Rules and Code of Practice of the International Commission for Optics

Adopted by the ICO-16 General Meeting, Budapest, August 1993.

Modified by the ICO-17 General Meeting, Tajeon, August 1996.

Modified by the ICO-18 General Meeting, San Francisco, August 1999.

Modified by the ICO General Meeting, Florence, August 2002.

Modifications to be submitted to the ICO-20 General Meeting, Changchun, August 2005, are italicized.

Article 13 of the statutes of the International Commission for Optics mentions the possibility of establishing rules and codes of practice for ICO. In its meeting in Garmisch Partenkirchen on August 5, 1990, the ICO Bureau decided to setup such rules. These rules replace those adopted earlier and published in previous ICO Green Books such as "Towards ICO-XII", May 1982, pp 69-70.

Article 13 of the ICO statutes: "Rules and Codes of Practice.

Rules for the conduct of business determine procedures for dealing with matters not specifically laid down in these Statutes. They are meant to give guidance in general terms to the Bureau and to the Members in matters such as, for example, the provision of grants from the funds of the International Commission for Optics for Symposia and Schools.

The rules and codes of practice may not contravene the Statutes of the ICO. They are proposed by the Bureau. The adoption, modification, or abolition of any rule or code of practice shall require either a majority of two-thirds of the members voting at a General Meeting of the Commission, or alternatively a majority of two-thirds of the total number of votes of all Members in a postal vote on a proposal unanimously approved by the Bureau."

Table of contents

• 1 - Free Circulation of Scientists
• 2 - Membership
• 3 - General Meetings, votes and elections
• 4 - Classification for the participation of ICO in Meetings and Schools
• 5 - Relations with IUPAP
• 6 - ICO Committees
• 7 - ICO Travelling Lecturer Programme
• 8 - ICO Book
• 9 - ICO Prize
• 10 - ICO Galileo Galilei Medal
• 11 - ICO Fellowship Programme
• 12 - ICO Proceedings Donation Programme
• 13 - ICO Bureau Meetings
• 14- ICO/ICTP Award for Young Researchers from Developing Countries

Changes and additions decided by the Bureau, but not yet submitted to the General Assembly for approval, are italicised; the previous version, if there is one, is indicated in parentheses and barred. At the end of section 3, because of significant changes, a two column presentation has been used.

1 - Free Circulation of Scientists:

ICO adheres to the principles established by the International Council of Scientific Union (ICSU) concerning the free circulation of scientists. In particular, organisers of ICO meetings and of meetings cosponsored by ICO are requested to follow the "advice to organisers of international scientific meetings" issued by the ICSU Standing Committee on the free circulation of scientists.

Note: the address of ICSU is 51, boulevard de Montmorency, 75016 Paris, France - Telephone: +33 1 45 25 03 29 - fax: +33 1 42 88 94 31, icsu@lmcp.jussieu.fr, http://www.icsu.org

2 - Membership:

Application

This section complements article 3 of the statutes.

The following are normally provided by a Territorial Committee applying for full membership :

a) if the Territory is represented in IUPAP, a statement from the president of the body representing the Territory in IUPAP, that the Territorial Committee is authorised by that body to represent optical scientists and engineers of that Territory within ICO; if it is not, a motion to the same effect from a local scientific authority (Ministry, Academy, Council of Research,....);

b) a letter of application signed by the chair person or representative of the applicant Territorial Committee, including a statement of adherence of the Territorial Committee to the ICO Statutes;

c) a description of the organisation of the Territorial Committee, including the number of members, their designation procedure, their term of office, and the procedures that are set up to ensure a good representation of the optics community within the territory. If the Territory is not a member of IUPAP, the Territorial Committee and the ICO Secretary or Associate Secretary shall jointly take the necessary steps to request approval of the Territorial Committee by the council of IUPAP.

The application of a Territory for Associate Membership in ICO shall be made to the Secretary. It may be considered and approved by the Bureau. At the next General Meeting, the decision shall be made

• either, subject to the desire of the applicant, to transform the associate membership into regular membership,
• or to extend the associate membership until the next General Meeting,
• or to terminate the associate membership.

In the case of a Territorial Committee applying for Associate Membership, item a) is required if the Territory is represented in IUPAP; item b) is always required.

The following are normally provided by an International Organisation Member applying for membership (whether as full member or as associate member, except for the number of shares, that applies only to full members):

a) a letter of application signed by the President or its duly appointed representative, mentioning approval by the appropriate bodies in the Organisation, expressing adherence to the ICO Statutes, and including a proposition for the number of shares;

b) a description of the operation of the Organisation, as provided for example by its bylaws, statutes, rules and codes of practice, and showing indication of its international character. This includes the requirement that at least 20% of the members are from outside the most represented country The advice of the Territorial Committee (if any) in the most represented country will be considered.

