The Scientific Steering Committee (SSC) provides leadership for the IAMC and is its ultimate governing body.
The responsibilities of the SSC include:
Identify potential community research priorities and opportunities based on input from IAMC member organizations and the IAMC Advisory Council.
Identify issues to be addressed by SWGs and form, oversee, approve, and communicate work by SWGs.
Review and recommend activities brought to it by IAMC member organizations and potential partner organizations.
Serve as a point of contact for external bodies, such as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
Secure and shepherd the resources necessary to successfully conduct the business of the IAMC.
Oversee the organisation of the IAMC annual meetings.
Oversee the IAMC Secretariat.
The SSC takes decisions by consensus.
Membership in the Scientific Steering Committee
There are two types of Scientific Steering Committee members Sustaining Members and At-Large Members
There is no difference in the responsibilities and authorities vested in Sustaining and At-Large Members.
Membership in the SSC is held at the institutional level, with points of contact identified for each member organization.
Sustaining Members of the SSC are organizations that have exhibited long-run leadership and commitment to the integrated assessment modeling community, as well as have a long history of publications in the area of integrated assessment modeling and research, and which develop and maintain an IAM or provide a leading contribution to ongoing community activities. In addition, Sustaining Members of the SSC actively participate in the working bodies of the IAMC.
All IAMC Members are eligible to become At-Large Members of the SSC.
Selection and Governance
of the SSC
Sustaining Members
Step 1) Selection of the Sustaining members of the SSC
Every existing Sustaining member is up for re-election every three years.
Retention and Retirement of Sustaining SSC members: The SSC will establish a process by which voting can be done through a secret ballot. Every existing Sustaining member votes as to whether or not every other existing Sustaining member continues to meet the criteria of a Sustaining member. This process is intended to account for potential changes that can occur over time in IAM research organizations. Members continue to be regarded as Sustaining members if two-thirds of the other Sustaining members vote for their retention.
Addition of new Sustaining SSC members: Retained members meet to discuss additional teams that might be recognized as Sustaining members and invited to become Sustaining members of the SSC. Voting to add new candidate Sustaining members proceeds in the same way as voting to retain existing Sustaining members. Proposals of new candidates are approved if two-thirds of the retained Sustaining members vote for their addition. Results of the balloting are reported to the Secretariat and the retained Sustaining members of the SSC.
Retained and added Sustaining SSC members must be willing to contribute annually to support the operational costs of the IAMC determined by the SSC and indicated at the start of the election cycle. Sustaining SSC members with special circumstances from low, lower-middle or upper-middle income economies in accordance to the definition provided by the World Bank (see https://datahelpdesk.worldbank.org/knowledgebase/articles/906519) can ask for a reduced rate or, in exceptional circumstances, a waiver of their financial contribution.
Step 2) Election of the At-Large IAMC members to the SSC
The Secretariat sends out a call for expression of willingness to serve as an At-Large member on the SSC. This includes willingness to actively contribute to the SCC activities and to contribute annually to support the costs of the IAMC Secretariat in an amount determined by the SSC and indicated at the start of the election cycle. SSC members based in low income, lower-middle-income or upper-middle income economies (as defined above) are exempted from the annual financial contribution; such members are free to donate financial support to IAMC, if they wish. IAMC members can express their willingness to stand for election as an At-Large member of the SSC themselves or be proposed by another IAMC member institution as a candidate for election to the SSC. The proposed IAMC member should be willing to serve on the SSC and undertake all SSC obligations. The willingness of proposed institutions to serve on the SSC and undertake all SSC obligations will be re-confirmed by the IAMC secretariat before the election.
All of the IAMC members that are not among the retained or added Sustaining SSC members (see Step 1) are polled for their choice of At-Large SSC members. All those who expressed or confirmed their willingness to serve on the SSC will be listed as candidates on the ballot. There will also be the option to abstain from choosing a candidate on the ballot. Each institution receives one vote. The ballot is sent to the institutional member representative.
The election is valid if at least a third of the IAMC membership cast a vote. The voting procedure should ensure high participation. In particular, sufficient time to vote should be given and reminders to vote before the deadline should be sent. In the exceptional case that the quorum of at least a third of IAMC members participating in the election is still not reached, a new list of candidates is established following the procedure as described above and another vote on the new list is held. Candidates in the previous election round can choose to stand again for the new election round. If this round still does not deliver a participation of at least a third of the membership, the election of At-Large members of the SSC is cancelled and the slots are filled by appointment (Step 3).
If the election is valid, the candidate organizations
- with at least n/(2m) votes, with n/(2m) rounded to the next lowest integer, n the number of cast votes, and m the number of candidates, AND
- which are among the top three candidates with the highest number of ballots, become At-Large SSC members. In the case of a tie for the third available position, the two candidates will become At-Large SSC members. If not all of the three slots for elected At-Large members of the SSC can be filled in the election process, the remaining open slots will be filled by appointment (Step 3).
Step 3) Appointment of At-Large Members to the SSC
The retained and new Sustaining members of the SSC plus the newly elected At-large members of the SSC meet and appoint – from the remaining IAMC members – up to three At-Large members of the SSC plus At-Large members for any open position that was not filled by the election. The appointment is made considering that the final composition of the Scientific Steering Committee should seek to be a diverse representation of the IAM community, including sufficient coverage of regions represented by member institutions. Like elected members, appointed members based in a high-income economy must be willing to contribute annually to support the costs of the IAMC Secretariat in an amount determined by the SSC and indicated at the start of the election cycle. In exceptional circumstances, the SSC of retained and newly elected sustaining members and newly extended At-large members can decide to extend the number of appointed At-large members to four if this is required for sufficient coverage of regions represented by member institutions.
Chairperson of the Scientific Steering Committee
The fully constituted SSC will appoint a chairperson from among the full SSC membership, who is charged with ensuring that the SSC meets as necessary to execute the business of the IAMC and at least annually.