CLSS-UK Call for new committee members in Wales, Northern Ireland and Manchester

The Chinese Life Scientists Society in the UK (CLSS-UK) is one of the earliest and biggest professional societies for overseas Chinese in the UK. CLSS-UK aims at providing a platform and bridge for its members to exchange information, share experience, collaborate with each other and contribute to the reconstruction of our motherland, China. The Society was established in 1992 and since then, run by members and for members, has evolved through 15 years of success, growing bigger and stronger. Recently, the CLSS-UK (2007-2009) Committee has been launched and the following missions have been planned for the coming two years:

·        Strengthening collaborations with governmental and non-governmental organisations and institutions in the UK and in China, in particular with the Chinese Embassy in the UK, other professional societies in the UK, Students and Scholars Association in the UK and higher education institutions and research institutes in China.

·        Reforming the CLSS-UK framework to ensure members at all stages of their career all across the UK are catered;

·        Establishing the Chinese Academy of Life Sciences in the UK, Fellows of which are Chinese principal investigators in any disciplines related to life sciences, to promote the collaboration of principal investigators in the UK nationally and internationally, especially with those in China;

·        Improving the traditional style of our annual academic meetings by introducing more socialising and interactive activities;

·        Creating more opportunities to hold regional workshops to allow young investigators to learn from the successful stories of established figures in academia and industry;

·        Providing more useful online resources to members and partners by running Chinese and English versions of the CLSS-UK website in parallel and by activating the BBS fora.

·        Updating the CLSS-UK Constitution to facilitate the long-term development of the Society.

To materialise the above missions and other initiatives from our members, the CLSS-UK is now calling for new standing committee members. This call is open to all Chinese life scientists and professionals in any related fields. The candidates must be working or studying in the UK regardless of the stage of their career development. It is essential that they are willing to volunteer in serving the CLSS-UK and its members and to provide ideas, time and transferable expertise to the Society. Since most existing standing committee members are from England and Scotland we especially welcome applicants from Wales and Northern Ireland and Great Manchester area.  It is highly desirable if you have experience and skills in organising regional, national and international activities.

It is noteworthy that CLSS-UK is a non-profitable organisation rather than an employer. Although CLSS-UK requests standing committee members to promise some extent of commitment in the form of ideas, time, expertise and skills, all CLSS-UK staff are volunteers and are not paid. Of course, the standing committee membership does come with a wonderful package of opportunities to make friends, set up collaborations and practise your organisational and enabling skills.

Should you have any inquiries, please call Dr Qihe XU, Chairman of the CLSS-UK: 07961 067 996. If you are interested to apply, please send the following supporting documents to both Dr Qihe XU (qihe.xu@kcl.ac.uk ) and Dr Xin FANG, Secretary-General of the CLSS-UK (xin.fang@warwick.ac.uk).

1. A full CV including all your contact details, educational and working experience, evidence of your organisational and enabling expertise, research expertise and recent publication list;

2. A one-page personal statement listing (i) why you want this opportunity; (ii) what activities/events you would like to propose and would like to organise if you join the standing committee.

3. Names and contact details of up to three referees are desirable.

The closing deadline is the 28th January 2008. The existing Standing Committee will discuss all applications and short-listed people will be interviewed by phone.