Draft Constitution of the

European Social Simulation Association

I. Name of the Association. The name of this organization is the ‘European Social Simulation Association (ESSA).

II. Purpose of the Association. The objectives of ESSA are:

1) to encourage the advancement of social simulation research including

a. the design and implementation of computational models of actual and artificial societies and institutions

b. the use of computational models to support social policy analysis

c. the use of social simulation to inform software engineering design

2) to promote cooperation among European social scientists, computer scientists and scholars and practitioners from other disciplines using computational models and methodologies to advance social understanding.

3) To promote wider international cooperation in the creation and support of an international federation of similar societies and associations that may be or may have been established in other regions of the world.

4) To encourage and support the development in Europe of [post-graduate?] education in social simulation by

a. Providing support for the development of courses involving universities and research institutions from several European countries

b. Accrediting courses offered by European institutions

5) To hold a conference at least biennially for members of the Association as well as occasional workshops and other meetings of a more specialised focus.

6) To liaise with other associations, societies in the coordination of the international programme of conferences and meetings of interest to scholars and practitionaers undertaking research in, or developing applications of, social simulation.

III. Membership of the Association. ESSA membership shall be open to scholars, practitioners and students who

1) are in agreement with the objectives of the Society

2) pay annual dues appropriate for their membership category.

IV. The Management Committee. The affairs of the association shall be managed by officers and a Management Committee, each of whom shall be elected by the members of the Association.

1) The officers of the association shall be:

a) The President who shall be the chair of the Management Committee

b) The Secretary who shall be responsible for organising the meetings and recording the deliberations and decisions of the Management Committee.

c) The Treasurer who shall be responsible for the financial affairs of the Association.

d) The Conference Secretary who shall be responsible for organising the Association’s conference and for liaising with any wider federation of this and similar societies in the organisation of wider international conferences.

2) There shall be a maximum of 10 members of the Management Committee, including its officers.

3) The officers of the association shall be elected to serve terms of two years and the other members of the Management Committee shall be elected to serve terms of three years.

4) The founding Management Committee shall be replaced by elected officers and other members from 1^st January, 2003.

V. Membership Dues. To encourage broad participation, subscription fees will be modest. The specific categories and amounts of subscription rates shall be set by the Management Committee. Initially, full member subscriptions will be €50 per annum and student member dues will be €30 per annum. The subscription fee will include a subscription to the Association’s journal.

VI. Section Organization. Members of the Association will be encouraged to form specialised sections according to their particular interests.

VII. ESSA by-laws will be formulated by the Management Committee consistently with this constitution and approved by majority vote of the membership of the Association. By-laws may be used to specify officers, committees and their associated responsibilities, establish membership categories and associated dues, and create specialised sections.

This constitution can be amended by majority approval of the membership of the Association.