Minutes of the Annual Membership Business Meeting (AMBA) in Maastricht, September 1st, 2017
1. Opening and welcome
The EAA President Felipe Criado-Boado opened the meeting and asked members of the EAA Executive Board and staff to briefly introduce themselves; he regretted the absence of the EAA Treasurer, Margaret Gowen Larsen, who was unable to attend for health reasons. Felipe continued by thanking the local organisers and student helpers for having organised a very successful conference, and welcomed the 120 members attending the AMBM.
2. Minutes of the AMBM in Vilnius
The minutes of the AMBM in Vilnius 2016 were published in the TEA and there were no comments by members. The minutes were approved as correct record of the previous AMBM (0 against, 0 abstained).
3. Matters arising from the Minutes
There were no matters arising.
4. Strategic planning
The EAA strategic documents (Governance Plan, Action Plan, and Plan for the Development of the Secretariat) were circulated to members in advance of the AMBM. They set out the direction of EAA’s Strategic Plan which was approved at the AMBM in Vilnius 2016.
The overarching goal of the plan is to use collective intelligence of EAA members to engage with the association. In practical terms, the strategic plan and its sub-plans define how future representation and reporting lines will be structured within the EAA. This structure has been devised to engage members more actively and to ensure trust among all the constituent elements of EAA. It outlines those steps necessary to achieve it (e.g., enlargement of the Executive Board, AMBM format change, etc.). Since there were no questions from the floor, AMBM attendees proceeded to approve the EAA Action Plan (0 against, 2 abstained), Governance Plan (0 against, 2 abstained), and Plan for the Development of the Secretariat (0 against, 2 abstained). The approved documents will guide EAA’s next steps which will include further revision of the Statutes. These will be presented for the approval of members at 2018 AMBM.
5. Annual Report
The EAA Annual Report on membership figures was presented in written format, circulated to members in advance of the AMBM. EAA membership recovered from lower numbers in 2016 (1812 members in 2016 as compared to 2153 members as of 20 July 2017), and the difference between the number of current members per year and the number of Annual Meeting delegates increases constantly, indicating that members tend to renew their membership even if they cannot attend the Annual Meeting.
Chart 1: Number of members per year (* as of 20 July 2017)
The geographical bias towards membership from Western Europe and the rest of the world as compared to representation from Central and Eastern Europe continues to be considerable, but it is hoped that this may be addressed somewhat by redefinition of A and B categories.
Chart 1: Number of members per year (* as of 20 July 2017)
The geographical bias towards membership from Western Europe and the rest of the world as compared to representation from Central and Eastern Europe continues to be considerable, but it is hoped that this may be addressed somewhat by redefinition of A and B categories.
Chart 2: Proportion of membership categories A and B 2012 – 2017.
The average age of members since the foundation of EAA (data available for 3854 members) is 35 years of age. The average age of members currently (2016 and 2017) is 45 years old. This indicates that the EAA remains a relatively young organisation. The percentage of student members varies at around 20% of total members in a year.
The corporate members of EAA in 2017 are (in alphabetic order):
- ASHA – Agjensia e Shërbimit Arkeologjik
- Association of Lithuanian Archaeology
- AÚ – Archeologický ústav AV ČR Praha, v. v. i.
-
Historic England
- Historic Environment Scotland
- INRAP – Institut National de Recherches Archéologiques Préventives
- Institute of Archaeology RAS
-
Museum of Cultural History Oslo
-
NIKU – The Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research
- OCenW - Rijksinspectie voor de Archeologie
- Römisch-Germanische Kommission
Chart 3: Percentage of membership types 2010 – 2017
The trend towards early payment of membership fees for a given year indicates a tendency towards a more stable membership base over the year; early renewal not only offers the ‘early bird’ rate, but also ensures efficient management of the Journal that can be sent to members without delay.
Membership fees are paid by credit card on-line or by bank transfer; off-line credit card payments, payment in cash at the Annual Meeting or payment together with conference registration are no longer possible. This is due to the new membership database software (iMIS) and changes in EAA business model. Members now have to renew their membership through the EAA portal first, before registering for the conference in the year that the membership pertains to.
The EAA membership database, web and membership services have been running in the iMIS software since September 2016 without major problems.
The EAA is implementing the Annual Meeting registration module in iMIS and will be used from October 2017; the abstract submission module has been outsourced to Klinkhamer Group and will be operational from September 2017. The new software will provide seamless membership services both in terms of EAA membership renewals, Annual Meeting registration and abstract submission. It will also allow increased interaction between members, their communities and the various boards and committees of EAA.
Chart 4: Date of membership fee payment 2010 – 2017
6. Financial Report
Krisztína Pavlíčková, EAA Financial Administrator, stepped in for Margaret Gowen Larsen, the EAA Treasurer, presenting the financial report for 2016 and budgets for 2017 – 2019. The Financial statement for 2016, Financial plan for 2017 – 2019 and budgets 2017 – 2019 were circulated to members in advance of the AMBM.