Organisation and duties of Territorial Committees

The Territorial Committees normally have members elected or designated by some agreed procedure, with a well defined term of office; it is usually convenient for them to have a bureau or at least a chairperson; their organisation secures in all cases :

• a fair representation of the optics community in the Territory;
• approval and support of the scientific authorities of the Territory (Ministry, Academy, council of Research,...).

The ICO Bureau may at any time request information from the Territorial Committees about their organisation as described above.

Territorial committees maintain mailing lists of at least an extensive representative subset of the optics community in the territory. They will include in the mailing list any bona fide scientist with an address in their Territory and requesting to be included. They distribute at no charge to ICO any document sent to them in an appropriate quantity either by the ICO bureau or on its behalf. This applies in particular to the ICO Newsletter and to the Meetings and Schools with ICO participation.

Number of votes of International Organisation Members:

The number of votes Nv2 of an International Organisation Member is determined according to its number of shares Ns2 according to the following formula, rounded to the nearest integer but with a minimum of 1:

[Explanation note: e.g., assume the Territorial Committee members together have 200 shares and 100 votes (as is approximately the case in 1999). If the International Organisation Members (IOMs) together have 100 shares, they will have 50 votes (apart from round off errors). If the IOM have 200 shares, they will have 100 votes. If the IOM have 250 shares, they will still have 100 votes and no more. In fact, this is unlikely to happen in the near future, but this rule has been established in response to the concern about the Territorial Committee Members being dominated by the International Organisation Members and loosing control of the ICO.>

3 - General Meetings, votes and elections:

This section complements articles 4 and 8 of the statutes, that provide for a General Meeting of ICO every three years. ICO holds a Congress every three years. The ICO Congress consists of a business part, known as the ICO General Meeting, and an International Scientific Conference part.

Sessions :

Tradition holds that General Meetings are held in two sessions with more than 24 hours between the end of the first session and the beginning of the second session.

Attendance in the General Meeting

During any session of the General Meeting, the Secretary circulates a list of attendance. Each attendant signs the attendance list, indicating

• their capacity of ICO Bureau member, official delegate an ICO Territorial Committee, representative of an associate member, member of an ICO Committee, or observer (more than one category may apply);
• their country or ICO territory.

According to article 4 of the statutes, the number of official delegates of ICO Territorial Committees is equal to their respective numbers of votes. The number of official delegates may in no case exceed the number of votes, but if the actual number of official delegates at a General Meeting is smaller than the number of votes, the Territorial Committee still keeps the same number of votes.

Voting procedure :

Except as indicated in articles 8 (agenda of the General Meeting), 11 (duration of the commission), 12 (alterations to statutes) and 13 (alterations of the Rules and Codes of Practice) of the statutes, decisions of the General Meeting, including elections, are by a majority of the votes of the members present and taking part.

Except for the ICO Bureau election, where secret ballot is the rule, the ICO President decides whether votes need to be made by secret ballot. A member having N votes is provided with N ballot forms; this applies to both the Territorial Committee members and the International Organisation members. The member may decide to cast identical ballots or not.

Nomination procedure :

Candidates for the ICO Bureau may be nominated by the ICO nominating Committee (see section 6 below) and/or by the Territorial Committees. No other nomination may be received. The nominating Committee writes to the Territorial Committees at least one year before the election to request nominations for all positions in the ICO Bureau.

Endorsement of all candidates by their respective Territorial Committees is requested in all cases. In addition, Territorial Committees may endorse candidates from any Territory. At the time of the General Meeting, the delegation of the Territorial Committee to the General Assembly makes endorsements in its name.

Endorsement means that the person is considered by the endorsing Territorial Committee as a good person to stand for an ICO election and is to be understood as an intention, not an obligation, to support this candidate at the election, given the list of candidates at the time the endorsement is made.

The nominating Committee establishes a first list of candidates that is sent to the territorial Committees along with the agenda of the General Meeting.

Nominations may be received until 24 hours before the election. After the closure of nominations, the Nominating Committee establishes a final list of candidates. In addition, each candidate provides the Nominating Committee with a short curriculum vitae and a statement on his/her policy if elected for distribution to the General Meeting.

Except as provided in this and in the next subsection, there is no official campaign for the ICO Bureau.

Elections for the ICO Bureau

Bureau Elections are by secret ballot in all cases.

Tradition holds that :

• during the first session of the General Meeting, the Nominating Committee presents its report and indicates the current list of candidates for the ICO Bureau offices;
• elections are held during the second session of the General Meeting;
• for the offices of President, Treasurer, Secretary and Associate Secretary, each candidate is given, immediately before the vote, a short prescribed time (typically between 5 and 10 minutes) to present himself and his/her policy to the General Meeting. If their is only one candidate, that procedure is optional.

