In accordance with the IAU rules, IAU Working Groups (WG) need to be re-established at each General Assembly (GA), with a new Organising Committee (OC) put in place for the forthcoming triennium. Exceptionally, while due to the pandemic, the 2021 GA had to be postponed to 2022 for all its scientific aspects, most of its administrative parts, including those concerning the organisation of the Divisions, Commissions and WG, are still due to take place in 2021, using electronic tools to replace presencial participation. Accordingly, a request has been submitted to the IAU for extension of the WG on Ap & Related Stars (ApWG). As part of this request, we now need to appoint a new OC, including a new WG Chair.
As in the past, the composition of the OC and the election of the new Chair will be decided through an election process in which all the regular members of the WG are invited to participate. However, some details of this election had to be adjusted to bring them in line with the current IAU working rules, as adopted following the restructuring of the Divisions, Commissions and WG, and taking into account the fact that no elections were organised in 2018, as a result of the uncertainty of the WG future caused by this restructuring.
The 2021 elections will take place along the following lines:
1. The OC to be elected will consist of six members, including a Chair, a Vice-Chair, and four regular members.
2. To ensure continuity, two of the current members of the current OC will continue to serve as members of the new OC. The other four OC members, including the Chair, will be identified through an election process to take place before end of June.
3. The Chair of the current OC will continue to serve as an external advisor to the new OC, providing guidance when appropriate but not participating in decisions.
4. All regular members of the WG are eligible to be candidates for the forthcoming elections, except for the current OC members.
5. All regular members of the WG may vote in the elections.
At present, I am inviting all eligible interested members of the WG to apply for the open positions in the OC for the triennium 2021–2024. You can do so by sending me (gmathys@eso.org) an email stating your interest to be candidate. I would like to encourage all of you to consider submitting an application. The WG can only be functional if its members contribute to its activity. Please also keep in mind that we need to achieve a reasonable level of diversity (in particular in terms of geographical distribution and gender), so that WG members of the traditionally under-represented demographic groups are particularly encouraged to apply. This election also represents an opportunity for younger members of our community to take a more active role in the tasks of the WG and in the progress of science in our field of research. Their participation is highly desirable to avoid the risk of stagnation. While traditional tasks of the WG include the publication of the ApN and contributions to the organisation of conferences and workshops, together with the preparation of the annual and triennial reports required by the IAU, the OC has considerable latitude to take initiatives that promote and facilitate scientific activity in the field of Ap & Related Stars.
The election, which will be conducted electronically, will consist of two parts:
1. 1 vote will have to be cast for an OC Chair candidate
2. Votes will have to be cast for up to 3 candidates for the other vacant OC member positions.
When submitting their application, WG members must specify if they are candidates to the OC Chair position, to a regular OC member position, or to both. (Once the new OC has been constituted, it will agree about the nomination of a Vice-Chair among its members.)
To become candidate for this election, please take the following steps:
1. Check on the IAU WG web page (https://www.iau.org/science/scientific_bodies/working_groups/105/members/) that your name appear in the list of members of the ApWG. If it does not and you wish to be registered as a WG member, please let me know immediately by email (gmathys@eso.org) so that I can ask the IAU to regularise your situation in due time. You are not allowed to participate in the OC election (either as voter or as candidate) if you are not a WG member according to the IAU records. (Note that, unfortunately, WG Associates are not allowed to take part in the election.)
2. Send me (gmathys@eso.org) an email stating if you want to be a candidate for the OC Chair position, for a regular OC member position, or for both. The deadline for submission of your candidature is Thursday, 27 May 2021 at 18:00 UT.
Remember: participation is important for the long-term continuation of the ApWG: I hope that many of you will submit a candidature.
Gautier Mathys
Chair, IAU WG on Ap & Related Stars