The difference of the 2016 budget result from the approved budget forecast is due to adjustments in the budget structure (depreciation of software over 3 years, regrouped costs for Executive Board meetings) and differences in EAA revenues and costs (EJA production costs in 2016 were less than budgeted, barred costs for THEMES volumes 1 and 2 production).
The 2017 budget will include less income on membership fees than estimated; EJA revenues contain a welcome bonus from CUP. A separate sub-budget for EAA’s organizational involvement in the Annual Meeting running has been created, including a fixed amount for services provided by EAA accounted for by the cost of the administrative activity undertaken by EAA staff.
The 2017-2019 budgets are necessarily conservative, reflecting the financial constraints under which EAA operates. In line with the EAA Action Plan 2017-2019, the Financial Plan 2017 - 2019 envisages carefully planned, incremental development of all the Association’s executive and administrative functions, while seeking to ensure that EAA members are well served and represented in Europe and further afield by the Association in line with the principles set out in its Governance plan. The EAA Financial Plan 2017-2019 is not static and will be reviewed actively.
Chart 5: Budgets 2016 - 2019.
Mark Pearce referred to the aim to increase the number of Annual Meeting participants and questioned how does this compare to the growth of registration fees envisaged for Barcelona 2018.
In EAA’s developed accounting structure, the Annual Meeting budget will be identified separately from the main administrative EAA budget, an apportionment of which will be allocated to time spent working on conference management.
EAA hopes to be better able to control the level of registration fees in the future, but much will continue to depend on the ability of the local hosts to generate sponsorship
The Annual Meeting budget accommodates all running costs and venue costs (not just the apportionment paid to the EAA Secretariat for services provided in relation to conference management (Abstract handing, Conference registration and payment, website management etc.). The Annual Meetings continue therefore to require significant local and institutional sponsorship if members’ registration fees are to be held at a reasonable level.
Adrian Olivier pointed out the financial risk involved in self-organisation of EAA Annual Meetings – the EAA needs professional risk assessment statement to establish reserves statement (running costs of the EAA as related to safety deposit in the bank).
While there was no response to this comment, it must be pointed out that this type of financial risk assessment formed part of the decision-making around the proposed new structure for conference organisation. A document clarifying the proposed structure will be prepared in the coming months by the Treasurer and Secretary. Kristian Kristiansen recommended identifying which parts of the Annual Meeting are attractive to local sponsors, e.g. the Annual Dinner; affordable price of the Annual Dinner is sought, but without sponsorship it must cover the actual (high) costs involved.
The 2016 Financial report was approved by members present (0 against, 1 abstained). The 2017 revised budget was approved by members present (0 against, 1 abstained). The 2018 - 2019 budgets were approved by members present (0 against, 0 abstained).
7. Redefinition of A and B membership categories
The economic situation in many countries has changed and there is more variety of EAA membership countries which automatically fall within A category of EAA membership. Based on the World Bank data on GDP values, the Executive Board therefore proposed to members in a document circulated in advance of the AMBM to list the below countries as belonging to A category, while any other country would automatically fall within the discounted B category. The suggested change will have minimum impact on EAA income from membership fees, and the list of A countries will be revised periodically.
Countries proposed to fall within the A category membership fees include (in alphabetical order): Andorra, Aruba, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bermuda, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Cayman Islands, Channel Islands, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong SAR (China), Iceland, Ireland, Isle of Man, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea Rep., Kuwait, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Macao SAR (China), Monaco, Netherlands, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Norway, Puerto Rico, Qatar, Singapore, Saint-Maarten (Dutch part), Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Vatican City.
Kenny Aitchison reminded the audience that the Disco project proved that archaeologists in some B countries earn more their fellows in some A countries, and the position of archaeology within the labour market in each country needs be taken into account.
However, the Disco project did not offer results for all countries in Europe, and the aim of the A and B membership categories revision is also to encourage colleagues from other continents to join the EAA. These rates are subject to review in any case every five years. At a later stage, individual criteria may be considered, but this step remains to be examined.
The redefinition of A and B membership categories has been approved as proposed for 5 years (0 against, 5 abstained).
8. Oscar Montelius Foundation report
The OMF report was circulated to membership in advance of the AMBM. OMF Trustees and Auditor confirmed that OMF is ready to disburse part of the OMF capital to provide grants to 2018 Annual Meeting participants. The conditions for grant application will be announced in early 2018. The grant provision will subsequently be evaluated and OMF will act in accordance with the results and EAA financial situation.
