Proposal to slash Royal Society's governing body from 12 members to six

The Association of Scientists has outed a confidential proposal to slash the size of the Royal Society's governing body.

The proposal, sighted by RNZ, said some council members believed the current 12-member body was too big.

"The president and chief executive have received suggestions from current council members that the council is too large and council membership is not defined in the first instance by the skills and experience required," the proposal said.

"They have also heard that council has grown over time to accommodate representation from an increasing number of membership categories. This means several council members face a degree of role conflict in that they must balance their fiduciary responsibilities and legal accountabilities with the expectation that they will act as representatives of their specific constituencies, while one membership group still has no specific representation."

The proposal suggested reducing the council to three elected and three appointed members.

Association of Scientists president Dr Lucy Stewart said the proposal would remove seats elected by early career scientists, constituent organisations and two seats elected by Māori, shifting them instead to an advisory council.

"To eliminate all that representation on their governing council is a really serious step away we think from the good work they have been doing over the past 10 or 20 years to become a body for all research in Aotearoa New Zealand, rather than representing old white men in the sciences which is where the Royal Society started back in the UK 400 years ago," she said.

The society, Te Apārangi, should withdraw the proposal, she said.

It had been pitched as good governance, but it was not appropriate for a large, complex and representative organisation like the society.

Stewart said there did not appear to have been any governance failures that needed fixing.

Co-president Dr Troy Baisden said the proposal should not be confidential and limited to the society's members.

He said it would put the board in the hands of the society's fellows - researchers elected on the basis of distinction in research or for advancing science, technology or the humanities.

"The reduction in size, justified by an extreme interpretation of trends in corporate boards, would see the council's elected membership dominated by RSTA's Fellows. Control would be held only by a few members of the old guard who have succeeded in the research and academic system as it has operated over the last 30 years.

"All representative positions are proposed to be demoted and disempowered with representation only on an 'advisory committee'."

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