Governance

This page describes the Society’s governance and includes the following matters, accessible from the links below:

Governance Arrangements
Council Committees
Council and Office-Bearers
Royal Society of NSW Act, Rules and By-Laws
Recent Annual Reports

Governance Arrangements

The current governance arrangements date from the formal incorporation of the Royal Society of New South Wales by an Act of the New South Wales Parliament in 1881. (For the period from 1821 to 1881, see History.)

The Society is governed by a Council that is elected annually. The Council manages all the Society’s business in accordance with its Act, Rules and By-Laws.

The Council consists of the President, three Vice-Presidents (one of whom is the immediate past-President), the Treasurer, the General Secretary (who is responsible for minute-taking and membership matters), the Editorial Secretary (who edits the Journal and Proceedings), the Librarian, the Webmaster, the chairperson or nominee of each of the branches, up to ten Councillors, and representatives of the Hunter and Southern Highlands branches. All Council members must be Members or Fellows of the Society.

The Executive Committee of Council, consisting of the President, the Vice-Presidents, the Honorary Secretaries and the Honorary Treasurer, deals with any matters referred to it by Council and with matters that ought not be postponed until a meeting of the Council.

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Council Committees

The President chairs meetings of the Council and general meetings of the Society.

The Council appoints other committees from time to time to attend to specific matters. Committees may comprise both Council members and other Society members. The current committees, together with the names of their Chairs and Secretaries are shown below. The link associated with a Committee name accesses the Terms of Reference of that particular Committee.

Committee	Chair	Secretary
Awards	Emeritus Professor Eugenie Lumbers	Professor George Willis
Bicentennial	Emeritus Professor Ian Sloan	Mr Bruce Ramage
Business Continuity	Dr Susan Pond	Dr Donald Hector
Community Engagement	Ms Judith Wheeldon	Ms Nyrie Palmer
Events	Emeritus Professor Christina Slade	Professor Elizabeth Deane
Fellows and Members Assessment	Emeritus Professor Brynn Hibbert	Dr Erik Aslaksen
Fundraising	Emeritus Professor Ian Sloan
Library and Assets	Mr John Hardie
Publishing	Mr John Hardie
RSNSW and Four Academies Forum	Emeritus Professor Ian Sloan	Emeritus Professor Robin King

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Council and Office-Bearers 2020–21

The current Council and office-bearers of the Society are:

Patron	Her Excellency The Honourable Margaret Beazley AC QC, Governor of New South Wales
President	Emeritus Professor Ian Sloan AO FRSN
Vice-Presidents	Emeritus Professor Brynn Hibbert AM FRSN (immediate past President) Dr Susan Pond AM FRSN Ms Judith Wheeldon AM FRSN
Hon. General Secretary	Mr Bruce Ramage MRSN
Hon. Editorial Secretary	Emeritus Professor Robert Marks FRSN
Hon. Treasurer	Mr Richard Wilmott MRSN
Hon. Librarian	Mr John Hardie FRSN
Hon. Webmaster	Emeritus Professor Lindsay Botten FRSN
Councillors	Mr Ian Bryce MRSN Emeritus Professor Robert Clancy AM FRSN The Hon. Virginia Judge FRSN Mr Stuart Midgley MRSN Emeritus Professor Bruce Milthorpe FRSN Ms Nyrie Palmer MRSN Emeritus Professor Christina Slade FRSN Adjunct Professor Robert Whittaker AM FRSN
Secretary, Hunter Branch Secretary, Southern Highlands Branch	Professor George Willis FRSN Ms Anne Wood FRSN