The duties of the Vice Presidents are described in section XIII of the Bye-laws.
SECTION XIII of the Byelaws (revised 2015) - The President and Vice- Presidents
- The duty of the President shall be to take the Chair at the Ordinary and General Meetings of the Society, and at the meetings of the Council; to regulate their proceedings; to state and put questions according to the sense and intention of the meeting; to carry into effect the Bye-laws of the Society and to represent the Society externally.
- In the absence or incapacity of the President, other than at Council meetings where byelaw 15 will apply, the President-elect, one of the Vice- Presidents, or Treasurer, or any Fellow as the President may determine, shall execute the President’s duties.
- The President, or other Fellow in the Chair, shall not vote on any question brought before the meeting except where a casting vote is necessary to decide the question, in which case such casting vote shall be exercised.
Specific Duties:
- In their first year of service the Vice Presidents are required to serve on an Awards Panel (A or G) and then to Chair the relevant Awards Panel during their second year. This involves 4–6 days’ work and much correspondence by email.
- They are also required to serve on an Awards Subcommittee, which exists to facilitate the nomination of RAS Fellows for external awards and for national honours. This involves 1–3 days, mostly carried out by email correspondence.
- The President may invite the Vice Presidents to Chair any of the three discussion forums (Astronomy/Solid Earth Geophysics/External Geophysics).
- The President may invite the Vice Presidents to assist in their representational duties throughout their terms of office.