Membership 

• Steering Group (SG) members must be members of CWSR. 

• The inaugural members of the SG are the three Founding Members of CWSR. 

• The inaugural members will serve an initial term of 3 years, following which they may seek re-appointment to the SG. 

• At least annually, the membership of CWSR will be given the opportunity to nominate candidates for SG membership for an initial term of 2 years and existing SG members whose terms are due to expire may seek an additional term of 3 years. 

• CWSR members will vote to determine which of the new nominees or existing SG members seeking an additional term will be appointed – if there is a sufficient number of vacancies on the SG then all those who receive more votes for than against their membership will be appointed. 

• There may be a minimum of 3 and a maximum of 5 SG members at any time. 

 

SG meetings 

• SG meetings will be facilitated by a Chair. The inaugural Chair will be Jim Bentley, but any CWSR member may nominate an alternative Chair at any time, to be voted on by the steering committee. 

• A minimum of two thirds of SG members must be present for a meeting to be quorate. 

• Attendance at SG meetings will normally be restricted to the SG members and the Chair.  SG members may delegate attendance to an agreed surrogate for the purpose of representing the SG members. Other attendees must be agreed by SG members and will normally be limited to participation in a specific agenda item or be a member of the CWSR administration team. 

• The Chair is responsible for drafting the agenda for SG meetings based on suggestions for agenda items put forward by SG members and will seek approval of SG members for the agenda in advance of the meeting. 

• The Chair is responsible for facilitating SG meetings in a way in which all SG members can have their say and for allocating time to agenda items so that matters of importance to all SG members are treated fairly. 

• All SG members are responsible for ensuring that they behave in a way that demonstrates that each member’s opinions are valued. 

• Decisions will be taken by SG members, not including the Chair, and will be made by consensus rather than by majority voting. Every effort shall be made to reach a consensus but in the event of disagreement, the majority vote shall apply. 

• Following each meeting the Chair will issue draft minutes to SG members, seeking their feedback, so these can be approved at the subsequent meeting. 

• Following approval of the minutes the Chair will produce a summary note of the meeting to be shared with CWSR members. 

 

SG scope 

• SG may commit to spending CWSR funds up to the amount held in the bank account at the time of making a decision but may not commit to borrowing money on behalf of the CWSR and may not commit CWSR to future financial obligations. 

• As CWSR is not a legal entity it does not have a mechanism for entering into contracts either as client or as service provider. 

• CWSR members or the organisations to which they belong may decide to award contracts or to submit proposals to funding organisations or clients without reference to any other CWSR member, but this cannot be done in the name of CWSR. 

• Any CWSR member or group of members is entitled to include a statement to the effect that they are members of the CWSR to go with any proposal submission. 

• The SG may decide that there would be value for CWSR for a proposal to be submitted in the name of the CWSR.  For this to happen, the SG must invite expressions of interest from members of CWSR and consider any responses before deciding on the membership and contractual mechanisms and leadership/governance arrangements of any consortium.  A recovery of funds to the CWSR should be made on successful award of a contract 

• CWSR members who are not part of the CWSR consortium for any proposal are entitled to submit their own proposal for the same opportunity and may refer to their membership of CWSR in their proposal but may not submit on behalf of the CWSR. 

• SG will be responsible for ensuring that arrangements are in place for regular communication with members, networking and thought leadership events to promote the interests of the members of CWSR. 

• SG will identify resource requirements and consult with the membership regarding roles to contribute to the administration or the centre. In additional the SG will consult the membership on focus areas and topics.