Statutes of the Inverse Problems International Association

Statutes IPIA – German Version Official document, submitted to the local court in Göttingen

§1 Name, seat
(1) The organisation goes by the name “Inverse Problems International Association”, abbreviated “IPIA”. Following its registration in the German register of societies, the title “eingetragener Verein” (“e.V.” – registered society) shall be added to the name.
(2) The seat of the Association is Göttingen, Germany.

§2 Aims of the Association
(1) The Association exclusively and directly pursues charitable ends within the meaning of the “tax-advantaged purposes” section of the German fiscal system.
(2) The purpose of the Association is to promote science and research in the field of inverse problems.
a) to promote international cooperation in Inverse Problems;
b) to encourage and coordinate activities in Inverse Problems;
c) to represent the field of Inverse Problems in the mathematical and scientific community and the general public and to promote its interests.
(3) The aims of the Association will be implemented in particular by
a) distribution of pertinent general information;
b) coordination, organization, and support of any form of scientific activities, such as meetings, conferences, summer schools and prizes, corresponding to the aims of the Association;
c) coordination and promotion of scientific exchanges.
(4) The Association is selfless and its primary aim is not to pursue economic gain. The Associations’s resources may only be used for purposes in keeping with its articles of the Association. Its members shall receive no share of the profits and no other allowances from the Associations’s funds. No person may benefit from expenditure unconnected to the Association’s purpose or from disproportionately high reimbursement.

§3 Membership
(1) The membership of the Association shall consist of Ordinary Members and Associate Members.
(2) Ordinary membership is open to individuals interested in the advancement of Inverse Problems in the sense of §2.
(3) Associate membership is open to organizations interested in the advancement of Inverse Problems in the sense of §2.
(4) Each application to Ordinary or Associate membership is decided upon by the Executive Committee of the Association on the basis of recommendations by two Ordinary Members.
(5) The Executive Committee may invite individuals or organizations to become members of the Association.
(6) Membership is terminated
a) by withdrawal in writing;
b) by death;
c) by elimination, after non-payment of the membership dues for one year;
d) by expulsion, which is decided upon by Executive Committee on a serious reason by three-quarters majority.
(7) Elimination of membership due to non-payment of membership dues can be waived by the Executive Committee.
(8) An Expelled person or organization may appeal to the President of the Association for a ballot of the General Assembly. Expulsion shall be annulled and the membership recovered if the expulsion does not receive a simple majority of the valid votes at the ballot of the General Assembly.

§4 Administration
(1) The authority of the Association derives from its members and is exercised at ballots of the General Assembly, conducted either electronically or at a meeting of the General Assembly.
(2) The Association is administered by the Executive Committee which, in accordance with these Statutes and subject to the direction and review of the members, shall conduct the business of the Association.

§5 General Assembly
(1) All Members are entitled to attend meetings of the General Assembly.
(2) Any decision reached at meetings of the General Assembly become binding only when approved by a ballot of the General Assembly.
(3) Each item in a ballot except the elections of members of the Executive Committee shall be a choice between approval and rejection.
(4) The Executive Committee shall put the following items to a ballot of the General Assembly.
a) Items decided upon by the Executive Committee.
b) A decision reached by vote at a meeting of the General Assembly.
c) An expulsion of a member, provided that a written appeal to the President is made by the expelled member.
d) An amendment of Statutes, an amendment of By-laws or
e) the dissolution of the Association proposed by a written request with signatures of not less than one hundred Ordinary Members.
(5) The General Assembly elects a cash auditor who is not a member of the Executive Committee. The term of the cash auditor is at most three years.
(6) Voting rights are reserved for Ordinary Members who paid up the annual dues. Each paid-up Ordinary Member is entitled to one vote in each ballot of the General Assembly.
(7) A meeting of the General Assembly must be convened if it is in the interest of the Association. The date and site of each meeting of the General Assembly is decided upon by the Executive Committee. At least one month before each meeting of the General Assembly, the Secretary shall mail a notice to each member of the Association, stating the place and time of the meeting.
(8) The Agenda of each meeting of the General Assembly is decided upon by the Executive Committee and shall be issued with the announcement of the meeting.
(9) Upon a written request of not less than one tenth of the Ordinary Members, the Executive Committee shall convene a meeting of the General Assembly. The written request shall indicate precisely the agenda or the items which should be discussed at the meeting.

