GRG Society Fellowships

Current List of Fellows

Background and Criteria

The International Society for General Relativity and Gravitation has instituted Fellowships to recognize its outstanding members. In a steady state we expect the total number of Fellows to constitute approximately 10% of the membership. To reach this goal and to ensure that younger members of our Society are also elected in the initial rounds, a special procedure (see below) was used for GR19 and GR20.

The primary criterion for election is excellence in research, especially the impact of candidate's work on the development of our field. The candidate will be generally expected to have made additional contributions to the field, for example through service, and/or outreach, and/or books and monographs, etc. In exceptional cases such criteria could constitute the primary basis of nomination provided these activities have had influence on a significant portion of our community, not just the home institution of the candidate.

How to Nominate

Nominations will be due approximately six months before the GRG conference, normally by December 31st of the year before the conference. Any member of the Society can make nominations but self nominations will not be considered. The nomination packet will consist of PDF files (if at all possible) containing: i) A letter summarizing the basis for nomination; ii) An up to date CV and publication list of the nominee; iii) 1 to 3 supporting letters from the members of the Society, preferably from Fellows, and iv) A proposed citation. The nomination should be forwarded to the ISGRG Secretary/Treasurer, David Garfinkle (garfinkl@oakland.edu), who will answer any questions.

Additional details of the process

In consultation with the Executive committee, the President of the Society will appoint a Committee of Electors a year and a half before each tri-annual GRG conference. The Committee will consist of a Chairperson and 2-4 additional members, ensuring a balance among sub-fields and geographical locations. In addition, the President, President Elect, Past President and the Secretary of the Society will be ex-Officio (voting) members of the committee. Electors can make additional nominations during their deliberations. Results of the election will be announced at least three months prior to the GRn conference to allow the new Fellows enough time to make travel arrangements (should the meeting not have a virtual component). New Fellows will be inducted during the Business Meeting of the Society.

With approval of a majority of the voting members of the International Committee, future executive committees may change the nomination and election procedure from time to time, keeping in mind that the goal of the program is to recognize outstanding members of the Society.

Note that the process of the previous paragraph was followed to change the rules regarding carry-over of nominations from previous years. This is no longer done. Only nominations submitted in the year prior to a given GRn will be considered for induction at that meeting.

Archived Special Procedures for GR19 and GR20

i) Fellows will be elected once every three years, prior to the GRG conferences. For the first two rounds (GR19 and GR20), at least half the number of Fellows elected in any one round should be of 45 years or less of age on the day the conference begins.

ii) The fellowship committees for GR19 and GR20 will be asked to elect 10 fellows each. Thereafter, the committee will elect approximately 1.5% of the members per 3-year cycle. The precise number for each round will be established at the prior GR meeting by the Executive committee of the Society.

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