The elections are conducted by the chairperson of the Nominating Committee. After each vote, the Nominating Committee counts the votes and during that time, the General Meeting may treat agenda items other than the elections.

In the case of a tie for any vote, the elder candidate is declared elected.

For any vote, if the number of candidates is equal to the number of seats, the Nominating Committee Chairperson may decide that there is no vote and declare the candidate(s) elected.

Concerning the Vice-Presidents, the idea is that eight Vice-Presidents represent the Territorial Committee Members and are elected only by the Territorial Committee Members, while a number of Vice-Presidents represent the International Organisation Members and are elected only by the International Organisation Members. Since it is not advisable to have too many members on the Bureau, the number of Vice-Presidents representing Territorial Committee Members has been set to eight, and the maximum number of Vice-Presidents representing International Organisation Members has also been set to eight.¹

The votes are held in the following order :

Executive Committee (elected by all members):

• one vote for the President;
• one vote for the Treasurer;
• one vote for the Secretary;
• one vote for the Associate Secretary.
• Vice-Presidents elected by Territorial Committee Members (only the Territorial Committee Members vote):
  • in a first vote, members vote on four (4) names; all candidates are eligible, whether they come from industry or not; if, among the first four (4) candidates ranked by number of votes, no one is from industry, the first three (3) are declared elected; if at least one is from industry, the first four (4) are declared elected;
  • if the first vote did not lead to the election of two (2) candidates from industry, a second vote is made, where only candidates from industry are eligible; as a result of this vote, the number of candidates from industry elected is brought to two (2); in that vote, members vote on one (1) or two (2) names, depending on how many candidates should be elected;
  • in a last vote, all candidates are eligible, whether they come from industry or not, and the total number of Vice-Presidents is brought to eight; in that vote, members vote on three (3) to four (4) names, depending on how many candidates should be elected.

In every vote, the ballots forms given to the voting members should indicate the number of seats to be assigned by this vote; nevertheless, ballots with a smaller number of votes are valid. On one given ballot form, no name should be written more then once and the ballot form must be explicit about that rule. If nevertheless one name is duplicated, it is counted only once. Ballots containing a number of different names larger than the number of seats to be assigned are not valid.

Tradition holds that for ICO elections, the detail of votes are not made public but are kept by the Nominating Committee Chairperson. Consequently, it is not sensible to repeat votes in order to reach an absolute majority and the applicable majority rule is always the relative majority, i.e. the candidates that have more votes are elected, whether they have reached the absolute majority or not.

· Vice-Presidents representing International Organisation Members:

For the Vice-Presidents appointed by the International Organisation Members, prior to the General Meeting, every International Organisation Member appoints one representative. If the representative is elected on the Executive Committee or as one of the eight elected Vice-Presidents, the International Organisation Member appoints another representative at its earliest convenience.

• If there are less then eight International Organisation members, their representatives automatically become Vice-Presidents.
• If there are more than eight International Organisation Members, unless a consensus agreement is found among the International Organisation Members, the election of their eight Vice-Presidents takes place last and the candidates are automatically the appointed representatives of the International Organisation Members.

¹ The whole point of having an International Organisation Member category is to give them close contact with the ICO and therefore they are well represented in the Bureau. Nevertheless, their representation in the Bureau cannot exceed that of the Territorial Committee Members. Just like it is impossible for all Territorial Committee Members to have someone on the Bureau, it will also be impossible for all International Organization Members to have someone on the Bureau if their number exceeds eight. While this is a fair rule, it may generate difficulties and frustration if the number of International Organization Members happens to be just slightly larger than eight. If that happens, one option open to the ICO President will be to invite those International Organization Members that have no Vice-President to attend part or all of the Bureau meetings as observers.

4 - Classification for the participation of ICO in Meetings and Schools :

There are four categories for ICO participation in meetings and in summer (or fall, or winter, or spring) schools :

1 - ICO General Meetings

2 -Other major ICO events "; whenever appropriate, these events may receive the designation "ICO Special Meeting", "ICO Topical Meeting", "ICO School", "ICO Regional Meeting"

3 - ICO Cosponsored Meetings and Schools

4 - ICO Endorsed Meetings and Schools.

The applicable rules are given in the table below.

Caption: SR: strictly required

UR: usually required

NR: not required

PO: possible

NO: usually not

Any meeting with ICO participation, classified in category 2,3 or 4 may be given by the Bureau the name of ICO Satellite Meetings if it is scheduled to take place within 15 days of an ICO General Meeting or other major ICO event..

Note on registration fees:

As a rule, ICO adheres to the IUPAP upper limit on registration fees. Even though the participation of scientists from disadvantaged areas usually requires special measures independently of the cost of registration, high registration fees tends to limit participation, in particular from students and to be a form of discrimination between scientists.

