Life Sciences

 I am suggesting as an item of any other business, a Society outing.

The Society cannot really be a Society if it just exists as a Platform group.

The venue I have suggested is Kew.

This is a world renowned Botanical Gardens located in Richmond Park, South London.

For a Society whose membership is so spread out there are only a very few places with good communications that members can easily reach. 

How about October 29th?

Peter.

 OUSA Conference has, until Conference 2011 stood adjourned at 1300hrs on the 17^th April, been the sole decision-making body within OUSA. At this Conference I alternated between working the Life Sciences Society stand in the Jennie Lee building and being a delegate for the East of England Regional Assembly. Because the new OUSA Constitution was passed (almost unanimously), there are now no OUSA Branches, only local or subject-specific OUSA Groups at Catchment Area level. The decision to make Conference biennial from 2012 was passed by a majority of one vote. This demonstrates the importance of being part of the changes and working together to achieve them. The Students for Ethical Science (SES) are a campaigning society within OUSA who are completely opposed to all forms of animal experimentation on all animals. The first motion they submitted, 22M(P), referred to university research, which was decisively defeated. The second referred to students, objecting on cultural/ religious or other grounds, to taking part in practical work involving animal matter. This was carried by a 2:1 majority. The bye-laws, an appendix to the new OUSA Constitution, refer to the modes by which the various structures work. These, with particular reference to Societies, are very rough-and-ready and still need much work.

What I have just described, a collective decision praised electronically by Martin Bean, is a model for how Societies should operate- by working together. Rather few people who have been involved in this Society have really touched base with OUSA. I have been in and out of active involved with OUSA even before my first course started, getting to know OUSA and the OU and their methods.

I would hope that lots of you will beome members of your OUSA Regional Assemblies and go to Conference in 2012 and BE PART OF IT!

Regards,

Peter Canning. 

 OPEN UNIVERSITY LIFE SCIENCES SOCIETY

CONSTITUTION

1    NAME

The Society shall be called the 'Open University Life Sciences Society' (referred to hereafter as the 'Society').  The name may be abbreviated to OULSS.

2    AIMS

i)     To encourage the development of Life Sciences in the Open University and the community as a whole.

ii)    To provide opportunities for its members to meet in local groups and online to pursue the appreciation of Life Sciences and for social purposes.

iii)  To encourage the Open University to provide courses leading to professional qualification in Life Sciences and its history.

iv)    To foster the exchange between members of ideas, theories and practices of Life Science and the associated discipline of Health Sciences.

3    MEMBERSHIP

i)     Full membership shall be open to all students, former students and staff of the Open University.

ii)    Associate membership shall be open to any other person who will be charged the same rate as full members.

iii)  Family membership shall be open to the families of Full members.

iv)    Membership may be refused to persons who are opposed to the aims of the Society.

        v)     Membership may be withdrawn if any member is thought to have brought or is likely to bring disrepute to the Society.

4    GOVERNMENT

i)     The governing body and sole policy-making body of the Society shall be the General Meeting consisting of all members of the Society who choose to attend. The quorum for General Meetings shall be 5 (five) members of the Society's Full membership. These should comprise at least two of the standard three Officers (two out of the Chair, Secretary and Treasurer, at least one other Officer and at least one ordinary Full Member.

ii)    The affairs of the Society shall be administered between General Meetings by the Committee.

iii)  Notice of General Meetings shall be given to all Full and Associate members not less than 28 days in advance of such meetings. Publication in SESAME or in a newsletter or other publication of the Society sent at an appropriate time to all Full and Associate members shall be regarded as notice. The notice shall include the name and telephone number of a member from whom details of the Meeting's business can be obtained.

iv)    Any Full member of the Society shall be entitled to speak and vote on any matter before a General Meeting; any Associate or Family member shall be entitled to speak on any matter before a General Meeting except where specifically excluded by the provisions of this constitution.

v)     Minutes of all General Meetings shall be kept by the Secretary and shall be available upon reasonable notice for inspection by any Full or Associate member.

vi)    There shall be an Annual General Meeting (AGM) which shall be called not less than 11 months and not more than 15 months after the immediate previous AGM, subject to clauses ii), iii) and iv) of this section of the constitution. Formal notification of an AGM must be sent to all members at least 28 days before the meeting to allow for nominations, motions, etc, to be sent and returned.

vii)  The Committee may call Ordinary General Meetings subject to clause ii) to v) inclusive of this section of the Constitution.

viii) An Extra-ordinary General Meeting (EGM) may be called by the Committee or at the request of not less than 33% of the Full members of the Society made in writing to the Secretary. Such requests shall specify the business for which the meeting is to be called. Upon receipt of such request the Secretary shall within 1 calendar month give notice of the meeting to the Society. EGMs shall be subject to clauses ii) to v) of this section of the Constitution. The agenda for an EGM shall comprise only the business for which the meeting has been called.

