British Association for Victorian Studies Constitution
- Aims of the Association
The object of the British Association for Victorian Studies shall be the advancement and spreading of knowledge by the promotion of the study of the Victorian period. In furtherance of the said object but not otherwise the Association may:
- collect and disseminate information on all matters affecting the said object and exchange such information with other bodies having similar objects whether in this country or overseas;
- organise, sponsor and promote events and activities as shall further the said object;
- cause to be written and printed or otherwise reproduced and circulated, free of charge or otherwise, such papers, books, periodicals, pamphlets, digital documents, or other documents as shall further the said objects;
- raise funds and invite and receive contributions from any person or persons whatsoever by way of subscriptions and otherwise PROVIDED THAT the Association shall not undertake permanent trading activities in raising funds for the said objects;
- do all such other lawful things as are necessary in the pursuance of the said objects.
The Association is non-political.
- Membership
Membership of the Association shall be open to all persons, of any nationality, interested in the aims of the Association. There shall be three categories of members: waged members (those in full-time employment); unwaged members (including undergraduate and postgraduate students, retired members, and members not in full-time employment), and honorary members. Honorary membership may be conferred by the Annual General Meeting.
- Officers
The Association has the following officers: a President; a Secretary, a Treasurer and a Membership Secretary.
The officers shall be elected by the Annual General Meeting for a three-year term of office, staggered to ensure that the terms of all the officers do not conclude at the same time. With the exception of the President, officers shall be eligible for re-election at the conclusion of each term. The President shall not be eligible for re-election, but shall be eligible to stand for election on any subsequent occasion. The next President (Elect) will be elected in the final year of office of the current President. To ensure an appropriate disciplinary range in the Association’s leadership the President and President Elect will be from different academic disciplines wherever possible.
The Officers shall form the Association’s Executive, charged with managing the operations of the Association, subject to the approval of the Committee. Executive meetings shall be held as frequently as the operations of the Association require.
- Committee
The Committee consists of the Association’s Executive, the editor of the Association’s newsletter (ex officio), the digital and social media officer (ex officio), the conference organiser (ex officio), the book prize co-ordinator, (ex officio), the careers development officer (ex officio), the GLAM liaison officer (ex officio), the funding officer (ex officio), the EDI officer (ex officio), three ordinary elected members, two postgraduate student members, two postdoctoral/early career representatives,[1] and up to five co-opted members.
The ordinary elected members shall be elected for a three-year term, so arranged that one of them shall retire each year. Committee members elected to replace a member retiring before the end of their term shall be elected to serve for the remainder of the term. Ordinary elected members are not eligible for re-election in the year they retire, but are eligible to stand again in any subsequent year, and to become a co-opted member of the committee. The postgraduate student members shall be elected for a two-year term, so arranged that one of them will retire each year, and will not be eligible for re-election as the student member. The election of Committee members shall take place at the Annual General Meeting. The Committee shall have power to co-opt not more than five additional members. Co-opted members will be co-opted for a three-year term, renewable. In the appointment of ex officio members and co-opted members, the Committee will take due account of ensuring that the Committee as a whole is representative of the diversity of the Society’s membership. No member of the Committee shall be under the age of eighteen years.
The Committee will have the power to nominate to specific roles, for example, providing liaison with other scholarly associations, which will confer the right to attend Committee meetings and contribute to the Committee’s deliberations, but not to vote on its decisions. Such ‘in attendance’ members of the Committee do not need to be members of the Society.
There will normally be three meetings of the Committee each year. The President shall be required to call a meeting of the Committee at the request of any five voting members of the Committee. A meeting shall be quorate when at least six voting members of the Committee are present. The Committee shall have power to create and wind up sub-committees or working groups as required.
Committee members will be eligible to apply for support to cover expenses incurred in fulfilling their roles. Eligibility and the procedures by which such expenses are approved will be established by the Committee, and published, along with a brief statement of the total sum expended, as an appendix to the Annual Report.
- Annual General Meeting of the Association
The Association shall hold an Annual General Meeting. Other General Meetings may be called at other times, with not less than one month’s written notice to all members, by the Committee, or by the President at the request of not less than 10% of the members.
- Elections
Officers and members of the Committee must be members of the Association. Elected members are elected by the members of the Association present at the Annual General Meeting. The Committee may receive and propose nominations of candidates for election after not less than three weeks’ written notice to all members. Appointments to posts carrying ex officio membership of the Committee, as detailed in 4 above are made by the Committee.
Should any elected officer of the Association cease to fulfil their duties efficiently, the Committee is empowered to require the officer’s resignation, and to co-opt a replacement who will serve until the next AGM, at which time the office will be open to election.
- Subscriptions
The amount of the annual subscriptions to the Association is determined by the Annual General Meeting of the Association.
- Amendments to the Constitution
The General Meeting of the Association may amend the Constitution by a majority of two thirds of the members present and voting, provided that a quorum of twenty members be present, and that written notice of the amendment proposed has been given to all members not less than two months before the General Meeting.
- Dissolution
The Association may be dissolved by the agreement of not less than three quarters of those members present at a General Meeting specially summoned for this purpose, as provided in Clause 5 above. Any funds existing at the time of dissolution shall not become the property of any member or members but shall be devoted to furthering the aim defined in Clause 1.
10. Definitions
In all cases in this document ‘meeting’ is to be taken to encompass both face to face and online events.
(Last updated 23 March 2026.)
[1] For the purposes of this post, ‘ECR’ shall be defined as all scholars within 5 years of the award of their PhD, or of commencing a full-time academic post, whichever is the earlier, and with allowance made for career breaks.