9. Statutes amendments
With regard to the new strategic developments of the EAA, and the legal – administrative harmonisation required to comply with the amended laws on membership associations in the Czech Republic (where the EAA has its registered office) the Executive Board proposed Statutes amendments for members’ consideration in advance of the AMBM.
The current update of the Statutes was discussed by the Executive Board and prepared by the Statutes Working Party. This voluntary group of EAA members includes Elin Dalen, Thomas Meier, Mark Pearce, Axel Posluschny, Karen Waugh and is chaired by Executive Board member Alessandro Vanzetti. The proposed wording of the amendment to the Statutes in this regard was drafted by our Czech legal advisor and lawyer (Mgr. Jana Mojzišková) and the final draft was submitted to the EAA Statutes Committee (Kristian Kristiansen, Harald Hermansen and John Carman) to ensure that it is appropriate and correct.
Members present discussed and approved the proposed Statutes amendments by articles:
- Art. II – Introduce new aim (one comma) in order to widen the activities of the Association in line with the Framework for the EAA’s Strategic Development, especially objective 4:
5. To promote archaeology to the public, and to raise awareness of archaeology in Europe.
= approved (0 against, 0 abstained)
-
Art. II – Introduce new aim (two commas) against commercialism and illegal detection and collection of artefacts in line with the Framework for the EAA’s Strategic Development, especially objective 3 and 4:
7. To promote interest in archaeological remains as evidence of the human past and contributing to our knowledge of human culture and to discourage a focus upon any commercial value that may attach to such material.
8. To work for the elimination of any form of illegal detection and collection and the damage it causes to the archaeological heritage.
= approved (0 against, 0 abstained)
-
Art. III – Introduce new aim to enable the new business model for Annual Meeting organisation, whereby EAA staff will administer the registration and abstract handling software modules and be closely involved in Annual Meeting organisation, in cooperation with the local host:
6. Provide technical and administrative assistance to the Annual Meeting Organiser.
= approved (0 against, 0 abstained)
-
Art. V – Introduce new commas between present commas 9 and 10 listing membership rights and obligations, as required by Czech law on associations:
10 Membership rights and obligations:
10.1 Membership rights for all members:
a) participate in cultural and social activities of the Association,
b) being informed about the Association´s activities,
c) participate in activities, training and seminars in the terms determined for individual events,
d) freely declare their opinion on any matter of legitimate concern to the Association and to submit proposals for Association activities as provided in these Statutes,
e) participate in meetings of the Association bodies, in the terms determined by the Statutes,
f) change the type of their membership, provided that conditions for such change as provided in the Statutes are satisfied,
g) terminate their membership anytime.
10.2 Membership rights belonging to Full Individual Members only:
a) participate in the Annual Membership Business Meeting and vote on its decisions,
b) elect and get elected into all elected Association bodies on the terms and conditions hereof.
11 Membership obligations that shall be complied with by all members:
a) follow the Association Statutes and other internal regulations,
b) perform resolutions and other decisions of the Association bodies,
c) save, protect and magnify assets serving for the Association to safeguard its activities as well as strive for the Association´s good reputation.
12 Membership obligations that shall be complied with by Full Members only:
a) pay the respective membership fees as well as other fees related to proper membership and activities in the Association as decided upon by the respective Association body under the Statutes properly and in time,
b) properly perform the positions and tasks they were elected into, or charged with, or accepted responsibility for.
= approved (0 against, 0 abstained)
-
Art. VI – Present comma 5 to be modified to complete EAA administrative procedures and cater for irregular situations on elected EAA bodies, which may be addressed by co‐option:
The Board shall be empowered to make co‐options to fill the places of elected members, including Officers, who do not complete their full three‐year terms of office, where there was no candidate for election or for other reasons that will assist the work of the Board. Such co‐options which shall not exceed three in any year shall be effective until the following Annual Membership Business Meeting, at which point the vacancy will be filled by election as described in Article VII.
= approved (0 against, 0 abstained)
-
Art. VI ‐ Present comma 6 to be modified by adding new text to the end to complete administrative procedures, catering for the case that the President purposefully fails to convene the Board, and thus inhibits the decision making process within the Association:
The Board shall hold at least two meetings each year. Dates, locations and formats of meetings ‐ including digitally assisted remote meetings ‐ shall be proposed by the President and approved by the Board or a majority of the Board. If the President fails to convene the Board, after 9 months have elapsed since the last Board Meeting, it may be convened by joint initiative of three Board members.
= approved (0 against, 0 abstained)
-
Art. VI ‐ Present comma 8 to be modified to ease administrative procedures, enabling the President to sign on behalf of the EAA in legal acts, avoiding the need of certified signatures of all Board members, which otherwise are required:
8. The President shall be the statutory body of the Association.
= approved (1 against, 0 abstained)
- Art. XII – New comma to be introduced to ease administrative procedures by delegation of specific legal and/or administrative acts through power of attorney on an EAA member or employee:
11. The Board may appoint a member or an employee of the Association to act on behalf of the Association for any prescribed purpose, including to act on behalf of the entire Association, for such limited periods as it shall determine, but in no case for longer than a calendar year.
