Conference Fees

coinsThe debate continues

The Fees Committee was mandated to generate proposals for the Istanbul conference.

IAMCR Fee Committee: Interim Report
March 14, 2011

The IAMCR fee committee was proposed by President Sreberny at the General Assembly of the IAMCR in 2010, Portugal in response to a number of issues and proposals raised by the Emerging Scholars` Network.  In November 2010 President Sreberny established the fees committee.  She invited the following individuals as members:

  • Annabelle Sreberny, IAMCR President, Professor, University of London (Chair)
  • Helena Sousa, Co-Coordinator of the Local Organizing Committee for the 2010 IAMCR conference in Portugal; Chair of IAMCR’s Political Economy Section; Associate Professor, University of Minho, Portugal
  • Bruce Girard, Director of Fundación Comunica, IAMCR's virtual secretariat
  • Mohammed Sahid Ullah, Co-Vice Chair of IAMCR’s Law Section
  • Jeremy Shtern, IAMCR member; Postdoctoral Fellow, Ryerson University
  • Sara Bannerman, Co-Chair of the Emerging Scholars’ Network, Postdoctoral Fellow, Australian National University

The committee held email-based discussions in November and December in response to nine proposals set out by President Sreberny.  This report constitutes an interim report of the discussions held so far.  A final report, with a fuller set of recommendations, will be issued before the 2011 conference in Istanbul.

While the committee has not yet finished its discussions, general agreement has been reached on several of President Sreberny’s proposals:

  • The President proposed that each year, some preference be given to supporting members living in low-income countries within the region of the conference (ie, give Middle Eastern/ North African countries preference for the Istanbul conference).  The committee generally agreed that this would be appropriate on a case-by-case basis, but members of the committee were generally opposed to establishing this as a set principle to be followed every year, since the situation might differ from year to year.
  • The President proposed to discuss the possibility of eliminating early registration. This proposal was put forward in response to the concern raised by the Emerging Scholars’ Network that students are often forced to register early in order to obtain reduced fees, before they know whether they will receive funding to attend the conference.  Members of the committee agreed that eliminating early registration entirely was not a viable option, since the Local Organizing Committee needs this mechanism for the purposes of planning.  A number of related suggestions are being discussed.
  • Daily conference fees, as opposed to a flat rate for the whole conference, were discussed as an option.  Following discussion, the committee unanimously opposed the daily rate option because it was feared that it would reduce full participation in the conference, and due to the logistical difficulties it would pose for the conference organizers.
  • The President proposed that conference fundraising and sponsorship should be taken on more pro-actively by IAMCR and not just the Local Organizing Committee.  The committee agreed with this proposal and a number of ideas and suggestions related to fundraising and sponsorship have been raised.

On the remaining proposals put forward by the President, the committee continues its discussions.  They are:

  • That conferences should be recognised/formalised as a source of revenue for IAMCR. No agreement has yet been reached on this proposal.
  • That excess revenue from fees should be used to provide partial or full scholarships for members living in low-income countries and/or emerging/young scholars. There was some agreement with this proposal, but numerous alternate and additional suggestions were also brought to the table.  The President also posed this related question: How to deal with members who are nationals of low-income countries temporarily in residence in high-income countries? The committee continues to debate this question.
  • That conference fees should be pegged to a certain level (i.e. last year's fees, or last year's plus 25/30 euros).   No agreement has yet been reached on this proposal.
  • That a maximum fee level should be set. No agreement has yet been reached on this proposal.
  • That fees should be as low as possible, including introducing tiers of participation (for example, with or without meals and other social events).  Question: Will this break the ethos of IAMCR events?  No agreement has yet been reached on this proposal.  Discussion within the committee over what “as low as possible” means has led to a number of suggestions.

Again, a final report, with a fuller set of recommendations, will be issued before the 2011 conference in Istanbul.  Comments and suggestions may be sent to Jeremy Shtern (jshtern_at_ryerson.ca) and Sara Bannerman (sara.bannerman_at_gmail.com).