The Structure of ICLP: Functions, Organization and Administration

The following structure is established in order to continue the good traditions of ICLP and to secure the future development.

1. The International Conference on Lightning Protection (ICLP):

1.1. ICLP is an organization with the aims:

1. to stimulate and support research concerning lightning protection, including lightning phenomena and effects of lightning on systems, with particular interest on electrical and electronic systems.
2. to promote the exchange of results and experiences among scientists and professionals working within the field by establishing international fora, e.g. in the form of biannual conferences.
3. to ensure the effective transfer of new and reliable knowledge from lightning research into practice for the benefit of the society.

1.2. The individual conferences are organized by a Local Organization Committee according to guidelines given by the Scientific Committee of ICLP and according to the regulations presented in the Annex to the present STATUTE.

2. Administrative bodies of ICLP:

• Scientific and Steering Committee (SC)
• Executive Board (EB) of SC
• Local Organizing Committees (LOC)
• Technical Committees (TC)

3. Scientific and Steering Committee (SC) of ICLP

3.1. Structure and set-up of SC

1. SC consists of a maximum of 15 persons (excluding the Executive Board), appointed among scientists active within research of lightning phenomenology, lightning protection and related fields and with administrative responsibilities within an organization or institution.
2. The period of service of the SC member is 6 years with the option of re-election for a maximum of 2 additional periods of 6 years
3. At the SC meeting during each of the biannual ICLP Conferences, the current SC members may elect new members in case a vacancy has become available between the proposed candidates and old SC members proposed for the election (cf. p. 3.1.4)
   SC cannot have more than one member from any country at a time. In special cases, however, when it is beneficial to ICLP, one additional member from a given nation may be elected provided that consensus can be reached in the current SC
4. Justified proposals for new candidates (with written motivations and CVs for the proposed candidates), and for old SC-members suggested for re-election, may be submitted by external parties to the SC prior to the SC meeting, and during the SC meeting by any member of the SC
5. In addition to what specified in 3.1.2, the SC membership comes to an end by resignation or retirement, taking effect after the next conference
6. SC may appoint honorary members to SC for outstanding service to ICLP. The honorary members have no vote in SC matters
7. SC will appoint SC members passed away as honorary members in memoriam
8. All members of ICLP’s Scientific Committee, now and in the future, are obliged to agree in the scope and goal of ICLP and are committed actively to work for their fulfilments in practice and not to be engaged in supporting other protection devices and methods not fully accepted by scientific community.

3.2. Responsibility of SC

• Selection of topics for ICLP editions
• Selection of location for the individual ICLP editions
• Definition of the framework for the arrangements of the individual ICLP editions and definition of the procedure for the management of the conferences, sessions, presentations, publications etc.
• Approval of the chairman and members of the Local Organizing Committee (LOC) for the next ICLP edition, estimation and/or approval of the preliminary conference budget and final conference accounts
• Selection or approval of the chairman and vice-chairman of the TC (cf. section 6).
• Selection of contributions to the individual ICLP editions on the basis of synopses submitted by potential authors
• Liason with other professional bodies
• Formulation and implementation of policies to ensure the future continuity and progressive development of the ICLP.

4. Executive Board (EB) of ICLP:

4.1. EB of ICLP consists of a president, a vice president, a scientific secretary, and a technical secretary

4.2. The president, vice president and scientific secretary are elected by and among the SC members for a period of 4 years with the option of re-election for a maximum of 2 additional periods of 4 years. The president and vice president function at the same time as chairman and vice chairman of SC

4.3. The technical secretary of SC is appointed by the president for the same period to support the president in his tasks

NOTE: As the technical secretary should support the president in his duties, the president may select the secretary from inside or outside ICLP in order to achieve the best possible teamwork.

4.4. Responsibilities of EB

• Administration of current business
• Organization of the meetings of SC
• Preparation of the agenda for the individual SC meetings
• Co-operation with SC to provide suggestions for the solution of problems in connection with current work as well as problems that may arise during and between individual meetings, and the supervision and conduction of the necessary work
• Representation of SC and ICLP verbally and in writing.

