Applications are open until the end of 12th July, to start at the next AGM on 14th September 2022. Please contact jemma@royensoc.co.uk if you have any questions.
Want to shape the future of the Royal Entomological Society?
We have an exciting opportunity for two trustees to join the RES team from September 2022.
Two Trustees will actively contribute to the governance and strategic direction of the Society and have a key leadership role.
The successful candidates will be encouraged to use their strengths and skills to support the Society to ensure it meets its charitable objectives and achieves the goals set out in the strategy (https://www.royensoc.co.uk/royal-entomological-society-strategy-2022-25/).
Each trustee will serve a four-year term on Council to help build an exciting future for the Society and achieve its vision to enrich the world with insect science.
Who can apply?
Applications are welcomed from any member or fellow regardless of experience. The key thing is for trustees to have a varied skillset that can best support the Society.
You do not have to be a fellow, or a professor, or be a regular contributor to our journals. You do not need experience of being a trustee somewhere else – The Society will provide trustee training to new trustees, and will also offer refresher training during your term of office.
You can be based anywhere in the world and we encourage applications from all backgrounds and circumstances.
You only need two people to support your application, who have been members or fellows for at least one year. Please email Jemma Gannon at the Society (jemma@royensoc.co.uk) if you would like supporters to be identified and approached for you.
What does being a trustee mean?
Trustees are a group of people whose aim is to make sure that a charity does what it says it will do, and that it acts properly. Trustees set the strategy, and make sure that the organisation is financially sustainable. They also look after the charity’s assets. For the Royal Entomological Society, this includes Mansion House, the books in the library and our staff. You will be expected to attend four to six meetings a year plus committee work.
What would my legal role and responsibilities be? What about my liabilities?
All the trustees are equal and have the same legal duties, as follows:
- Ensure the Society is carrying out its purposes for the public benefit (The improvement and diffusion of entomological science)
- Comply with the Society’s by-laws and the law itself
- Act in the Society’s best interests
- Manage the Society’s resources responsibly
- Ensure the Society is accountable
- Act with integrity, reasonable care and skill
What does this mean in real life?
Here are some examples of how these legal duties translate into real life. As a trustee, you would need to:
- Understand what the Society is meant to do, as set out in the Charter
- Agree the strategy, with support from staff, making sure it links to the Charter
- Ensure that there are funds to deliver the strategy
- Set and track the budget, with support from staff
- Agree how to invest the Society’s money
- Work with the other trustees to prepare the annual accounts and trustee report, with support from staff
- Check that the strategy is being delivered
- Manage risk – decide the level of risk that is right for the Society, require staff to identify risk and propose mitigating activities, agree and monitor this activity
- Make sure that staff are respected, given opportunities to develop, and that the Society is a good employer
- Manage conflicts of interest
- Make sure you have enough information to make good decisions
- Take external advice when needed
- Be brave enough to speak out if you think something is wrong
- Do only what you think is best for the Society
- Give time, thought and energy to your role, for example by preparing for, attending and actively participating in trustee meetings
- Follow the trustee Code of Conduct, and help staff and members follow their Codes of Conduct
Skills needed
Although there is an overlap, some trustee skills are different to entomological skills. For example, there is no equivalent to designing experiments, recording insect species, writing research papers or grant proposals, or conducting fieldwork.
Trustee skills cover:
- Listening to, weighing up and summarising a number of different views during a meeting
- Willingness to learn new skills and embrace new perspectives
- Considering different options, and choosing the best one for the charity
- Confidence with numbers – no trustee has to be an accountant, but understanding percentages, variances, trends etc. is important for having awareness of the charity’s financial situation
- Willing to challenge staff and other trustees constructively, and to receive that challenge in return
- Willingness, patience and attention to detail when doing the non-scientific work: the compliance, the governance, reviewing policies, performance reviews of senior staff etc.
- Being an ambassador for the charity – communicating about the charity with excitement
The application process
The Society is committed to increasing diversity within the Society’s leadership and welcomes applications from all, especially those from under-represented groups.
If this applies to you, or if you would like help with your application, please contact jemma@royensoc.co.uk for an informal chat about how the Society can help you.
Data provided as part of the application process will be treated in accordance with the Society’s Privacy Policy.
The deadline for applications is 11.59pm BST on 12th July 2022. Successful candidates start their roles as trustees at the next AGM on 14th September 2022. Please contact at jemma@royensoc.co.uk if you have any questions.
The voting process
Council will assess applications for eligibility, skills and experience and if necessary, create shortlists.
Posts with only one application will be put to the Membership for a “yes/no” confirmation vote. Online voting information will be emailed to the Membership and put on the website on 18th July 2022. Voting will close on 6th August 2022.
Candidates will be notified of the results before the AGM. Council will announce the results at the AGM on 14th September.
We look forward to hearing from you!
