Nominations Now Open for ORCID Board Elections 2025!

I’m pleased to announce that nominations for ORCID’s Board of Directors are now open. As a community-built organization, ORCID is governed by a Board that is representative of its membership and wider community stakeholders. The ORCID Board fulfills an important role in the organization’s governance by providing strategic guidance and oversight for the successful achievement of ORCID’s mission. Our Board members are elected for three-year terms on a staggered schedule, so every year, we hold elections to appoint new members to the Board. More information is available in the ORCID Board Charter.

This is your opportunity to participate in ORCID’s governance and we are asking for your help.

Nominating Committee & Elections Process

The ORCID Board nominations process gives ORCID members a direct voice in the organization’s direction and priorities. Our annual elections are an important part of ORCID’s commitment to open and transparent stakeholder governance, and the election process ensures that ORCID grows and develops in close partnership with its members.

All ORCID member organizations are eligible to nominate a representative to stand for election to serve as a Member-Director on the Board. In addition, two seats on the Board are reserved for Researcher-Directors who are practicing scholars and do not need to be affiliated with an ORCID member organization.

This year, we are looking to fill up to four Member-Director board seats. To apply to be a Member-Director, you must be affiliated with an ORCID member organization.

As this year’s Chair of the Nominating Committee, I look forward to working closely with the other Committee members on this process:

• Chris Chan, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong (External Member)
• Nicolas Fressengeas, Université de Lorraine, France (Board Member)
• Amal Amin Ibrahim, National Research Center, Egypt (Board Member)
• Kalynn Kennon, University of Oxford, UK (Board Member)
• Yasuhiro Murayama, National Institute of Information and Communications Technology, (Japan (External Member)
• Ellen Tise, Stellenbosch University, South Africa (Board Member)

The role of the Nominating Committee is to:

• select a ‘slate’ of candidates that is balanced and diverse
• ensure that all of the skills needed to govern the organization are present among Board members
• ensure that the many different sectors and regions that make up ORCID’s community are represented
• Ensure the ORCID bylaw requirements are met in that a majority of Board seats are occupied by not-for-profit organizations.

Annual reports and other governance information is available on our Governance web page.

Qualifications and expectations

Supported by the Executive Director and a full-time professional staff, the ORCID Board is responsible for:

• Developing and regularly updating ORCID’s strategic plan
• Reviewing high-level organizational goals and policies to support that plan
• Overseeing ORCID’s organizational and financial performance
• Ensuring ORCID has financial resources to achieve its mission
• Monitoring Board function
• Appointing the Executive Director and reviewing their performance
• Serving as a community advocate for ORCID

More information about the Board’s role and responsibilities can be found in the Board Charter.

If elected, new Board members will serve for a period of three years, starting in February 2025. Board Directors are expected to attend all board meetings—currently there are four meetings a year, two virtual, and two in person—and to play an active role in ORCID activities during the course of their term, including serving on one or two Board committees.

 All meetings are conducted in English and applicants mustbe fluent in English. 

2025 Selection Criteria

Each year, our Board establishes criteria for the selection of new Board members in order to maintain the balance of skills necessary to govern the organization, and to ensure diverse representation from ORCID’s stakeholder communities. This year, in seeking perspectives and skills complementary to those of continuing Board members, the Nominating Committee will be specifically looking for candidates who meet one or more of the following:

• Are based in Asia and can advocate on behalf of ORCID in the region
• Are skilled in the areas of technology, cybersecurity, or finance
• Are members of one of the following stakeholder groups: publishers, vendors, or funders
• Have experience in organizational governance

Time Commitment

In-person Board meetings typically last two days and take place in February and September. The meetings are hosted by member organizations in different regions across the globe. Board members are expected to travel to attend in-person board meetings. To help achieve our goal of broad representation across sectors and regions, a Board Meeting Attendance Fund is available to reduce financial barriers to participation in Board meetings for those Directors whose organizations are unable to support their travel costs.

Virtual Board meetings take place in May and November and are four hours each. Virtual Board meetings are split across two days to best accommodate the wide range of time zones on our global Board. This means meetings may take place outside of your standard working hours.

In addition to attending Board meetings, Board members are expected to serve on one or two Board committees each year. With the exception of the Executive Committee, Board committees generally meet virtually four times a year. Meetings tend to be one hour and may be held outside of your normal working hours due to the time zone constraints of other committee members. More information around committee roles and responsibilities can be found in the committee charters listed on our governance page.

Board members are responsible for reviewing meeting materials and making substantive contributions to the work of the Board and its committees.

How to Apply

Please nominate yourself, encourage a colleague to apply, or nominate another individual (with their permission), using our nomination form:

• Member Representative Director Nomination Form

As a reminder, to be eligible to serve as a Member-Director on the Board, you must be an employee, officer or director of a current ORCID member organization. You can find the full list of ORCID member organizations here.

As an organization, we are committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). We strive to have a Board that reflects our diverse community and we encourage individuals from traditionally underrepresented groups to apply to serve on the Board.

Key Dates

We will consider all nominations received by 28 June 2024. The slate will be presented to the current Board for approval at its September meeting, after which it will be announced publicly. Our voting members then have the choice of either voting for the slate or proposing additional candidates (within 30 days of the slate being announced), in which case the election will become a plurality vote by candidate. To propose additional candidates, a group of 20 or more member organizations must submit a nomination in writing to ORCID before 30 October 2024. Note that the group may not include more than one member per consortium (for specific details, see Article III, Section 2b of ORCID’s Bylaws). We will send notifications and open the election by electronic ballot on 31 October 2024.

ORCID Board 2024 Election Key Dates

We look forward to receiving your nominations over the coming months.

If you are thinking about nominating yourself but aren’t sure or have questions, please get in touch at [email protected]. Remember, the deadline for nominations is 28 June 2024.