SRF Terms of Reference

SRF Awards and Grants Committee: Terms of Reference

The remit for the Awards and Grants Committee is to provide oversight and leadership for the Society’s disbursement of scholarships, grants, prizes and other sources of funding or support.

Committee composition, attendees and reporting:

• The Awards and Grants Committee is a committee of the Council and reports directly to Council.
• The Chairperson of the committee shall normally be the General Secretary.
• The committee shall typically consist of not less than three Council members, appointed by Council in addition to the Chairperson. However, non-council members may be co-opted to the Committee by appointment from the Chairperson and agreement of the Council.
• All Committee members are expected to assist in the reviewing of applications submitted to the Committee in a timely fashion, provide the Chairperson, or appropriately nominated alternative, with their scores and comments and be available at Council meetings for the discussion and agreement on applications made to the Society for funding.
• The committee will typically meet three times a year.

Main duties of the Committee:

• To review applications for, and have oversight and administration of Travel Grants, Academic Scholarships, Vacation Scholarships, the Stewart Rhind Science Writing Prize and other appropriate Society schemes, taking into account the charitable objectives of the society.
• To carry out periodic reviews of all grants and awards and report to Council on proposed changes, including but not restricted to their scope, remit, award value, eligibility criteria and frequency. This shall be conducted in consultation with other Committees, Council members and Society members as appropriate.
• To review applications for Society support for courses and workshops and provide resources and support for educational activities deemed appropriate by the Committee, Council and where appropriate the wider Society.
• To oversee the Society’s obligations with respect to public benefit and other statutory reporting as regards to grants.
• To review annually the Committee’s terms of reference and its own effectiveness and convey and recommendations to Council.

SRF Finance Committee: Terms of Reference 

• To review the income, investments and expenditure of the Society twice annually.
• To advise, discuss and make recommendations to Council on changes to income, investment and expenditure streams.
• To ensure financial prudence of support for SRF members in professional activities including conference attendance, event sponsorship, grants and awards.
• To facilitate annual audit or independent examination of financial accounts with secretariat and auditor.
• To report on financial matters at Council and AGM.
• Individual members on Finance and Committee to conduct all activities as above with no conflict of interest for personal gain.
• To make recommendations to Council on fiscal areas to include honoraria and membership fees.

SRF Investment Policy

 SRF Programme Committee: Terms of Reference

The role of the SRF Programme Committee is to oversee the organisation of scientific meetings and other programmes that the Society support and to liaise with other societies in the same or related field for organising joint meetings.

 Committee composition, attendees and reporting:

• The Programme Committee is a sub-committee of the SRF Council and reports directly to Council.
• The Chairperson of the committee shall normally be the Programme Secretary
• The committee shall typically consist of not less than three Council members, appointed by Council in addition to the Chairperson. However, non-council members may be co-opted to the Committee by appointment from the Chairperson and agreement of the Council.
• The committee will meet in full at least twice a year immediately preceding the SRF Council meetings.

Main duties of the Committee:

• To assist and advise Council on the smooth running and strategic development of the society’s scientific meetings calendar.
• To develop and deliver high quality, internationally competitive scientific conference programmes that attract national and international participation that is within reasonable financial commitments of the society.
• To engage and work with other societies in the same or related field in the development and organisation of joint meetings.
• To manage the reviewing of short communication abstract submissions to independent and joint-conferences for quality and scientific rigour, including the recognition of excellence in early and mid-career scientists through student and post-doctoral competitive prize sessions.
• To recognise long-standing commitments to the Society and internationally acclaimed contributions to reproductive science by managing the annual nominations process for the Distinguished Lecturer Anne McClaren awards and the New Investigator award.
• To review annually the Committee’s terms of reference and its own effectiveness and convey any recommendations to Council.

SRF Public Engagement Committee: Terms of Reference

The remit for the Public Engagement Committee is to provide oversight and leadership for the Society’s public disbursement of information and is responsible for developing, overseeing and reviewing the Society’s external policy work, interactions and communications with Members, key stakeholders and the public.

Committee composition, attendees and reporting:

•  The Public engagement Committee is a committee of the Council and reports directly to Council.
• The Chairperson of the committee shall normally be the Vice-Chair of the SRF
• The committee shall typically consist of three Council members including the Chairperson. Additionally, two non-council members will be co-opted to the Committee by appointment from the Chairperson and agreement of the Council.
•  The committee will typically meet three times a year.

Terms of Reference

• To co-ordinate “reproduction and fertility” based public events that engage the general public about the importance of reproductive biology to Society. This will involve organizing events and workshop such as:
• Sex in 3 cities lecture that targets general academia and undergraduates
• Public events that run alongside the annual SRF/Fertility conferences
• Workshops that encourage interest in reproductive biology in schools and the wider community
• To raise the profile of The Society and promote reproductive biology to key audiences and stakeholders in the UK and internationally.
• To identify public policy areas that will impact our members, publications, and reproductive biology and from this to develop position statements where appropriate.
• To oversee The Society’s communications activities with members, key stakeholders and the public.
• To advise Council on The Society’s relationships with, and funding of, external organisations required to advance our objectives, such as parliamentary committees, research councils, charities, sister societies and organisations relevant to the sector.
• To coordinate The Society’s response to policy consultations, working closely with other Committees and organisations as appropriate.

Journals Committee Terms of Reference (ToR)

Journals Committee Remit

The major roles of the Journals Committee are to support the EICs in their management of the SRF Journals, provide a forum for discussions with EiC’s of the societies journals in the absence of the publisher, and to serve as a point of communication between the journals and the Council. The Journals Committee also oversees the handling the appointment’s process for new EiCs, which is covered in a separate document. Day to day editorial functions and all editorial decisions remain the responsibilities of the editors.

The Journals committee should meet a minimum of three times a year. Topics of discussion are not limited to but could include:

• Strategic development
  • Monitor competitive position of publications
  • Develop strategies to increase international distribution, outreach and impact
  • Review publication strategies and policies and report to Council
• To review marketing opportunities and strategies
• To review and agree contracts between the SRF and the EiCs
• To carry out financial and editorial oversight of processes
• To oversee performance of the publishers
• Monitor Publisher agreements & raise issues if necessary

Composition of the journal committee

• SRF Chair – will Chair the JC.
• SRF Treasurer
• EiCs – Reproduction & RAF
• Regular member of Council who is a trustee. Serves a 4 year term. Volunteered and confirmed by the SRF council.
• An Ex-EiC member. Serves a 4 year term. Selected by the SRF council.

Council Code of Conduct,

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