= approved (0 against, 1 abstained)
10. Election results
According to the Statutes, the EAA Executive Board consists of (max.) 10 elected members: 3 Officers, an Incoming President elected one year before the term of office, and 6 Ordinary Members (one of them appointed as Vice-President). This year, the posts of Incoming President, Secretary, two Ordinary Executive Board members, and a Nomination Committee member become vacant. The period of service is 3 years and the elected candidates will serve from 2017 to 2020 with the exception of Incoming President who is elected one year before taking office, and will formally serve from 2017 to 2018.
Following the deadline for nominations by members on 4 April, one nomination was received for the position of Incoming President, three nominations for the position of Secretary, and 7 nominations were received for the positions of Ordinary Executive Board member. The Nomination Committee (composed of Arkadiusz Marciniak, Margarita Díaz-Andreu and Bettina Arnold) met on 20 April and scrutinised the nominations by members received and completed them with further nominations.
Personalised election materials were circulated via e-mail on 1 August when on-line election opened. The 479 valid votes (368 received on-line, 111 at the conference ballot box) were counted by EAA Secretary Marc Lodewijckx, Nomination Committee Members Margarita Díaz-Andreu and Arkadiusz Marciniak, and EAA Administrator Sylvie Květinová. The elected candidates are shown in bold below.
PRESIDENT
|
Criado-Boado Felipe
|
(421 received votes, 58 abstained)
|
SECRETARY
|
Waugh, Karen
|
(240 received votes)
|
|
Thomas, Roger
|
(96 received votes)
|
|
Wait, Gerry
|
(91 received votes)
|
|
|
52 abstained
|
EXECUTIVE BOARD MEMBER 1
|
Hüglin, Sophie
|
(160 received votes)
|
|
Sánchez Romero, Margarita
|
(129 received votes)
|
|
Dietrich, Laura
|
(90 received votes)
|
|
Høst-Madsen, Lene
|
(59 received votes)
|
|
|
41 abstained
|
EXECUTIVE BOARD MEMBER 2
|
Vanzetti, Alessandro
|
(224 received votes)
|
|
Riede, Felix
|
(119 received votes)
|
|
Spanjer, Mark
|
(92 received votes)
|
|
|
44 abstained
|
NOMINATION COMMITTEE MEMBER
|
Robb, John
|
(186 received votes)
|
|
Karl, Ray
|
(147 received votes)
|
|
Ermischer, Gerhard
|
(90 received votes)
|
|
|
56 abstained
|
The EAA congratulates the successful candidates, and thanks those who were not elected for standing and for their continuing interest in the work of the Association.
The EAA thanked the outgoing Board and Committee members:
EAA Executive Board: Marc Lodewijckx
Nomination Committee: Arkadiusz Marciniak
EJA Editorial Board: Laurence Manolakakis, Hanna Stöger
11. New appointments
The following appointments were made in 2017:
EJA Editorial Board: Cate Frieman (re-appointed)
Isabella Colpo (re-appointed)
Susanne E. Hakenbeck
John H. Jameson
Simon Malmberg
Oscar Montelius Foundation: Carsten Paludan-Müller (re-appointed)
12. Publication news
Reports on EAA publications (EJA, TEA, THEMES) were circulated to members in written in advance of the AMBM.
13. Reports from the Working Parties and Committees
Reports on EAA communities were circulated to members in written in advance of the AMBM.
14. Location of future Annual Meetings
The next conferences will be held in the following cities:
24th 2018 Barcelona, Spain
25th 2019 Bern, Switzerland
26th 2020 Budapest, Hungary
15. Announcement of the next Annual Meeting
Margarita Díaz-Andreu together with Raquel Piqué and Sandra Montón invited all EAA members to attend the 24th EAA Annual Meeting in Barcelona, Spain, to be held on 5 - 8 September 2018. The conference web page is live at
https://www.e-a-a.org/eaa2018 and provides all necessary information. Call for session submissions will open in mid-September 2017.
The themes of the 2018 Annual Meeting will be:
- Theories and methods in archaeology
- The archaeology of material culture, bodies and landscapes
- Mediterranean seascapes
- Archaeology and the future of cities and urban landscapes
- Archaeology and the European Year of Cultural Heritage
- Museums and the challenges of archaeological heritage in 21st century
16. Any Other Business
Koji Mizoguchi expressed regret for the coincidence of dates of EAA and WAC in 2016 - the next WAC in Prague (6 – 10 July 2020) will avoid clash with EAA Budapest (26 - 30 August 2020).
Since there was no other business, the Meeting was closed.
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