Memorandum of Collaboration
Draft v1.0 (7th January 2015)
This Memorandum of Collaboration (MoC), agreed by the LBNF interim International Executive Board (iIEB), lays out the structure for establishing the initial Institutional Board (IB) and the initial leadership of the experimental collaboration at LBNF (denoted ELBNF). The comprehensive ELBNF collaboration bylaws will be defined by the collaboration once it is formally constituted and the procedures outlined in this document will be superseded once the co-Spokespersons and IB chair are in place. By agreeing to
this MoC, an institute makes a commitment to pursue the LBNF programme as set out in the LBNF Letter of Intent. The terms of membership of the initial ELBNF collaboration are:
- ? until the formal collaboration bylaws are in place, membership of ELBNF is open to all institutes;
- ? the minimum requirement for an institute to join the ELBNF collaboration there must be at least one faculty member (or equivalent) in experimental physics.
Establishment of the Initial ELBNF Institute Board
The interim IB (iIB) chair, nominated by the Fermilab director, will call the first IB meeting at the January 2015 LBNF collaboration meeting. The initial list of collaborating institutes will be determined by the iIB chair, with each institute nominating a single representative for the IB. The primary business of the first
IB meeting will be to set in motion the process for electing the ELBNF Spokespersons and to initiate the
process for establishing full collaboration rules. At this meeting the IB will:
- ? discuss and approve the procedure (described below) for electing the Spokespersons;
- ? agree a procedure for electing the IB chair;
- ? select an election committee, consisting of three people, to oversee the election of the ELBNF Spokespersons. The iIB chair will establish that potential members of the election committee do not intend to stand for election;
- ? select a “bylaws committee” to work with the elected IB chair to prepare a first proposal for the formal collaboration rules.
On the formation of the ELBNF IB, the iIEB will be dissolved on January 23rd.
Election of the Initial ELBNF Spokespersons
In this formative stage of the ELBNF collaboration there will be two co-Spokespersons with initial terms of two- and three-years. The process for the election of the initial ELBNF co-Spokespersons is described below:
- ? The election committee will collect nominations from the collaborating institutions through the IB representatives.
- ? All potential candidates with at least three nominations will be contacted by the election committee to establish if they wish to stand.
- ? Candidates will prepare written statements and a brief CV ahead of the election.
- Each institute will return a single ballot paper.
- ? The election committee will organise the election according to the following rules: i) Voting will take place using a secret online ballot. ii) The election will use the preferential voting system, allowing the election to proceed in a single stage. iii) Each institute will provide a ballot paper giving a ranked list of all candidates standing. iv) For each institute, the top ranked choice receives one vote in each round of counting, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated from ballots tallied in each subsequent round of counting. If an institute’s top preferences is eliminated, their vote is transferred to their second preference, etc. The process of eliminating candidates continues until the top candidate receives a majority of the ballots cast. To select the second co-Spokespersons, the first elected candidate is removed from the lists and the counting of votes is repeated according to the preferential voting system. v) Only the names of the elected co-Spokespersons will be announced, otherwise the details of the voting will not be announced, including which of the two elected candidates received the higher number of votes. The terms of office of the two co-Spokespersons (two years versus three years) will be decided by toss of a coin, unless the elected candidates reach a mutual agreement.
- ? If there are two or fewer candidates, each institute will cast a yes/no vote for each candidate. To be elected, a candidate must receive at least 50% of the votes cast in that election. If one or fewer candidates are elected, the nomination procedure for the empty position(s) will be re-opened.
- As set out in the LBNF International Governance document, the host laboratory is responsible for approving the selection of the collaboration Spokespersons.
- The other details of the co-Spokespersons election process will be decided by the IB.
The rules and procedures for subsequent elections and the terms of service will be defined in the collaboration
bylaws .
Management Structure for the ELBNF Collaboration
Once elected, the co-Spokespersons will appoint the top-level project management for the ELBNF collaboration
as set out in the international governance document.
Election of the IB Chair
Immediately following the election of the co-Spokespersons, the iIB chair will organise the election of the
IB chair:
- the iIB chair will seek nominations from the IB institute representatives and will establish whether the nominated people are willing to stand;
- each institute has a single vote;
- the iIB chair will organise the election following the rules agreed by the IB at first IB meeting.
Following the election of the IB chair, the interim IB chair will stand down.
Formalizing the Collaboration Bylaws
The elected IB chair and bylaws committee will prepare a formal draft of the proposed ELBNF collaboration bylaws. This draft will be presented to the IB for suggested amendments. The amended rules will be presented to the IB for a formal vote. The ELBNF bylaws will be adopted on a 75% majority of voting institutes.