Constitution

PDF versione here.

Approved in March 2022

Article I – NAME OF SOCIETY AND LOCATION

The organization shall be called The International Society for Neutron Capture Therapy (ISNCT) and will have indefinite term of validity.

The address of the organization is Avenida Fuente Nueva (DE) S/N, 18002 Granada, Spain.

Article II – PURPOSE OF SOCIETY

The International Society for Neutron Capture Therapy is a multidisciplinary nonprofit professional and educational association founded in 1983 to facilitate the development of Neutron Capture Therapy (NCT) as a procedure for treatment of some of the most serious forms of cancer and possibly also as an aid in the management of certain non-malignant diseases.  Scientific areas of interest to the ISNCT include research and supporting technology development in relevant fields of synthetic and analytical chemistry, neutron source technology, medical physics and biophysics, radiobiology, and clinical applications of NCT. 

To promote its objectives, the ISNCT sponsors a biennial International Congress on Neutron Capture Therapy (ICNCT) every other year as well as periodic smaller multinational conferences focused on the activities of early-career researchers and students and strives to provide an environment that encourages communication and collaboration among all scientists and others involved in NCT worldwide.   Furthermore, the ISNCT actively promotes the dissemination of accurate and useful scientific information about NCT to interested members of the public at large, publication of research in the refereed literature, support of students entering the field, interaction with other professional societies and other relevant international organizations, and any other such endeavors as deemed appropriate.

Article III – BOARD OF COUNCILORS

The Board of Councilors (“BOC”) shall be the legislative and advisory body of ISNCT with such additional powers as described in this Constitution. The Board of Councilors shall consist of thirty members, selected as follows:

Councilors shall hold office in three groups of ten Councilors each, with the groups having staggered terms of six years, with a new group of eight members being elected at each biennial International Congress by the ICNCT General Membership. Bearing in mind the need for scientific balance, two Councilors in each new group of ten are to be elected in each of the fields of physics, chemistry, biology, and medicine, for a total of eight. Then, after reviewing the results of the election, the EB shall appoint two additional Councilors so as to achieve a reasonable geographical or scientific balance, resulting in a total of ten new Councilors.  

Members of the BOC must be ISNCT members in good standing, shall have completed the terminal educational degree that is typical of their professional field and shall be actively engaged in professional practice or in a recognized post-doctoral position.  Student members of ISNCT may not serve on the BOC.

A member of the BOC who is elected or appointed to the Executive Board (“EB”, see Article IV) before his or her BOC term has ended will nominate a suggested replacement from the General Membership of the Society, with such nominee to be from the same general scientific field but not necessarily from the same country or geographic region.  The nominee shall assume membership on the BOC upon approval by the EB, and will serve out the remainder of the nominating Councilor’s term. The BOC will meet physically at each biennial International Congress of the Society.  Its primary functions are:

  • Elect the President, the Vice-President, the Secretary-Treasurer and the other members of the EB as needed to replace those officers and EB members whose terms have expired or whose position has become vacant for any other reason.
  • Nominate and elect the Technical Committee Chairs as vacancies in those positions may arise due to expiration of terms or for any other reason.
  • Review and vote on proposals for conducting the ICNCT that is to occur four years hence, with each proposal typically to be presented by the prospective Congress Chair, who will join the EB if his or her proposal is selected by the BOC.
  • Vote on policy and on proposed amendments to this Constitution.
  • Vote as needed on any other items that may be submitted by the EB to the BOC for its consideration or that may be independently proposed by members of the BOC. Such items may include proposals for the Society to hold periodic scientific meetings (e.g. “Young Researcher” conferences) in addition to the regular biennial International Congress of the Society.
  • Approve the budget and determine membership fees, if any.
  • Dismiss any of the officers in very exceptional scenarios where this is warranted, with a 2/3 majority of the BOC members present required to dismiss an officer. Additionally, the BOC may similarly dismiss any inactive BOC member, defined as a BOC member who does not participate in any electronic or physical BOC meetings or respond to any electronic or other type of BOC communications for more than two consecutive years. 

The Vice President of the Society shall serve as the presiding officer for BOC meetings, with the responsibility for writing the agenda, and will cast the deciding vote in the event that the BOC is equally divided on any issue under consideration except the election of the President.  In the case of the election of the President, the BOC shall select a temporary presiding officer from its membership and will deliberate until a majority decision is reached. 

Article IV – EXECUTIVE BOARD

The Executive Board (“EB”) shall be the administrative body of ISNCT, consisting of eleven persons elected by the Board of Councilors (“BOC”, Article III).  The President, the Immediate Past President, the Vice-President, and the Secretary-Treasurer shall be ex-officio members of the EB and the President shall serve as the Chair of the EB. Membership on the EB will be for four-year terms, with the exceptions of the Secretary-Treasurer, whose term extends for six years to provide enhanced continuity of routine administrative functions for the Society, and the Communication Task Force chair (see Article V).   

