CONSTITUTION

1. The Society shall be called the "British Microcirculation Society".

2. The objects of the Society shall be to advance the study of the circulation of the blood and other tissue fluids especially though not exclusively in the small vessels and of matters relating thereto.

3. The Society shall consist of Ordinary and Honorary members. The acceptance of membership shall be deemed to imply an agreement to be bound by the Regulations of the Society for the time being.

4. Any person who is or has been engaged in research or teaching in any of the subjects in which the Society is interested shall be eligible for membership.

5. Any person of distinction in science who has contributed to the advancement of knowledge of the subjects in which the Society is interested shall be eligible for election as an Honorary Member.

1. The Society shall elect one of its members to act as President who shall serve for a maximum of three years and shall not be eligible for re-election. One year before the President is due to retire the Society shall elect the next President who shall take office as President one year later. The Society shall elect one of its members as Secretary and another as Treasurer. The Secretary and Treasurer shall hold office for a maximum of five years and shall not be eligible for re-election.

2. The business of the Society shall be conducted by the Committee, consisting of the President, the President-elect when in office, the Secretary, the Treasurer and five or six other elected members. The other members of the Committee, of whom one or two shall be elected in each year so that the total number of the Committee shall not ordinarily exceed nine, shall each serve for a maximum of four years (five for the Editor of Proceedings) but be eligible for re-election after a period of two years off the Committee. The Committee shall have the power to co-opt additional members and the Secretary shall report this to members at the next meeting of the Society.

3. The Secretary shall keep minutes of the proceedings of the Society's meetings and of the meetings of the Committee, and at the Annual General Meeting shall report on the work done by the Society during the previous year.

4. The Treasurer shall collect the subscriptions of the members and shall notify to the Committee the cases of any members whose subscriptions are one year in arrears. The Treasurer shall pay accounts due by the Society and shall prepare for circulation to the members before the Annual General Meeting a balance sheet of the accounts corrected to the first day of January in that year.

5. The Committee shall elect one of their number to serve as Editor of the Proceedings who shall be responsible for the production of any volume published by the Society or any other material by members of the Society or others. The Editor shall act with the advice of two or more members jointly as an Editorial Board. The term of the Editor of Proceedings shall not exceed five years. The estimates for the cost of any proposed publications shall be approved by the Committee.

6. Three members of the Committee shall form a quorum.

7. The Committee shall meet previous to every meeting of the Society and more often if deemed necessary by one of the Office-bearers or by two of the ordinary members of the Committee after submission of their request in writing to the Secretary stating their reasons for calling the extra meeting. The Secretary shall be responsible for calling meetings of the Committee and shall send to its members a note of the Agenda.

8. Names of members to serve on the Committee may be proposed by any member who has obtained the written consent of the nominee; such nominations to be sent to the Secretary at least two months before the Annual General Meeting unless, in the opinion of the Committee, special circumstances require less notice.

9. The names of the existing Committee and of the retiring members shall be included with the preliminary notice of the Annual General Meeting to be issued by the Secretary under Rule 18. One full week before the Annual General Meeting the Secretary shall send to each member a ballotting paper containing (1) the names of the Committee, (2) the names of the retiring members, (3) the names of those nominated to fill the vacancies.

10. There shall be an annual election for all Officers and members of the Committee and the Society shall, from the names submitted to it, select by ballot members to fill the vacant places.

11. Any member may submit to the Committee, through the Secretary or their designated proxy, the name of any person desirous of election to the Society, along with a note of his/her field of interest and any contributions which he/she may have made to the scientific literature. The Committee shall consider such a person as a candidate for election and have power to elect him/her as a member of the Society. The Committee shall also have the power to elect an Associate Member, on the nomination of a member, for a period of not more than two years at a time at their discretion; the fee for an Associate Member shall be less than that for an Ordinary Member but an Associate Member shall have the same rights as an Ordinary Member.

12. A list of members admitted during the year shall be sent to members with the programme and agenda paper of the Annual General Meeting.

13. Honorary Members may be elected at the Annual General Meeting on the nomination of the Committee, notice being given on the agenda paper. The number of such Honorary Members shall not exceed twelve. Honorary Members shall have the rights of Ordinary Members of the Society and shall not be called upon to pay the annual subscription.

14. The Committee may propose admission to Honorary Membership for any member of the Society who has retired from his/her official appointment(s) and who has been a long-standing and distinguished member of the Society (long-standing meaning not less than five years); or any non-member who is a person of distinction in those aspects of science in which the Society is interested. Such proposals are to be voted on by the Society membership at the Annual General Meeting in accordance with Rule 13.

15. The annual subscription for ordinary members is due on 1 January each year. The amount of the annual subscription shall be reviewed annually at the Annual General Meeting in the light of the Treasurer's report.

16. The scientific work of the Society shall be carried on at ordinary meetings. At the Annual General Meeting the number of ordinary meetings to be held during the ensuing year, their places and approximate dates shall be determined, the Secretary shall present his report, and the Treasurer shall submit the accounts. The Rules may be revised. The Committee shall be elected.

17. The meetings of the Society shall be held in different parts of the United Kingdom as may from time to time be suitable. The work of the meeting shall consist of the making of communications and the discussion of these and of the giving of demonstrations. The time allotted for each communication shall be determined by the Committee. When a commun-ication is illustrated by a film, the time taken for showing the film shall be included in the time allotted for the communication unless the prior permission of the Committee has been obtained for extra time to be allowed.

