The ACS constitutional reform consultation is reaching its conclusion.

The first round of consultations on principles commenced on 30 September 2021, with the report delivered in mid-December. The second round, which had constitutional features as its focus, ran from 3 February 2022, with the report published in late April.

"Requirements elicitation phase was completed, followed by conceptual design,” says co-convenor Roger Clarke. "We're now presenting members with a draft detailed design.”

Nick Tate, speaking as both the other co-convenor and ACS President, said, "We would very much like to understand whether members believe that their views have been heard and interpreted appropriately.”

Members can access the full constitution and supporting documents on the consultation web page.

A starting-point is provided by a one-page outline of the approach that the new document takes. This is complemented by an overview of the differences between the existing rules and the new proposal. Several possible governance structures were considered, and a summary of that evaluation is also available.

In each of these documents, and in the full draft constitution, members' reactions and suggestions are requested, using the web forms provided. Members' votes and comments will be automatically tagged, and posted to the appropriate location within the Online Forum.

"We encourage the use of the web forms and the Online Forum," said Clarke. "This approach creates the opportunity for interaction among members. And the opportunity was used during the previous rounds, resulting in some informative interactions.”

"However, we appreciate that this doesn't suit everyone,” he continued. "The alternative channels that we made available have each been used a moderate number of times, so we're again supporting events, a response form, and direct email submission to any Working Group member.

“In addition, a few people have submitted pseudonymously. That opportunity has been used responsibly, as you'd expect within a professional society".

The consultation process runs until Friday 5 August 2022.