The European Systemic functional Linguistics Association (ESFLA) is a not-for-profit organization whose objectives are:
Any person who attends one of the Association’s annual conferences automatically becomes a member of the Association. There are no membership fees.
An AGM will be held at the annual conference each year. If no Association conference is held in a given year, but a conference of the International Association of Systemic Functional Linguistics (ISFLA) is held in Europe that year, the AGM will be held at the ISFLA conference. Where no ESLFA or ISFLA conference is held in Europe in a given year, the AGM will be delayed until the following year.
A quorum will be 12 members of the Association. At the meeting the Chair and the Treasurer will give annual reports to the members of the Association, and these reports will be published on the Association website. A motion proposed at the AGM will be considered passed if it is supported by two thirds of the members present.
The Association will be run between AGMs by a Committee consisting of the Executive and Elected Representatives. The Executive will consist of the Chair and the Association Treasurer. The Elected Representatives will consist of four members of the Association each representing a different region of Europe. The Executives and Elected Representatives are the Office Bearers of the Association.
Ex-officio members of the Committee will be the immediate past ESFLA Chair, the immediate past Conference Chair, the present Conference chair, and the upcoming Congress Chair. The ex-officio members will not have votes within the committee matters, unless they also happen to be office-bearing members of the Committee.
The Committee will be empowered to co-opt up to three additional members as needed for special projects. In the case of a vacancy after the election, the Committee may appoint a member until the next election.
The Committee is responsible for coordinating the activities of the Association.
These duties include:
Terms of Committee members:
The Executive and Elected Committee members will be elected for three years.
Sub-Committees
The Committee may set up permanent and/or ad hoc sub-committees as needed. It will be open to the Executive on the advice of the Committee or the AGM to create any such sub-committees needed. Sub-committees for special projects are empowered to co-opt additional members from outside the existing committee structure when needed.
Committee meetings:
The Committee will meet annually prior to the AGM. In addition, the Committee will maintain contact during the year in order to deal with any issues and/or emergencies that arise.
Nominations for new Committee members:
Elections will be held every three years. At that time, nominations must be made in writing with the signatures of two ESFLA members and the written consent of the nominee. Nominations can come from either i) Committee members, or ii) ordinary members who have attended at least three previous conferences of the association. The nomination must be delivered to the Executive before the annual AGM of the election year. If there are insufficient nominations, then nominations may be made at the AGM of the election year from the floor. If there is more than one nomination for any office, the Executive will arrange a ballot.
Any proposal to modify or dissolve the Constitution can come from any Committee member or ordinary member who has attended at least three previous conferences of the Association. The proposal will be voted on at the AGM and accepted if it is supported by at least two thirds of the members present.