Constitution of the European Society of Rheology

1. Definition of the European Society of Rheology

Membership of the European Society of Rheology (hereinafter called The Society) is open to all European national societies and groups devoted to rheology (hereinafter called Rheology Groups) belonging to the International Committee on Rheology, as well as to Individuals interested in rheology (herein called Individual Members). The Society is set up under the laws of the European Union and shall be governed by this Constitution. Membership may be terminated by The Society if financial obligations or other duties of membership are not fulfilled. A Rheology Group or an individual may revoke membership by the end of a calendar year only. In the case of dissolution of the The Society, any net worth of The Society falls to the Scott Blair collection*.

2. The Aims of The Society are

• To encourage European, and wider international, collaboration in all aspects of rheology.
• To promote rheology and be active at national and international level in seeking funds for rheological research, education and training.
• To act as a steering body for the European Rheology Conference and delegate its organisation to a Rheology Group.
• To collect news of conferences and other rheological activities and disseminate this means of an ESR website and in other appropriate ways.
• To investigate the possibility of further European publications, and consider how these may be made available to Rheology Groups and their individual members.

3. The Society shall be governed by a Committee

The Committee shall consist of one Representative from each Rheology Group belonging to The Society, as well as one Delegate for initially every 50 Individual Members of The Society. The maximum number of Delegates shall not exceed the number of Representatives. The number of Individual Members per Delegate may change to fulfil this rule. The Representatives shall be appointed by the Rheology Groups in whatever way the Rheology Groups wish (without restriction imposed by the Society). The Delegates shall be elected by the Individual Members in a democratic way, normally for a period of two years.

The Committee shall meet on the occasion of each European Rheology Conference, and on such other occasions as are deemed necessary. Decisions of the Committee shall be taken, as far as possible, by consensus. If a vote is necessary, it shall be decided by a qualified majority. This is defined to be more than half of those eligible to vote, with each Representative and each Delegate having one vote. Decisions may be taken following a postal ballot, with communications to the Secretary by letter or electronic mail.

4. Operation of The Society

The Committee shall elect Honorary Officers of The Society, not necessarily from among the Representatives or Delegates. The Officers shall be the President, Past-President, Vice- President, Secretary, Treasurer and two Members-at-large. The Officers shall be elected for a period of two years and form the Executive Council of The Society. The term of office of the Secretary and of the Treasurer is four years in such a way every two years either the secretary or the treasurer is elected. The President shall be Past-President and the Vice-President shall be President for the next two-year period. The European Editor shall be ex-officio officer of The Society and member of the Executive Council. The Executive Council shall normally meet at least once a year to execute the policy of The Society as defined by this Constitution and the decisions of the Committee. Officers typically begin and end their offices at the annual rheology conference, AERC, or at the International Congress on Rheology (ICR).

The Committee shall also elect three Honorary Fellows of an Election Committee, separate from the Executive Council for a period of normally two years, not necessarily from among the Representatives or Delegates, who assist the Committee in nominating possible candidates for the election of Delegates, Officers of The Society, and the Election Committee. 
The Election Committee is chaired by the former past President.

The Committee can install Subcommittees reporting to the Committee for special tasks and activities of The Society, and shall elect Honorary Fellows of the Subcommittees, not necessarily from among the Representatives or Delegates.   

No monies of The Society shall be used for travel or other personal expenses of Representatives, Delegates or Officers.

A yearly subscription shall be levied on each Individual Member, at a rate determined by the Committee. Failure to pay the subscription will result in a withdrawal of services and privileges of membership, and will render the member liable to termination of membership. The Committee shall have power to seek further financial levies in pursuit of its agreed aims, either from the European Rheology Conference, through its organisers, or from Rheology Groups belonging to The Society when necessary.

Rheology Groups shall make every effort to accord the same privileges to Individual Members of The Society as they accord to their own individual members, e.g. access to and discounts at conferences, meetings and schools.

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 *) The Scott Blair Collection is a collection of books and papers on Rheology set up by endowment from the estate of the late Dr. George Scott Blair, a pioneer of British Rheology, and is built on his own large collection of books on the subject. The collection is presently housed at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth.

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Download the Constitution of the ESR

Structure of the ESR

Founding members of the ESR

Executive Council (2023 - 2025)

• Christian Clasen (President)
• Anke Lindner (Vice President)
• Mario Minale (Past President)
• Bettina Wolf (Treasurer)
• Mónica Oliveira (Secretary)
• Roland Kádár (Member at Large)
• Manlio Tassieri (Member at Large)
• Giovanni Ianniruberto (European Editor of Rheologica Acta)

Delegates of the individual members (2021 - 2024)

• Thibaut Divoux, France
• Jan Engmann, Switzerland
• Natalie Germann, Germany
• Alan Jeffrey Giacomin, Canada
• Stefano Guido, Italy
• Roland Kádár, Sweden
• Jörg Läuger, Germany
• George Petekidis, Greece
• Manlio Tassieri, UK

Representatives of the member societies

• Ursula Windberger (Austria)
• Ruth Cardinaels (Belgium)
• Martin Zatloukal (Czech Republic)
• Anselmo Pereira (France)
• Hans-Joachim Schmid (Germany)
• Dimitris Vlassopoulos (Greece)
• Moshe Gottlieb (Israel)
• Mario Minale (Italy)
• Patrick Anderson (Netherlands)
• Mats Stading (Nordic)
• Anna Ptaszek (Poland)
• Francisco J. Galindo-Rosales (Portugal)
• Corneliu Balan (Romania)
• Ivan Skvortsov (Russia)
• Lidija Slemenik Perše (Slovenia)
• Veruscha Fester (South Africa)
• José Muñoz (Spain)
• Peter Fischer (Switzerland)
• Maria Charalambides (UK)

Election Committee (2023 - 2025)

• Peter Fischer (Chair)
• Nicolai Denkov
• Yannis Dimakopoulos
• Erin Koos

Weissenberg Award Committee

• Michel Cloitre (2021 - 2024, Chair until April 2024)
• Jeff Morris (2022 - 2025)
• Pier Luca Maffettone (2023 - 2026)

Oldroyd Early Career Award Committee

• Giovanni Ianniruberto (2023 - 2025, Chair)
• Ian Frigaard (2023 - 2025)
• Dimitris Vlassopoulos (2023 - 2025)