The International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) will soon have eight vacancies among our ordinary members, and we are seeking nominations for new Commissioners to be elected at the end of 2024. The eight vacancies in the Commission will replace Commissioners M. Bertling† (Germany; Ichnotaxa), M.J. Grygier (Taiwan; Crustacea), J. Kojima (Japan; Hymenoptera), M. Kottelat (Switzerland; Pisces), F.-T. Krell (USA; Coleoptera), S.O. Kullander (Sweden; Pisces), R. Pyle (USA; Pisces) and Z.-Q. Zhang (New Zealand; Acari).
The Commission hereby invites nominations, from any person, organisation or institution, of potential candidates for election. The nationalities and specialist fields of the present members of the Commission may be found on the ICZN website ( http://iczn.org/commissioners).
Article 2.2 of the Commission's Constitution prescribes that “The members of the Commission shall be eminent scientists, irrespective of nationality, with a distinguished record in any branch of zoology and an interest in zoological nomenclature”. Furthermore, according to Article 2.3 of the Constitution, the composition of the Commission shall be such as to secure representation of diverse interests.
The Commission is particularly encouraging applications by qualified persons who are: (1) women, (2) from geographic regions currently underrepresented in the Commission (e.g., Africa, Asia, South America), (3) with taxonomic specialties currently underrepresented within the Commission (e.g., fossils) and (4) with a methodological background needed to assess the impact of new and emerging technological developments.
Note that current activities within the Commission include monthly virtual meetings, voting on Cases every two months and participating in various activities (e.g., reviewing the contents of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature in preparation for the next edition; updating our Constitution and Bylaws as needed; reviewing or proofing Cases and Opinions). Based on Article 3.1.1 of the Commission's Constitution, the maximum term of service of a member of the Commission is eighteen years.
Nominations, giving the age, affiliation, nationality and qualifications of each nominee should be sent before 31 October 2024 to the ICZN Secretary (iczn@nus.edu.sg) together with a statement that the potential nominee will accept the nomination. Self-nominations are accepted.
As prescribed by Article 3 of our Bylaws, the list of nominees will be pared down to give a slate containing twice the number of names required to fill the vacancies. Members of the ICZN are elected via a secret ballot as mandated by our Constitution. The most recent election was arranged in 2021 and was for the first time held through an online voting portal, which allowed for a much-improved number and geographic coverage of voters (Harvey et al., 2022).
