Important Notice

Dear Member,

We have four Executive Committee posts up for re-election at the Association’s forthcoming conference in Leh this year.

These posts are:

• The President
• The Secretary
• Treasurer/Membership Secretary
• Ladakh Liaison Officer
• The Webmaster

IALS will begin fielding nominations immediately, with the intention of voting for candidates and ratifying the final decisions at the next General Meeting in Leh, 2019.

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:

The 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.

Dr Sonam Wangchok is the incumbent president.

The 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.

Dr. Konchok Paldan is the incumbent secretary.

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 someone based on the UK.

Dr Andrea Butcher was the incumbent Treasurer/Membership Secretary. Lauren Smyth has kindly agreed to take on the responsibility of Treasurer/Membership Secretary till the upcoming conference and has been co-opted for this period.

Ladakh Liaison Officer

The responsibilities of the Ladakh Liaison Officer 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  

Tashi Morup is the incumbent Ladakh Liaison Officer

The 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, Quentin Devers, Catherine Allie, Namgail Angmo and Samina Rahman were nominated and co-opted to form a web-team at the 4 May, 2017 general meeting at Bedlewo. Their nomination needs to be confirmed.

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 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 our Executive 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 Saturday, 31th July 2019. Following nomination, the election committee will publicise the names of the candidates.

Sunetro Ghosal will oversee the election process as his position is not due for election at the 2019 conference in Leh.

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.