i5k Governance Charter

  1. Membership
  2. Executive Committee
  3. Standing Committees/Working groups
  4. Leadership positions/Officers
  5. Community Meetings
  6. Adoption and amendment of this Charter

1. Membership

Membership in the i5k will be open to all members of the arthropod genomics community, as self-identified. Membership in the Community will be through self-nomination via a request made through the Membership Form [1]. Members will be asked to confirm their membership on an annual basis; failure to do so will result in removal from the active membership rolls.

2. Executive Committee

The Executive Committee (EC) will serve as the main decision-making body for purposes of general governance decisions, working group oversight, and short-term priority setting. EC members will serve for renewable two-year terms, which will be staggered so that the entire EC does not turn over at once [2]. Appointments to fill vacancies will run for the remainder of the original term, after which the position will be up for renewal/replacement.

The EC members will consist of the various Working Group and Committee chairs (as described in §3), and certain other i5k Officers (§4).

The members of the EC will elect a Chair to serve a renewable annual term.

The Executive Committee will meet as necessary but typically on a monthly basis and no less than three times in any six-month period. It will have, inter alia, the following responsibilities:

  1. Establishing overall goals and directions for the i5k and its activities
  2. Establishing and/or disbanding standing and ad hoc committees/working groups
  3. Appointing members and leadership for standing and ad hoc committees/working groups
  4. Providing oversight for committees/working groups
  5. Appointing other necessary officers/leadership positions, e.g., Membership Director, Communications Director, etc.
  6. Managing the i5k membership list
  7. Interfacing with other genomics groups and consortia (e.g., EBP, ERGA), including voting on behalf of i5k as a constituent member of these groups
    1. The EC may designate one or more members for this purpose
  8. Establishing and conferring (directly or via an ad hoc committee) awards and recognition to members of the i5k community

EC meetings will be open to all i5k members, but only EC members can vote on EC matters. The EC reserves the right to withdraw to a closed Executive Session when requested by a majority of the EC members. The EC may refer matters to the full i5k community for a vote at its discretion.

3. Standing Committees/Working groups

i5k will maintain a set of working groups, at the discretion of the current EC and i5k membership. Each working group will have a Chair. Working group Chairs will be members ex officio of the Executive Committee and serve as a liaison between the EC and the working group, to report on working group progress to the EC and to relay recommendations from the EC to the working group, respectively. Working groups and their membership will be listed on the i5k website.

Examples of working groups include:

  • Genome Project Coordination:
    • Coordinates genome project submission to the Genomes on a Tree (GoaT) resource, developed by the Tree of Life program at the Wellcome Sanger Institute and the adopted datasystem for coordination across EarthBioGenome projects. This uses a taxonomic tree approach to allow the scientific community to ascertain which genomes are in process and finished, along with providing various summary statistics.
    • Advocates for enhancements to GoaT and implements mechanisms for the status of all arthropod genome projects from the i5k Community to be reported on GoaT under the i5k Initiative’s umbrella, while clearly crediting the effort to the research group or lab responsible for the project
  • Standards:
    • Curates guidance on genome project standards and best practices;
    • Evaluates gaps in standards and best practices, especially those impacting arthropod research;
    • Advocates for standards and best practices that enable success by recognizing the challenges and special considerations needed for some arthropod species.
  • Training:
    • Coordinates and curates training modules based on the needs of the i5k Community.
  • Community Building and Outreach:
    • Coordinates conferences and special symposia;
    • Manages outreach on social media platforms;
    • Maintains the i5k website;
    • Responds to community requests.
    • Coordinates activities to build a foundation of knowledge, skills and abilities among i5k scientists.

4. Leadership positions/Officers

The EC will appoint members to leadership roles, in addition to working group chairs, as necessary (see §2.5, above). Leadership positions encourage participation, ensure the carrying-out of important functions, and provide Service opportunities to enhance members’ CVs. As such, the EC is encouraged to nominate/appoint members at junior ranks (post-docs, junior faculty) where appropriate. Such positions may be specific to certain working groups, or may lie outside of the working group structure. Examples of useful leadership roles are:

  • Committee/working group Chairs
  • Membership coordinator/director
    • Maintains the membership list
    • Membership outreach
  • Recording/Executive Secretary
    • Maintains the minutes/notes for EC and Community-wide meetings
    • Distributes the Community Meeting agendas
  • Communications/Social Media director
    • Responsible for regular social media posts
    • Monthly/bimonthly/biannual newsletter (can be different individual than social media)
    • Coordinate social media with EBP secretariat and/or other affiliate groups
  • Awards coordinator

5. Community Meetings (formerly, “coordinating committee meetings”)

A meeting of the full i5k community will be held annually (“Annual Meeting”) and be open to i5k members and non-members alike; however, only members can vote on any items requiring a vote of the membership. The meeting agenda will be set by the Executive Committee and publicized through the membership list and Slack/social media platforms in advance of the meeting. In addition to the announcement of items of interest to the arthropod genomics community and any relevant new business, the Annual Meeting shall include:

  • An Annual Report by the Executive Committee about progress and activities of i5k over the past year
  • Presentation of one or more “Highlights of the Year” to draw notice to matters of particular interest to the community during the past year
  • Presentation of awards to i5k members (see §2.8)
  • Open community discussion of goals and directions for the following year

In addition to the Annual Meeting, Community Meetings shall take place at regular intervals (e.g. monthly, bi-monthly) as decided by the Executive Committee. The purpose of the Community Meetings includes:

  • Building community
  • Discussing i5k business
  • Informing the larger i5k community of working group progress and initiatives
  • Gathering feedback from the community
  • Providing updates on EBP information relevant to i5k, and updates from other relevant i5k collaborators/affiliates
  • Discussion of other topics as defined by the exec committee

Community Meetings may feature “cameo” presentations (short introductory talks by i5k members) as well as quick informal introductions of new members.

6. Adoption and amendment of this Charter

6a. Adoption

The procedure for adopting this Charter will be as follows:

  1. A copy will be sent to all current i5k members (defined by the current mailing list)
  2. Members will have an opportunity to comment in writing during a defined comment period of no less than one week
  3. The current Executive Committee will consider all comments and prepare a final version of the Charter
  4. The final version will be sent to all members to record a vote, by secret ballot, within one week of the sending date
  5. The Charter will be considered adopted if it receives a majority “yes” vote out of votes received by the voting deadline

6b. Amendment

Amendments to the Charter will originate in the Executive Committee and must receive a majority of EC votes. A comment period and voting will then take place using the same procedures outlined in §6a (“Adoption”).

  • Any community member can submit proposed amendments to the EC
  • Members will have the right to propose amendments directly during the “new business” portion of the designated Annual Meeting
    • Such proposals must be submitted in writing to the EC no less than one week prior to the Annual Meeting
    • Proposals must have been considered and rejected by the EC before being brought directly to the full membership

[1] At the time of adoption of this Charter, existing members (based on the current email list) will be asked to opt in.

[2] To ensure staggered terms, the terms of EC members at the time of adoption of this Charter will be made an even mix of one- and two-year terms.