Members' Area

Seeking Council Members 2025

We’re currently seeking new members of council for the following positions in 2025:

  • Vice-President
  • Treasurer
  • Web Officer
  • Ordinary Member (x2)

This is an exciting opportunity to help guide the society to meet our goals and the needs of our members and the palaeontological community. We are a charity, and our council members donate their time as volunteers, but we cover their expenses for charity business, such as travel to meetings.

Role descriptions for each position can be found below. 

If you have any questions or would like to nominate yourself or another person you think would be suitable, contact our Secretary via the contact us page for more information. The deadline for nominations in the 16th March 2024. Nominations must include a statement outlining why they are suited to the role.

Vice President

There are two Vice-Presidents and they are often previous long-standing members of Council, or have had significant experience with another palaeontological organisation. The term of the Vice President is two years. Duties and responsibilities include:

  • Attending all Council meetings (typically 2 per year) and the AGM
  • Chairing and co-ordinating one of the prize committees, either for the Richard Owen or Edward Forbes award
  • Deputising for the President and Secretary if either are unavailable
  • Assisting the President and Secretary with setting the agenda for Council meetings and following up matters arising
  • Chairing working parties developed for special projects
  • Advising and assisting with the procedural governance of the Society
  • Assisting in writing any new procedures/processes for the Society
  • Advising on how to grow the Society and meet its charitable aims

Download the Vice President full role description, and contact our secretary for more information.

Treasurer

Alongside financial duties such as receiving and paying invoices, managing the accounts and providing reports on our finances to council, the Treasurer is also responsible (along with the Secretary) for looking after members, particularly their membership subscriptions and renewals, and general enquiries relating to membership and receiving monographs. The length of term of office is not fixed for this role, but ideally should be more than two years to maintain continuity. Duties and responsibilities include:

  • Attend Council meetings (3 per year) and provide a report of finances for each meeting
  • Liaise with our publisher (Taylor & Francis) as required, alongside our editors and other council members, regarding the production of Monographs
  • Produce an annual balanced statement of accounts, to be audited and signed by an independent auditor
  • Processing membership payments 
  • Maintaining the membership list for the Society and ensure we adhere to UK GDPR law
  • Processing payments made to, and by the Society, and expenses claims for Council members
  • Maintaining Society’s bank accounts and investments on behalf of Council

Download the Treasurer full role description, and contact our secretary for more information.

Web Officer

Our Web Officer maintains our website and other online systems. This includes regular updates made in discussion with Council, and keeping the website functional and secure, for example updating plugins and ensuring it is safe from cyber security attacks. Our web officer also runs our Google Workspace. The role is likely to take around 4 hours per month, spread throughout the year. The length of term of office is not fixed for this role, but ideally should be more than two years to maintain continuity. Duties and responsibilities include:

  • Give an informal report to Council about the website at each meeting, with any updates or concerns
  • Make any changes to the website content or layout requested by the Council (assisted by Secretary)
  • Troubleshooting problems with our website, such as pages not loading correctly, or cyber attacks, and updating plug-ins
  • Liaising with our website builder when necessary to troubleshoot issues, ask questions, or make larger changes to the website
  • Assisting the Treasurer in maintaining our online commerce system for processing online memberships
  • Managing Google Workspace for Council members

Download the Web Officer full role description, and contact our secretary for more information.

Ordinary Member

There are three Ordinary Members of council, who serve two year terms, and their role is very flexible. They attend a minimum of two council meetings per year. They provide input into the decisions being made, and help advise on new projects and how to grow PalSoc and meet its charitable aims.

Ordinary members often volunteer to assist, or even lead projects being undertaken by PalSoc, and this can be anything from organising events, helping create online content for our website, or supporting other council members with their roles as appropriate. Many council members start their time on council as Ordinary members, it’s an exciting and flexible role that provides a lot of scope for input and creativity!

Download the Ordinary Member full role description, and contact our secretary for more information.