5    OFFICERS AND COMMITTEE

i)     The Committee of the Society shall consist of the Officers and not more than 4 ordinary Committee members. The quorum for Committee Meetings shall be 5 members of which at least one member shall be an officer.

ii)    The Officers of the Society shall be:

Chair               Editor

Secretary        Membership Secretary

Treasurer

iii)  The Officers and ordinary committee members shall normally be elected at one AGM and shall hold office until the end of the succeeding AGM.

        iv)    Only Full members of the Society may nominate or be nominated for officer posts or ordinary committee membership. Elections shall be by secret ballot using the transferable vote system. Nominations which have a proposer and seconder shall be accepted up to the time of the election.

v)            No member shall be eligible to be nominated for the same officer post for more than 3 (three) consecutive years. No member shall be eligible to be nominated for membership of the committee (either as an officer or as an ordinary member) for a total of more than 6 (six) years whether consecutive or separate. The provisions of this clause may be waived in whole or in part for periods of one year at a time at the discretion of an AGM if insufficient eligible members are nominated for officer posts or committee membership.

        vi)    In the event of any casual vacancies either of officers or ordinary committee members, the Committee may in its absolute discretion leave the vacancy unfilled, co-opt from amongst the full members of the Society or call an ordinary General Meeting for the purpose of election. Not more than 3 (three) co options shall be made between General Meetings.

6    FINANCE

i)                   The Society's financial year shall run from the 1^st August to the 31^st July.

ii)    The Society shall levy subscriptions on its members. Such subscriptions shall fall due on the 1st August of each year and shall be determined by the immediately preceding AGM. An initial bargain rate of £5 shall be levied from the time of affiliation on all current members and all members joining subsequent to that date until 31/7/2010. From then on the standard annual rate (decided upon at the last AGM) will apply.

iii)  The Treasurer shall be responsible for the conduct of all financial matters and shall maintain the accounts of the Society.  The accounts shall be available upon reasonable notice for inspection by any Full member of the Society.       

iv)    The accounts of the Society shall be handled by the Cooperative Units Banking Scheme (CUBS) whose paid staff are not members of the Committee and shall be presented to the AGM.

v)     All expenditure shall be in connection with the AIMS of the Society. The Treasurer shall have the authority to spend sums in total not exceeding £50 between committee meetings. The Committee may authorise the expenditure of sums up to £200 and not exceeding in total £500 between General Meetings. Any expenditure in excess of these sums must be authorised by a General Meeting.

vi)    The Treasurer and one other officer will sign cheques or make bank withdrawals on behalf of the Society, subject to clause v) of this section of the Constitution.

7    CHANGES TO THE CONSTITUTION

i)     This Constitution may be changed only by a resolution supported by at least two-thirds of the Full members present and voting at an AGM of the Society.  All Full members are entitled to vote by proxy in writing (through the Secretary) if they are unable to attend the meeting and wish to vote at the AGM.  These must be received by the Secretary one full week beforehand.

ii)    Proposed changes to the Constitution must be notified in writing to the Secretary not less than 10 ten) weeks before the AGM at which they will be discussed.

iii)  Changes in the Constitution shall be notified in writing to all Full and Associate members of the Society.  Each notification may be by publication in a newsletter and other publications sent out to all Full and Associate members.

8    DISSOLUTION CLAUSE

In the event of the Society being dissolved or wound up its assets shall be realised and any sum remaining after settlement of all outstanding liabilities shall be donated to the Open University Students Educational Trust (OUSET) or other Charitable body whose aims are to assist students of the Open University.

9    This Constitution was adopted at a meeting of the Open University Life Sciences Society held on .........................  20 .....

     Signed ..........................................  Chair

        Date  ....................................................

 The recommended starting point for all life sciences students is S104 Exploring Science (or maybe S154/S155 if they have not studied science for a long time). There is the 10-point residential school SXR103 Practising Science if you want to be awarded the CertSci(Open), or indeed if you want to take undergraduate practical work any further. The Table below shows courses life sciences students might study as part of their degree. It includes environmental science, but excludes those that are exclusively health sciences.

Level 1 OU life sciences-related courses (cot’d).

From the OU homepage, you can see evolution in action, which many of probably believe in. Using OU’s Devolve Me tool you just upload your photo and you’ll find out. You can even try it out by pasting the following into your browser....
www.open.ac.uk/darwin/devolve-me.php. 

Also from the OU homepage, you may access a group on Platform at http://www8.open.ac.uk/platform/groups called life sciences and request permission to join. This replaced a website that was not fit for purpose and seldom used.

Life sciences-related courses (cot’d):

New OU life sciences students will not be able to study for the BSc(Hons)LifeSciences(Open). Those registered for this have until the end of 2013 to complete it. This was first awarded in 2007, the year I received it.

Life sciences-related courses (cot’d):

Health and social care courses will fill an extra two pages and many of them are in their last year of presentation, as are a few courses in the above split table. The impact of the Browne report means that only MST subjects will receive money from the Higher Education Funding Councils.

 I am about to put out notices about the Life Sciences Society AGM. Those who are members can vote.

The most fundamental item on the Agenda is whether to rely on income from donations only or whether we should continue as a subscription charging Society.

There will also be elections for the various committee posts.

I am a current student and really I need a lot more help with the work of running the Society. I also have a non-progressive life-threatening neurological condition.

Peter Canning.

Life Sciences.