§6 Executive Committee
(1) The Executive Committee consists of twelve Ordinary Members of the Association, elected by a ballot of the General Assembly for a term of three years, beginning of the first day of January following the election.
(2) The following Officers are elected among the members of the Executive Committee:

a President,
a Vice-President,
a Secretary and
a Treasurer.

(3) The Association is legally represented by the President, the Vice-President, the Secretary, and the Treasurer. It is bound by the signature of the President (or, should the President be prevented from signing, of the Vice-President) together with the signature of another Officer.
(4) The Executive Committee shall meet on the call of the President at least once during its term. The quorum shall consist of six members of the Executive Committee.
(5) Apart from meetings the Executive Committee conducts its business by correspondence and ballots.
(6) In important matters, the Executive Committee takes decisions based on votes of the General Assembly.
(7) The Executive Committee can dismiss any Officer of the Association at a meeting or by a ballot, by a majority vote of all members of the Executive Committee. Dismissed Officers remain members of the Executive Committee for the remainder of their term.
(8) With the written consent of half or more members of the Executive Committee, any member of the Executive Committee can convene a meeting of the Executive Committee or a ballot of the Executive Committee, even against the President’s will, on a motion of the replacement of the President.
(9) The Executive Committee may adopt its own rules of procedure, as long as they do not contravene these Statutes and By-laws.

§7 Election of the Members of the Executive Committee
(1) Any Ordinary Member who held the Ordinary membership at the first day of January of the election year, except those who were members of the Executive Committee in the immediately preceding two consecutive terms, is eligible to stand as a member of the Executive Committee. As an exception, the Secretary and the Treasurer of the immediately preceding term may be re-elected into the Executive Committee independent of the number of terms they have been members of the Executive Committee.
(2) The first twelve eligible persons, in the order of numbers of votes received, shall be elected as members of the Executive Committee for the new term. In the case of a tie for the last place or places, the Executive Committee of the current term decides on the matter.
(3) A member may resign from the Executive Committee. When a vacancy arises in the Executive Committee between elections, the Executive Committee may coopt an Ordinary Member to fill the vacancy. The term of the member of the Executive Committee so coopted is the remaining term of the replaced member.

§8 Officers
(1) The President implements decisions taken by the Executive Committee.
(2) The President chairs meetings of the Executive Committee and of the General Assembly. In their absence, their place shall be taken by the Vice-President, or in the absence of the latter by a member of the Executive Committee.
(3) The Vice-President carries on the functions of the President in the event of death, incapacity, dismissal or resignation of the President, until a new President has been elected for the unexpired term by the Executive Committee.
(4) The Secretary is responsible for
a) the election of the members of the Executive Committee for the subsequent term;
b) administering the election of the Officers for the subsequent term;
c) administering the election of the Officers for any vacancy of the current term;
d) drafting the minutes of meeting of the Executive Committee and of the General Assembly;
e) conducting the ordinary business of the Association with the help of the Vice-President;
f) keeping records.
(5) The Treasurer administers the financial matters of the Association.
(6) In the event of the death, incapacity, dismissal or resignation of the Vice-President, of the Secretary or of the Treasurer, the President may appoint another member of the Executive Committee as a temporary substitute until the vacancy is filled by a election of the members of the Executive Committee.

§9 Elections of Officers
(1) Officers are elected from among the members of the Executive Committee by a ballot. The term of an Officer is the same as the period of the term of members of the Executive Committee.
(2) No person may hold two or more Offices at the same time.
(3) Any vacancy for Officers during their term is to be filled by election of the members of the Executive Committee. The term of the Officer so elected is the remaining term of the vacancy.

§10 Regional Centers
(1) The Executive Committee may create regional secretariats or sections for the efficiency and promotion of the Association.

