Dear participants, dear members

Please find the tentative program for the 20th IALS Conference in Heidelberg, Germany (5th‐8th October 2023) here: DOWNLOAD (PDF).

Please also read the information regarding the upcoming elections during this conference in the last post.

Dear Member,
We have all Executive Committee posts up for re-election at the Association’s forthcoming conference in Heidelberg this year.
These posts are:
– President
– Secretary
– Editor
– Treasurer/Membership Secretary
– Ladakh Liaison Officer (Leh and Kargil)
– Webmaster
IALS invites nominations with immediate effect, with the intention of voting for candidates and ratifying the final decisions at the next General Meeting in Heidelberg, 2023. The Association’s Executive Committee is responsible for overseeing the functioning of the Association, encouraging participation, facilitating research in Ladakh and publishing the works of the Association’s members, as well as promoting the Association and its work internationally and ensuring members are kept up-to-date on relevant news and events. According to the current constitution of IALS, the term of office for each post is four years i.e. two full conference cycles. The general responsibilities of these posts are detailed below:

President
The responsibilities of the President include (but are not limited to) chairing the Executive Committee, chairing the General Meeting of the Association, and representing the Association in the public domain.
Sonam Wangchok is the incumbent president.

Secretary
The responsibilities of the Secretary include (but are not limited to) the drafting and dissemination of the Agenda for the General Meetings, taking the minutes of general meetings and publicising key changes and decisions made, managing the election of vacant posts on the Executive and Advisory Committees, and liaising with the Conference Convenor over the organisation of individual conferences.
Elizabeth Williams-Oeberg is the incumbent secretary.

Editor
The responsibilities of the Editor are to oversee the publication of the journal, Ladakh Studies including the double-blind peer review process, assist in the publication of conference proceedings and oversee the website and social media outreach.
Sunetro Ghosal is the incumbent Editor

Treasurer/Membership Secretary
The responsibilities of the Treasurer/Membership Secretary are to maintain the Association’s membership database, manage the accounts of the Association, and operate the Association’s bank account in the UK. In view of the last responsibility, this position should ideally be held by a person based in the UK.
Lauren Smyth is the incumbent Treasurer/Membership Secretary.

Ladakh Liaison Officer (Leh and Kargil)
The responsibilities of the Ladakh Liaison Officers are to coordinate various activities in Ladakh, operate the bank account in Leh, collect membership fees and other Ladakh-based activities related to the Association’s functioning
Fayaz Ali (Kargil) and Tsewang Rigzin (Leh) are the incumbent Ladakh Liaison Officers

Webmaster
The responsibilities of the Webmaster are to maintain the website and update it on a regular basis. This is done in consultation with other members of the Executive Committee.
Sebastian Forneck is the incumbent webmaster.

In addition, all 12 posts in the Advisory Committee are also up for election. Members of the Advisory Committee provide important inputs and support to the Executive Committee on various matters related to the work of the Association.
The incumbent members of the Advisory Committee are Dr Iqbal Ahmed, Monisha Ahmed, Amjad Ali, John Bray, Laurianne Bruneau, Juliane Dame, Quentin Devers, Kacho Mumtaz Khan, Gulzar Hussein Munshi, Thupstan Nurboo, Tsewang Rigzin, and Tashi Ldawa Tsangspa

In recent years Ladakh Studies have seen an expanding membership, an extension of the frontiers of our research, and a wider audience reach. This expansion has been assisted by advances in communications, opportunities for travel, and a continuously changing geopolitical landscape, all of which provide us with opportunities to access new networks and build new partnerships with neighbouring regions. Membership of the Executive Committee and Advisory Committee provides opportunities to respond and take advantage of these changes, to raise the international profile of Ladakh Studies and the work that we do, and to influence the future direction of the Association.

If you are interested in being considered for one of the forthcoming posts on the Executive Committee or the Advisory Committee, or if you know of somebody who you wish to nominate who you think can take Ladakh Studies forward, please email their name to editor@ladakhstudies.org.

The deadline to file nominations or propose names (with the consent of the candidate) is 20 September 2023. Following nomination, the election committee will publicise the names of the candidates.
Sunetro Ghosal and Sonam Wangchok will oversee the election process as they will not be contesting the election.

If you are unable to attend the conference and would like to cast your vote by email, please get in touch with the election committee at the above email ID.

In the meantime, on behalf of the members of the IALS, we would like to take this opportunity to thank the current incumbents of the posts up for election for their commitment to Ladakh Studies and hard work in bringing the Association to the point where we are now.