ICGTD-Constitution

ICGTD Structure and Objectives

1.0 Aims

The International Council on Grapevine Trunk Diseases (ICGTD) is a non-profit organization with no sponsors or membership fees. All activities related to the ICGTD are carried out on a volunteer basis with the unique aim of promoting personal contacts, collaboration, and exchange of information among the scientists involved in research on grapevine trunk diseases.

2.0 Executive Council composition

The Executive Council of the ICGTD is composed of the Board, the organizers of past-workshops (for 10 years after the workshop they organized), the Honorary members, the designated next workshop organizer and other ICGTD members that are presented and accepted by the Executive Council in recognition of significant activity in GTDs research. The Executive council meets before the beginning of every International Workshop of Grapevine Trunk Diseases (IWGTD). Online Council meetings should be held once a year and organized by the Chair of the ICGTD. The decisions taken are valid only if 2/3 of the members are present.

2.1 Founding members. The ICGTD was founded on July 21, 1998 by Luigi Chiarappa, Philippe Larignon, Lucie Morton, Laura Mugnai, Ian Pascoe, and Lisa van de Water, who remain founding members.

2.2 Board members. The Board consists of the Chairperson, the past chairperson, the funding members, the Regional coordinators, and the International Society for Plant Pathology (ISPP) Subject Matter Committee (SMC) chairperson (see 6.0).

2.3 Chairperson. The organizer of a workshop becomes the next Chairperson of the ICGTD at the end of the workshop. The Chairperson, with the help of other Board members, is responsible for leading the Council. The Chairperson in charge at the beginning of the workshop will prepare the agenda for the Council meeting and, in collaboration with the workshop organizer who is going to become the next Chairperson, takes minutes of the meeting. These will be made available on the website so that the decisions taken can be shared. The chairperson is in charge of keeping a list of members available to the Council, the details of which will be decided by the Council, by setting up a format for the Excel list of members. The list of members includes all the data asked in the membership application form online.

2.4 Regional coordinators. They are nominated and confirmed at each meeting of the executive council to be held on the occasion of each IWGTD, with the task of representing and communicating with their local ICGTD members. The Regional coordinators are responsible for gathering, checking and updating, in collaboration with the chairperson, the information on each member available before a workshop and to add new members receiving the member application form. Regional coordinators are nominated for: Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, South America, Oceania.

2.5 Honorary members. Honorary members shall be proposed by an Executive Council member of the ICGTD and approved by the Executive Council itself based on their exceptional research contributions to the research field of GTDs.

3.0 ICGTD membership

All those who have a specific interest and involvement in grapevine trunk diseases research and have attended one or more workshops or are introduced by an active member are entitled to become members. To become a member of the ICGTD applicants will need to fill in the membership form online. The Chairperson or their regional coordinator will validate their membership.

4.0 Tasks and delimitation of activities

Grapevine fungal trunk diseases include the ones whose causal agents are located in the framework (root, trunk and cordons) of grapevines, such as Esca and related diseases, Eutypa dieback, Botryosphaeria dieback, Diaporthe (syn. Phomopsis) dieback, and Black foot. New diseases to be included in the group will be proposed, discussed and decided during the Executive Council meeting.

5.0 ICGTD Website

The ICGTD, with the assistance of all its members, operates a website that contains the following information:

A brief introduction and overview of the ICGTD
The ICGTD's structure and objectives
The tasks and interests of the ICGTD
Details of the Council's composition
Up-to-date information on any workshops organized by the ICGTD.

The website may also include:

Recommended links to other websites that may be of interest to ICGTD members.
A list of literature on GTDs with special attention to useful references not commonly found in standard databases (optional).
Links to descriptive pages on the primary pathogens involved (optional).
Links to descriptive pages on the main diseases of interest to the ICGTD (optional). List of main ongoing or recently finished projects (optional)

ISPP Subject Matter Committee.

The ICGTD is also recognized by the ISPP as Subject Matter Committees (SMCs), which are specialist committees established (or endorsed) by the International Society for Plant Pathology to address and report on special fields or problems in plant pathology [ISPP Statute 5 (b)].

7.0 Changes and amendments.

All changes to the present Structure and Objectives statement should be approved by the Executive Council by at least two thirds of the members, in presence or by email.

Minutes of Council Meetings

The ICGTD is also recognized by the International Society for Plant Pathology as an ISPP Subject Matter Committees (SMCs), which are specialist committees established (or endorsed) by the International Society for Plant Pathology to address and report on special fields or problems in plant pathology (ISPP Statute 5 (b)).

ISPP Subject Matter Committee: Grapevine Trunk Diseases
Chair: Laura Mugnai (laura.mugnai@unifi.it)