§11 Finance
(1) The fiscal year of the Association shall be the calendar year.
(2) Members have to pay membership dues. The amount of the membership dues is determined by the Executive Committee.
(3) Other resources of the Association consist of
a) possible gifts, bequests and legacies;
b) subsidies or grants which may be awarded to it by public or private bodies;
c) any other resources which may derive from its own activities.

§12 Dissolution of the Association
(1) The dissolution of the Association shall be decided upon by a ballot of the General Assembly. The decision of the dissolution shall be taken by a three-quarters majority vote of all paid-up Ordinary Members.
(2) In the case of the liquidation or dissolution of the Asscociation or the discontinuation of its taxprivileged status, its assets will fall to a legal entity under public law or another taxprivileged corporation for the purpose of supporting science and research.

§13 Bylaws
(1) Bylaws may be established on any matters not covered by these Statutes, by a ballot of the General Assembly.
(2) The Bylaws may be amended by a ballot of the General Assembly.

§14 Amendment of Statutes
(1) No change may be made in these Statutes without the approval of the simple majority of paid-up Ordinary Members in a ballot of the General Assembly.

Appendix
(1) These Statutes shall enter into force from the moment of its approval by the simple majority of the founding members in a ballot.
(2) The Association will replace the Inverse Problems International Association chaired by Gunther Uhlmann. The Inverse Problems International Association in its old form will be dissolved at the time when these statutes enter into force.
(3) The term of the first Executive Committee is limited to one year. It should already end on December 31, 2022 if a new Executive Committee will have been elected by this date.
(4) The term of the second Executive Committee will start the day following the last day of the term of the first Executive Committee and end on December 31, 2025.
(5) §7(1) does not apply to the elections of the first and second Executive Committees. The Executive Committee of the Inverse Problems Association in its previous form consisting of Liliana Borcea, Jin Cheng, Matti Lassas, Roland Potthast, Gunther Uhlmann (President) and Masahiro Yamamoto (Vice-President) will be treated as the zeroth Executive Committee of the Association.

Bylaws

§1 Ballots of the General Assembly
(1) The date and items of each ballot of the General Assembly except those for the elections of members of the Executive Committee is decided upon by the Executive Committee. At least a month before the deadline date of the ballot, the Secretary shall mail a notice to each member of the Association, stating the item or items of the ballot and the deadline date.
(2) A ballot of the General Assembly is valid if valid votes from at least half of the paid-up Ordinary Members are cast. If a ballot of the General Assembly becomes invalid due to an insufficient number of valid votes, a second ballot on the same items can, at the discretion of the Executive Committee, be conducted within two months from the deadline date of the first ballot. This second ballot is valid with any number of votes, except for the ballot on the amendment of the Statutes, on the amendment of the By-Laws, or on the dissolution of the Association.
(3) Each item in a ballot, except for the election of the members of the Executive Committee, the amendment of the Statutes and the dissolution of the Association is approved by a simple majority of the votes.

§2 Executive Committee
(1) The date, site and agenda of a meeting of the Executive Committee are decided upon by the President. The President shall include on the agenda of a meeting of the Executive Committee any item requested by any member of the Executive Committee in writing. The place, time and provisional agenda of the meeting shall be announced in writing to each member of the Executive Committee not later than 14 days before the meeting. The full agenda of the meeting shall be announced to each member of the Executive Committee not later than seven days before the meeting.
(2) The member of the Executive Committee convening a meeting of the Executive Committee under §6(6) of the Statutes decides the date and site of the meeting. The announcement of such a meeting must be mailed to arrive at each member of the Executive Committee not later than 14 days before the meeting.
(3) Any member of the Executive Committee, who does not attend a meeting of the Executive Committee, can either appoint in writing another member as a proxy for that particular meeting or demand that the meeting can be conducted electronically, or give specific opinions on items on the agenda to the President in writing. A decision against such a written opinion can be made only by the majority opinion among all members of the Executive Committee.
(4) A meeting of the Executive Committee can take decisions only on items on the agenda of the meeting. The minutes of each meeting of the Executive Committee shall be distributed to all members of the Executive Committee. Minutes of the meetings of the Executive Committee shall be kept by the Secretary.
(5) In case of a tie in a ballot of the Executive Committee, the President shall have a second and casting vote.

