secretary at a date not later than two days in advance of the Annual General Meeting.

(d) No election shall be held if the number of nominations does not exceed the number of vacant seats; nominated candidates will be deemed to have been elected.

(e) Each election shall be decided by simple majority of the votes cast in that election.

8. COMMITTEE PROCEDURE

(a) The Section Committee shall meet at least three times a year.

(b) Seven clear days' notice of Meetings of the Section Committee shall be sent to all members of the Committee.

(c) The business of the Section Committee shall be transacted only by the members of the Committee present in person at that Meeting of the Committee. Three members present in person shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business. If within fifteen minutes from the time appointed for a Meeting of the Section Committee a quorum is not present, the meeting shall stand adjourned to such other day and at such other time and place as the Chair and Honorary Secretary-Treasurer in consultation may determine.

(d) The members for the time being of the Committee of the Section may act notwithstanding any vacancy in their body provided always that if the number of members of such Committee falls below six the continuing members may act for the purpose of filling vacancies in their body or of convening an Annual or Extraordinary Meeting of the Section but for no other purpose.

(e) The Section Committee newly constituted at each Annual Meeting of the Section shall report to the Honorary General Secretary on or before the last Saturday in February in each year, the name of the person appointed by the said Committee to be the Representative of the Section on the Council for the year following the next Annual General Meeting of the Society.

October, 1984

Edited January 1988 to accord with revised Charter, Statutes and Rules and the guidelines for non-sexist language of the Society.

Edited March 2005



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