5. Local Organizing Committee (LOC) of ICLP editions

5.1. LOC of ICLP edition is proposed by representatives of a National Organization or a relevant Institution of the individual country willing to take the responsibility of organizing the ICLP edition. The final approval of the leading persons of LOC (chairman and members of the organizing committee) is given by the SC.

5.2. Responsibilities of the LOC

• Preparation of the preliminary conference budget to be estimated and approved by SC
• Arrangement and running of the conference within the framework established or approved by SC (cf. section 3.2 3)
• Preparation of the budget for the conference for submission to and approval by SC within 3 months after the end of the conference
• Transfer of the SC-share of the conference fee within 6 months after the end of the individual conference (cf. section 7)
• More exhaustive guidelines for the LOC are given in Annex A.

6. Technical Committee (TC) of the sessions of ICLP editions

6.1. TC members are appointed by SC in cooperation with the LOC

6.2. Responsibilities of the Technical Committee (TC)

• The main responsibility of the TC is to handle the reviewing process of the submitted contributions in order to grant the high quality of the accepted papers.
• The TC appoints the advocates from the SC members or outside the SC if necessary.
• The advocates are expected to appoint reviewers guided by the existing list of reviewers.
• The TC appoints session chairs and co-chairs after consultation with SC and LOC.

7. The budget of SC:

7.1. To ensure the continuity of the activity of the Executive Board, the LOC sets aside a share of the fees from the individual ICLP editions (for inst. a fixed percentage hereof or a fixed amount according to the budget). Within a period of six months after the end of a given ICLP edition, this sum is transferred to the ICLP EB for his disposal.

7.2. The chairman of SC submits his financial report (budget for the coming period and accounts for the preceding period) to be approved by SC at the SC meeting during the individual ICLP edition.

Annex A

Guidance and Rules for the arrangement of ICLP editions:

In addition to the requirements given in the body of the ICLP Statute, the present Guidance and Rules should make it possible to arrange conferences in different countries while still ensuring that the individual editions have similar structures.

General requirements:

According to the Statute the Executive Board (EB), Scientific Committee (SC) and especially the Local Organizing Committees (LOC) of ICLP should comply with the following requirements:

• Prevent activities, advertisements, promotion and exhibitions of non-conventional Lightning Protection Systems that might be dangerous to be used, and Systems that the EB and SC has warned against, until the claimed properties have been accepted by the SC.
• The LOC of ICLP editions and meetings are obliged to eliminate any sponsorship from manufacturers and distributors of non-conventional and non-verified Lightning Protection Systems in order to prevent any indirect advertisement.
• The homepage of the individual ICLP editions and its content should follow the recommendations given by the EB and SC and contain a link to the central homepage of ICLP.

Review process:

Only scientific or technical papers of sufficient high standard should be accepted. The LOC is supposed to request for full papers which need at least two reviews. The web tool for the review process should be chosen by LOC after consultation with TC.

Full papers should be confidentially evaluated by the TC and/or by additional reviewers.
The following types of papers should be rejected:

• Papers concerning non-conventional and non-verified air termination systems that do not contain critical discussions and analyses.
• Full Papers with less than 3 pages.

The TC should screen the submitted proposal for papers and present the result and their distribution in the relevant sessions for discussion and approval at the appropriate SC meeting.

The Choice of Conference Location, Facilities and Social Events:

The conferences should first and foremost focus on working sessions, where lightning professionals, scientists, engineers, manufacturers, individuals from the practical implementation of lightning protection and students meet to inspire each other and exchange knowledge. Therefore, the conference location and the facilities at the conference should be selected to stimulate these aims.

In order to keep the cost for participating in the conference within limits, especially for students and retired persons, the social activities and the comfort level of the conference location should be selected accordingly.

Finally, the tourist activities should be kept within limits to facilitate an effective utilization of the conference period, especially when the conference duration is reduced to 4 days.

Pre- and post tours, as well as companion program, are more than welcome.

History