In the event that the President is unable to complete his or her term of office for any reason, the Vice-President shall become President until the next ICNCT, and the Executive Board shall appoint one of its non-officer members to serve as Vice-President in this period.  

During the next ICNCT, a new President and Vice-President will be elected as described below. Similarly, if the Secretary-Treasurer is unable to complete his or her term of office the Executive Board shall appoint one of the non-officer members to serve out the remainder of the former Secretary-Treasurer’s term.

President, Vice President and Secretary-Treasurer must be eligible for membership on the Executive Board as described in the following section, and will not simultaneously serve as members of the BOC.

Members of the EB are:

1. The President, the Vice-President, and the Secretary-Treasurer voted by BOC and the Immediate Past President. Members of the EB must be ISNCT members in good standing, shall have completed the terminal educational degree that is typical of their professional field and shall be actively engaged in professional practice or in a recognized post-doctoral position.  Student members of ISNCT may not serve on the EB.

2.  The remainder of the EB shall consist of two International Congress Chairs, four Technical Committee Chairs, the Chair of the Communication Task Force (Article V) and one at-large member to help provide geographic and scientific balance on the EB.  The two International Congress Chairs shall have staggered terms separated by two years in order to facilitate planning of the next two upcoming biennial International Congresses.  

No person may serve on the EB for more than two consecutive terms in the same role at a time and the Congress Chairs will each serve only for one term of 4 years.

The EB shall meet, physically or electronically, as necessary to achieve the objectives of the Society.  At a minimum the EB shall meet physically at each ICNCT.  

Interim vacancies in the non-officer positions on the EB may be filled at once with appointments made by the remaining EB members as needed. Interim EB appointees may be selected from the Board of Councilors or from the general Society membership as deemed appropriate by the EB and such appointees shall serve out the remainder term of their predecessor.  

Technical Chairs of the EB will be elected by BOC among the BOC members. Elections of the President, Vice President, Secretary-Treasurer, and other members of EB will be held during a BOC meeting at the biennial conference. Some weeks before the congress, the Secretary will open a call for candidacy to the President role. The proposals will be collected and communicated to the BOC members in advance. During the congress, BOC members can also propose candidates through collection of written nominations (also anonymous). During the BOC meeting at the end congress, secret ballots will take place after discussion on the available candidates. The current Secretary-Treasurer will be in charge of the voting operations, collecting and counting the votes. In case the meeting is on-line, there will be an online procedure based on suitable electronic forms, both for collection of nominations and for voting. Finally, EB will appoint the member at large.

ARTICLE V – COMMUNICATION TASK FORCE 

The Organ “Communication Task Force” oversees the communication of the scientific advances in BNCT and of the activities and opportunities of the ISNCT. It is made up of volunteer members of the ISNCT who propose a Chair whose mandate lasts 6 years. The Chair will guide members in carrying out outreach activities through social networks, maintaining the website, distributing a periodic newsletter and generating other activities that are useful for the ISNCT. At the end of the mandate of the Chair, the name of the new candidate will be communicated to the BOC that will discuss and eventually approve it during the biennial Congress meeting. If more than one candidate is presented to the BOC, this will elect the new Chair through secret vote. The current Secretary-Treasurer will be in charge of the voting operations.  

Article VI – DUTIES OF THE OFFICERS and EXECUTIVE BOARD MEMBERS 

The President serves as the Chief Executive of the Society, actively representing the Society in its interaction with the external international scientific community, and presiding over the internal operations of the society in accordance with this Constitution. The President may appoint any ad-hoc committees as needed to carry out specific activities of ISNCT.

The Vice President serves as the presiding officer of the BOC and assists the President in his or her duties as requested. Furthermore, it is anticipated, but not required, that the Vice-President will stand for election to the office of President after completing his or her term as Vice-President, thereby providing additional continuity of administration, if elected.  

The Secretary-Treasurer is the internal administrative officer of the Society, assisting the other officers and EB members with their duties.   In consultation with the EB, the Secretary-Treasurer shall maintain the Society records, create minutes of meetings, maintain financial records, and shall make the records of the society available for inspection by any member of the Society upon request.

The Congress Chairs’ primary duty is to organize and conduct each ICNCT.  Upon election by the BOC, each Congress Chair shall initiate both financial and scientific preparations for the ICNCT to be held about 4 years later, at which time he or she will serve as the presiding official for that Congress, with assistance from the Secretary-Treasurer, the Technical Committee Chairs, and such local ad-hoc scientific and administrative committees as he or she may wish to appoint. 

