Constitution

PsyPAG Rules and Regulations

PsyPAG has a number of rules and regulations that must be adhered to, primarily by committee members, and particularly with regard to voting rights and responsibilities. Please feel free to examine the PsyPAG Constitution below, or in Word format here.

PsyPAG Rules and Regulations

“The Constitution”

The Association shall be called the Psychology Postgraduate Affairs Group (PsyPAG for abbreviation).

Throughout the Rules the following terms have the meanings assigned to them, that is to say: ‘The Society’ shall mean The British Psychological Society. ‘The Association’ shall mean the Psychology Postgraduate Affairs Group. ‘The Committee’ shall mean the committee of the Psychology Postgraduate Affairs Group.

AIMS

The aims of the association shall be:

to promote the communication between psychology postgraduates in the UK;

to promote awareness of issues relating to postgraduates;

to promote such activities that further these aims.

if deemed appropriate by the Committee, each year;

a. hold up to 4 workshops

b. hold an annual conference in the summer

c. produce 4 editions of the PsyPAG publication

CONDITIONS OF MEMBERSHIP

No official membership of PsyPAG exists. Any postgraduate student working towards a postgraduate qualification in a psychological discipline is encouraged to participate in PsyPAG.

FEES

There is no annual fee.

CORRESPONDENTS OF THE ASSOCIATION

Individuals with no formal qualifications in Psychology or who are not studying for a postgraduate qualification may nevertheless be accepted as Correspondents of PsyPAG.

Applications for Correspondent membership must be approved by the Committee.

Correspondents of PsyPAG may attend PsyPAG events at the cost set for that event. They are eligible for concessions at the discretion of the Committee.

OFFICERS AND MEMBERS OF THE COMMITTEE

The business of the Committee shall be conducted by a Committee consisting of the following positions:

Chair
Vice-Chair
Treasurer
Four Quarterly Editors

Information Officer
Communications Officer

In addition to these positions shall be a number of positions relating to the Divisions, Sections, and Special Groups of the Society:

Division of Clinical Psychology
Division of Counselling Psychology
Division of Educational and Child Psychology
Scottish Division of Educational Psychology
Division for Teachers and Researchers in Psychology
Division of Forensic Psychology
Division of Health Psychology
Division of Neuropsychology
Division of Occupational Psychology
Division of Sport and Exercise Psychology
Cognitive Psychology Section
Consciousness and Experiential Psychology Section
Developmental Psychology Section
History and Philosophy of Psychology Section
Psychology of Sexualities Section
Mathematical, Statistical and Computing Section
Psychobiology Section
Psychology of Education Section
Psychology of Women Section
Psychotherapy Section
Qualitative Methods in Psychology Section
Social Psychology Section
Transpersonal Psychology Section
Community Psychology Section
Special Group in Coaching Psychology

In addition to the above positions the following positions on the Society’s Boards/Committees and Branches exist:

Publications and Communications Board
Ethics Board
Research Board (Chair)
Conference standing committee
North East of England Branch
North West of England Branch
Northern Ireland Branch
Scottish Branch
South West of England Branch
Welsh Branch
Wessex Branch
West Midlands Branch
London and Home Counties Branch

The following positions comprise of current committee positions or affiliation positions not outlined in the above sub sections.

International rep
The Higher Education Academy Psychology Network
Undergraduate Liaison Officer

MEETINGS

The Association may hold meetings, workshops, courses and conferences.

The Committee shall physically meet 3 times per year. Moreover, a teleconference will take place in addition to the above meetings. These teleconference meetings will comprise of the administration staff of the PsyPAG committee, but any committee member with issues to address may participate in this meeting. Each venue is decided by the committee members.

The admission of non-committee members to the meetings of the Committee shall be at the discretion of the Committee.

A general meeting of the Association shall be held each year at the annual conference.

The quorum for an Annual General Meeting of the Association is 15 postgraduates, at least 10 of whom shall not be Committee members. No business shall be transacted unless a quorum is present within 15 minutes of the start of the meeting.

In addition to any business that the Committee may decide to put before the Annual General Meeting, the following business shall be transacted:

Consideration of the report of the activities during the previous year.

Consideration of the Financial Report for the previous year.

The election to all the offices and vacancies on the Committee. The format of the elections shall be as follows:

Call for nominations should appear in on the associations’ website. . However, it should be possible to take nominations from the floor.

Committee positions will normally be for a two-year duration but incumbents have the option to stand down after one year. Committee incumbents should stand down after two years but can stand for re-election. It should be made clear that new committee members are welcome.

iii.

Prospective committee members who are unable to attend the AGM will submit a supporting statement to support their application to the Vice-Chair, to be read at the AGM. If a nomination comes from the floor then they will be asked to speak to the meeting in support of their application.If there is only one nomination then they will be elected unopposed.

In the case of more than one nomination for a post an election will be held.

Agenda for the Annual General Meeting

1. Apologies

2. Minutes of the last Annual General Meeting

3. Reports from Officers on information pertinent to the members of PsyPAG. Any unfilled committee positions will be advertised and the roles and duties of those positions will be outlined.

4. Election of officers

If any position remains vacant then the Committee can make arrangements for future co-options, whereby co-opted Committee members may remain on the Committee until the next Annual General Meeting. This practice of co-option is at the discretion of the Committee. Those who are interested in being co-opted onto the PsyPAG Committee should make their interest formally known to the Vice-Chair of PsyPAG. The Vice-Chair will introduce the newly elected member to their position.

Representation on each Division/Section/ Board/ Branch of the Society shall be at the discretion of the Division/Section/ Board/ Branch committee involved. The level of involvement of each Representative is also at the discretion of the Section/ Board/ Branch concerned. Any rules stipulated hitherto shall be held by the Vice-Chair for reference.

Each Committee member can hold a maximum of three positions.

On election to posts, each new committee member will be introduced to the Chair of the appropriate Division/Section/Board/Branch by the Vice-Chair as the association. Committee members standing down from positions should make sure that up to date contact details for their Division/Section/Board/Branch are provided to the Vice-Chair prior to stepping down from their position.

To be a Division or Section Representative, an individual must be a member of the Society and already have or intend to obtain membership of that particular Section or Division.

MEETINGS OF THE COMMITTEE

10.1

All members of the Committee shall receive at least seven days notice of meetings to be held, by the Vice-Chair. Business shall be transacted only by members of the Committee present at the meeting. Six members present constitute a quorum.

10.2

If the number of members of the Committee falls below six, the continuing members may act for the purpose of filling vacancies in their body but for no other purpose.

10.3

The Committee may from time to time, set up regional groups and appoint sub-committees and working parties with special terms of reference. Such regional groups, sub-committees and working parties shall report to the Committee periodically and when they have fulfilled their terms of reference.

10.4

The Committee will send an annual financial report to the Research Board of the Society detailing how the Society’s funding was spent.

ALTERATION OF RULES

11.1

Alterations or additions to the Rules shall only be made by resolution passed at a Committee meeting, providing that at least 50% of the Committee are present and all absent Committee members are in agreement.

11.2

The Vice-Chair shall send the Rules of the Association to each new Committee member and shall notify all Committee members of alterations and additions to the Rules.

PsyPAG Rules and Regulations

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