18. The Secretary shall give at least two months' notice of the place and date of the meeting, and shall at the same time intimate a date by which titles and abstracts of intended communications and demonstrations must reach him. The projection facilities available shall be listed in this notice and the name and address given of the member(s) responsible for the local arrangements for the meeting, to whom direct application must be made for such facilities as may be required for a demonstration. One clear week before the meeting the Secretary shall issue the agenda paper containing the titles of the selected communications and demonstrations. Whenever possible abstracts of these shall also be circulated to members.

19. Members may introduce visitors to meetings of the Society, and may also arrange with the Secretary for communications or demonstrations being given by visitors.

20. A register of the members present at each meeting shall be formed by members signing their names in a book kept for the purpose, and in this book members shall also enter the name of any visitors introduced.

21. Whenever it is possible to make suitable arrangements, the members of the Society shall dine together on the evening of the day of the meeting. Each member shall defray the expense of his own dinner and that of any guest he may introduce.

22. The Committee may bring up before any meeting any matter of business which they consider required the attention of the Society. Notice of such business shall be given on the agenda paper.

23. A special meeting of the Society may be summoned at any time by the Committee; at least four weeks' notice shall be given to each member of the Society, with a note of the purpose for which the meeting is summoned.

24. The Committee may invite any scientific society to join in the work of the meeting.

25. Any microcirculation society outside the United Kingdom may be affiliated to the British Microcirculation Society at the discretion of the Committee; such an affiliated society shall pay to the Treasurer annually the subscription of one ordinary member. A member of such a society shall, while on a visit to the United Kingdom, be entitled to attend meetings of the British Microcirculation Society without further subscription but shall be required to pay for any meals or accommodation he/she may require. The introduced member may attend the scientific sessions and the dinner but shall not attend the business meeting unless specifically invited to do so, and if he does so shall not be entitled to vote.

26. If upon the winding up or dissolution of the Society there remains, after the satisfaction of all its debts and liabilities, any funds whatsoever, the same shall not be paid to or distributed among members of the Society but shall be given or transferred to some other institution or institutions which has or have objects similar to the objects of the Society, and which shall prohibit the distribution of its income and property amongst its or their members.

27. Any member, whether Honorary or Ordinary, may resign from the Society by writing to the Secretary Expressing his/her wish to do so. He/she will not thereafter receive notices of meetings or other communications, and his/her name will be removed from the list of members.

28. The Rules of the Society can be altered only at the Annual General Meeting or at a special meeting as defined by Rule 22. Any proposed alteration of the Rules suggested by the Committee shall be circulated to the members by the Secretary when the notice of the agenda of the Annual General Meeting is sent out. Members who are unable to be present at any meeting at which the alteration of the Rules is to be considered may submit their views in writing to the Secretary for consideration by the Committee and subsequent submission to the members of the Society. The approval of three-fifths of the members who vote, in person or by proxy, shall be required before an alteration in the Rules may be effected. For this purpose only the vote of those members whose subscriptions are not in arrears, and whose names are on the Secretary's list at that time, shall be valid.

_____________________________________________________________

Ordinary members = 180

Student members   = 74

Honorary members = 9

TOTAL membership = 263

A "student" is defined here as a person studying for a primary degree (e.g. BSc, BM) or a postgraduate student studying for a higher research degree (e.g. MPhil, MSc, PhD), irrespective of the source of income of the individual (i.e. whether a research student, research assistant or technician). All recipients must be members of the Society, i.e. have paid the subscription fee or enclosed a membership application form and fee together with the Grant Application. Any student so defined may apply once per annum for any of the grants available. More than one type of grant may be applied for in any one year. Application forms and further details are available from the Honorary Secretary.

The purpose of the grant is to cover the direct costs of eligible student members attending a BMS Scientific Meeting (namely travel by the cheap-est route, standard accommodation and registration), and to allow the student to attend the Society's dinner in order to promote integration into our scientific community. The total sum set aside for this purpose will be a minimum of 250GBP per annum or some larger sum depending on current circumstances. If there are several applicants and the total sum applied for exceeds the sum allocated by the Treasurer, grants will be awarded on the basis of competition.

The purpose of the grant is to provide financial assistance for up to two eligible student members to attend the European Society for Microcirculation (ESM) Conferences or the International Microcirculation Conferences in the years when these are held, and to assist one student member to attend a national microcirculation society meeting abroad (eg. American Microcirculatory Society) on the alternate years. The initial grant is set at 500GBP per student, subject to revision according to the Society's current financial circumstances.

The purpose of the grant is to provide a sum to assist an eligible student member to visit a laboratory in this country or abroad for the purpose of learning new techniques or other worthwhile scientific purposes related to microvascular research. The initial grant is set at a maximum of 800GBP per annum, subject to revision according to inflation and the Society's financial circumstances. A single annual grant is envisaged, but if more than one application is received the grant could be divided. The eligibility of these grants has been extended to encompass junior postdoctoral workers (defined as postdoctoral workers within the first two years of their first postdoctoral position). In the event of contending applications from postdoctoral workers and postgraduates, postgraduate applications will receive priority.