The Technical Committee Chairs (TCC) shall assist the President with his or her duties as requested and, in consultation with the EB, organize and chair groups of appropriate specialists for this purpose at every ICNCT and at other times as may be needed.  They will also assist the Congress Chairs with organization and conduct of the biennial Congresses. The TCCs shall be selected by the BOC such that the overall group of four TCCs, taken together, has a diverse base of expertise in relevant subfields of physics, chemistry, biology, and medicine.

The Chair of the Communication Task Force will propose outreach activities and discuss the promotion of ISNCT through different media.

The Immediate Past President and the At-Large EB Member shall assist the President and the remainder of the EB members with their duties as may be requested.   

ARTICLE VII – HONORS AND AWARDS

The ISNCT promotes the recognition of Members whose contributions to the knowledge, application, and dissemination of BNCT are considered to be exceptional.  Currently, the ISNCT bestows the biennial Hatanaka Award to one or more senior members whose scientific activity has promoted a major improvement of the state of the art in BNCT; one or more Fairchild Awards, which are scholarships dedicated to young researchers who present outstanding oral contributions at an ICNCT; and the Riley Award to the author of a selected outstanding presentation at each periodic Young Researchers BNCT Meeting.  ISNCT, acting through the BOC, may also create additional awards in the future. The criteria for all Awards are published in the ISNCT website and other appropriate media and are available to all members. 

The recipient(s) of the Hatanaka Award is (are) selected by the EB, after collection of nominations from all ISNCT Members.  When assembled for this purpose, the EB is chaired by the Congress Chair of the next upcoming ICNCT, where the Hatanaka award will be presented to the selected candidate(s).  Fairchild and Riley Award recipients are selected by the Scientific Committees of the next upcoming ICNCT and Young Researchers BNCT meeting respectively, in accordance with the published criteria.

Article VIII – MEMBERSHIP

A previously-unaffiliated person becomes a Member of ISNCT by attending a biennial International Congress, registering as a non-member and paying the non-member registration fee.   Thereafter, that person retains his or her membership status at any given time by having registered for at least one of the previous three Congresses and paying the applicable registration fee.   This provision also includes students who register for an International Congress and pay the student fee, and those who receive gratis registration because they assisted in organizing and conducting a particular Congress, or because they provided some other in-kind service of comparable value.   Maintenance of membership status shall also be contingent upon payment of any annual membership dues that may be assessed by the EB with the concurrence of the BOC.

Article IX – FINANCES

The funds of the society will be administered by the President as legal representant and the Secretary-Treasurer as joint administrator.

Notification to members and collection of membership dues, if any, shall be the duty of the Secretary-Treasurer, who shall submit an accounting of dues received and disbursed on a biennial basis to the EB. A separate budget for each biennial International Congress shall be the responsibility of the respective Congress Chair, reviewed by the EB, who will submit a financial report to the EB within 12 months after the Congress. The final report will be discussed during the next ICNCT.

A 2-member auditing committee shall be elected by BOC at least every two years to periodically verify the records of the Secretary-Treasurer. EB members shall not serve on the auditing committee.

Article X – AMENDMENTS

Amendments to this Constitution may be proposed by the EB, and shall be circulated to the Board of Councilors in advance of the next biennial ICNCT.  Ratification of Amendments requires a majority vote of the Councilors present at the BOC meeting held in concert with the said ICNCT.

Article XI – OPERATION OF THE CONSTITUTION

This 2018 Constitution shall become operational upon approval by the majority of the Board of Councilors.  Specific details of its implementation shall be in accordance with an Annex that has been separately approved by the BOC.

Article XII –LEGAL STATUS OF THE SOCIETY

The Society has historically operated, and currently (2018) operates, as a voluntary, broad-based, highly-diverse, international association of scientists, engineers, physicians and other interested persons, without formal incorporation or registration under the laws of any particular country.  For clarity of purpose, however, it has been generally understood that ISNCT is organized and operated exclusively for research and educational purposes.  Furthermore, it is understood that ISNCT may in the future elect to formally incorporate as a legal entity under a recognized national or international jurisdiction of its choice if it is determined by the EB with BOC concurrence that such an action is in the interest of the membership and would usefully further the stated objectives of the Society.

Article XIII – DISSOLUTION

Upon the dissolution of this organization, after settling all accounts receivable and accounts payable, the BOC shall terminate all bank accounts and disburse any remaining funds in a manner that serves the purposes of the ISNCT listed in Article II.

Article XIV – ELECTRONIC MEETINGS

Between regular scheduled physical meetings, and as deemed necessary by the President, matters may be submitted to the EB or the BOC for consideration and action using any appropriate permanently-recorded electronic medium.   The electronic files associated with such meetings shall become official records of the Society and shall be available for inspection by any Member of the Society upon request. 