§3 Election of the Members of the Executive Committee
(1) The deadline date for the ballot of the General Assembly for the election of members of the Executive Committee is the thirty-first day of October of the last year of the preceding term of the members of the Executive Committee.
(2) At least two months before the deadline of the ballot for the election of the members of the Executive Committee, the Secretary shall send the announcement of the ballot to each Ordinary Member, attaching a list of candidates.
(3) A name of an Ordinary Member shall be included in the list of candidates if the Secretary’s office receives before the thirtieth day of April of the election year an individual recommendation, giving the name and address of the recommendee and accompanied by signatures of ten further Ordinary Members of the Association and a letter of consent signed by the recommendee.
(4) In the ballot for the election of the members of the Executive Committee, voters may write 12 or less names in a ballot list.

§4 Advisory Members of the Executive Committee
(1) The Executive Committee can invite Members of the Association to be Advisory Members in the Executive Committee for the term of the Executive Committee.
(2) Advisory Members participate in the meetings and discussions of the Executive Committee, but not in the ballots.
(3) Advisory Members of the Executive Committee can be dismissed by a majority vote of the Executive Committee.

§5 Election of Officers
(1) As soon as the members of the Executive Committee for the subsequent term are elected by the ballot of the General Assembly, election of Officers for a new term shall be held by a ballot. Each newly elected member of the Executive Committee has a voting right for this election.
(2) Four Officers are voted, one name for one Office. The eligible person collecting largest number of votes for each Office is elected to that Office. In the event of a tie for the largest number of votes the President for the current term shall have a casting vote.
(3) If a person is elected to two or more Offices by an election, they become the Officer with a higher precedence in the following order: President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer. The unfilled Office is filled by a further ballot using the same procedure.
(4) The President and the Vice-President must not be re-elected for the same office in a subsequent term. However, a former Vice-President may be elected as President and vice-versa.

§6 Finance
(1) The amount of membership dues is fixed by the Executive Committee.
(2) The membership dues for each fiscal year is payable by the end of the preceding fiscal year.
(3) The Executive Committee must prepare the budget of the current year and the financial reports of the preceding year, which are then to be distributed to all members of the Association.
(4) Gifts, bequests and legacies received by the Association must be used in accordance with the wishes of the donors.

§7 Conferences and Prizes
(1) The Executive Committee announces deadlines for proposals for the organization of conferences in the tradition of the biannual Applied Inverse Problems Conferences and decides on the received proposals. If no appropriate proposals are received, it may solicit alternative proposals.
(2) The scientific committee of the conferences in §7(1) should include at least three members of the Executive Committee.
(3) The Association awards the Calderón prize for exceptional achievements in the field of Inverse Problems to persons who are younger than 40 years at the prize ceremony.
(4) The Calderón Prize is usually awarded every two years.
(5) The Executive Committee announces a deadline for nominations for the Calderón prize.
(6) The Executive Committee decides on the Prize Committee for the Calderón prize. The Prize Committee should consist of an odd number, and at least five persons, at least one third of which are women.

Appendix

(1) These Bylaws shall enter into force from the moment of is approval by the simple majority of the founding members in a ballot.
(2) The first President of the Association shall be elected from the original members of the Executive Committee by a ballot of the original members of the Executive Committee immediately after the approval of these Statutes. Each member of the Executive Committee shall have one vote, and the eligible person receiving the highest number of votes shall be the President.
(3) The first Officers of the Association other than the President shall be elected from the original members of the Executive Committee by a ballot of the members of the first Executive Committee immediately after the election of the first President. This election is to be administered by the first President of the Association. Each member of the first Executive Committee has three votes, one for each Office. The eligible person receiving the highest number of votes for each Office is elected to that Office. In case of a tie, the President shall have a second and casting vote. If the same person is elected to two or more Offices, §5(3) applies.
(4) The deadlines in §3(1), §3(2) and §3(3) do not apply to the elections of the second Executive Committee.