Annex – Implementation Protocol for the 2018 Amended ISNCT Constitution

This Annex provides a sequence of events that lead to the initiation of ISNCT operations under the 2018 Constitution upon adjournment of the 18th ICNCT during October 2018 in Taipei, Taiwan.

November 2017:  

The initial proposed draft of the revised Constitution is submitted electronically for review to the Constitutional Revision Committee that was formed at the Post-Congress meeting of the Executive Board and the BOC that took place at the end of the 17th ICNCT in Columbia Missouri during October 2016.

May 2018:  

The Constitutional Revision Committee, having reviewed the initial draft, incorporates any changes that it wishes to make and electronically submits its resulting interim draft to the EB for review and modification as deemed appropriate. The EB then electronically submits its recommended draft for deliberation and possible further modification by the BOC. 

October 2018:  

1. The final draft of the 2018 Constitution that results from the above, most likely iterative, procedure is submitted to the physically-assembled BOC for formal ratification at the Pre-Congress Board of Councilors meeting associated with the 18th ICNCT.

2.  At the same Pre-Congress meeting, or very shortly thereafter,  the BOC selects the Congress Chair and location for the 20th ICNCT in the year 2022 in a manner similar to how the ISNCT President-Elect and the location for the Congress four (4) years hence were selected under previous versions of the ISNCT Constitution.  This needs to be done prior to the mid-Congress General Assembly so the result can be announced at that time.  

3.  Eight  new members of the BOC (terms to run from 2018-2024) are elected by the general membership at the mid-week General Assembly of the 18th ICNCT in the same manner as under previous versions of the ISNCT Constitution.   Once this is complete, the Executive Board appoints the remaining two new Board of Councilors members in the usual manner.

4.  At the conclusion of the 18th ICNCT the BOC (now with its ten new members) assembles for a special Post-Congress meeting, and the following actions take place in order to realign the EB according to the new 2018 Constitution:

  • Professor Ignacio Porras, the President-Elect under the previous Constitution that was in effect at the 17thInternational Congress in 2016, becomes President of the ISNCT for a four-year term under the new 2018 Constitution.  Professor Fong-in Chou automatically becomes the Immediate Past President.
  • The BOC, temporarily chaired by Dr. Porras, nominates and elects a Vice-President, who then presides over the remainder of the meeting.
  • Dr. Silva Bortolussi, whose term as Secretary-Treasurer does not end until 2022, continues in the same position.
  • Professor Porras, with the concurrence of the BOC, appoints a replacement Congress Chair for the 2020 Congress, thereby separating the function of Congress Chair from that of the Presidency. 
  • The Board of Councilors nominates and elects four Technical Program Chairs.  The four new Technical Chairs will replace EB members Matsumura, Kreiner, Auterinen, and Chen, whose terms on the EB expire in 2018.
  • Dr. Yuan-Hao Liu, who was elected to the EB in 2016 is re-appointed to the EB as the Member at Large for an extended term ending in 2022.

The new (2018-2020) EB will thus be comprised under the 2018 Constitution as follows:

  • President (Ex-Officio):  Ignacio Porras (Term 2018-2022)
  • Vice-President (Ex-Officio):  To be Elected (Term 2018-2022)
  • Secretary-Treasurer (Ex-Officio): Silva Bortolussi (Term 2016-2022)
  • Immediate Past- President: Fong-In Chou (Term 2018-2022)
  • 2020 Congress Chair: To be appointed as noted above (Term 2018-2020)
  • 2022 Congress Chair:  Elected (per Action 2, above) at the 2018 Pre-Congress BOC Meeting (Term 2018-2022)
  • Technical Committee Chair (Physics):  To be Elected (Term 2018-2022)
  • Technical Committee Chair (Chemistry):  To be Elected (Term 2018-2022)
  • Technical Committee Chair (Biology):  To be Elected (Term 2018-2022)
  • Technical Committee Chair (Medicine):  To be Elected (Term 2018-2022)
  •  Member at Large:  Yuan-Hao Liu (Term 2018-2022)

February 2022:

  • The order of articles has been changed in order to comply with Spanish regulation, and two articles have been merged to avoid redundancy
  • The fact that ICNCT is held every other year has been added in Article II
  • The election procedures have been written explicitly in Article IV
  • Article number V has been added, including the Communication Task Force as an official Committee of ISNCT. The Chair of the Communication Task Force has been included in the EB  
  • The end-term of the mandates in EB has been modified.
  • A sentence has been added to the Article IX “Finances”.

Considering the difficulties of the last two years (that limited the opportunities to generate ISNCT activities) and the fact that the ICNCT-19 will be held in mixed form or fully on-line, EB proposes to postpone the election of all the charges in 2023. In the same way, EB proposes that charges who end in 2024 will be elected in 2025. This would realign the elections to the congress. BOC approves.

Approved in March 2022