Specifically, ICO conferences submitted to IUPAP sponsorship must necessarily to follow the IUPAP limit in all cases. These are the General Meetings, Topical Meetings and other major ICO events -- usually one per year. For the other events with ICO participation, registration fees higher than the limit can occasionally be accepted provided that an option exists for any scientist to request, at least six weeks in advance, application of the IUPAP limit and still be fully registered, perhaps with the exception of some social events. That option must be known to registrants.

Decision procedure :

The ICO Bureau approves all form of ICO participation in international conferences, authorises the related grants :

• as soon as an application is received, the ICO President, Treasurer and Secretary or Associate Secretary get in touch by some fast procedure and issue a memo including the background information relevant to the meeting; the memo may include a proposition concerning the category of ICO meeting applicable, the opportunity to grant the sponsorship requested and the opportunity to grant financial support;
• a reply form is sent to the Bureau members; it includes the proposition;
• in any event, if the approval by the relevant Territorial Committee is not clear from the cosponsorship request form, the Territorial Committee is contacted at the same time as the Bureau members and it has a right of veto for 45 days after the letter has been sent; the default is that there is no veto;
• no later than 45 days after the letter to the Bureau has been sent, the decision is made on the basis of the replies received so far from the Bureau members. Only the votes received are counted, the votes not received are not considered as approvals of the proposition by the subcommitteeFinancial participation of ICO :

According to the table above, ICO may give a

Alternatively, ICO may also wish to take part where practicable in the risks or benefits of meetings and schools of categories 1, 2 and 3. That is possible, if the local law permits, in the following conditions :

• ICO accepts a financial responsibility up to an amount of X;
• the amount X is paid by ICO to the meeting organisers in the form of a treasury advance; it is made available to the organisers by the ICO Treasurer as soon as they request it;
• at the closing of the account and in no case later than one year after the meeting is finished,

if there is a deficit :

- if the deficit is smaller that X, ICO will cover it in its entirety, i.e. the organisers will only have to reimburse ICO the difference;

- if the deficit is larger than X, then ICO will cover it for an amount X, i.e. no money will be reimbursed to ICO;

if there is a surplus :

- if the surplus is smaller than 4X, ICO will receive 25 % of the surplus, i.e. the organisers will reimburse ICO the amount X plus a quarter of the surplus;

- if the surplus is larger than 4X, the organisers will reimburse ICO two times X.

Depending on circumstances, slight modifications to this scheme may be made by the Bureau.

Any given Bureau may approve meeting support up to the triennial Meeting Support budget for the triennium of its term, augmented with any return from previously granted participation in risk. Loans are not counted and are limited only by the approval of the Treasurer based on the account balance. There is continuity in the ICO Bureau, therefore the Bureau may approve meetings to be held after the next Bureau elections.

5 - Relations with IUPAP:

IUPAP, at each of its General Meetings designates one Representative to ICO. The IUPAP Representative takes part in the ICO General Meeting.

ICO will normally request sponsorship by IUPAP of its General and Topical Meetings.

ICO will normally request to have associate members in some IUPAP Commissions, as appropriate to maintain close relations.

6 - ICO Committees:

List of ICO Committees

In order to assist the General Meeting and the Bureau in their activities, ICO has established the following committees :

• Nominating Committee
• Long Range Planning Committee
• Committee for the Regional Development of Optics
• Education Committee
• Travelling Lecturer Committee
• Standards Committee
• ICO Prize Committee

Duties of the committees

The specific purpose of each committee is indicated below. Committees report on their activity at each General Meeting and, as appropriate, at each meeting of the Bureau.

• The purpose of the Nominating Committee is indicated in section 2 above.
• The purpose of the Long Range Planning Committee is to propose suitable new actions for ICO, with suitable attention for the inclusion of industrial optics in ICO's activities.
• The purpose of the Committee for the Regional Development of Optics is to find and implement actions whereby ICO can promote the transfer of optical knowledge and provide practical help to optical scientists and engineers in Developing Nations and in general, geographical areas where optics is not well developed.
• The purpose of the Education Committee is to promote education in Optics worldwide.
• The purpose of the Travelling Lecturer Programme Committee is indicated in section 7 below.
• The purpose of the Standards Committee is to serve as a channel of communication for work on standards in optics, in relation with ISO.
• The purpose of the ICO Prize Committee is indicated in section 9 below.

Membership of the Committees

Each committee has a chairperson and members. The following rules apply:

a) The chairperson of all ICO committees is always a member of the ICO Bureau.

b) The ICO past-President is ex officio the chairperson of the Nominating Committee and the members are appointed by the chairperson.

c) The ICO President is ex officio the chairperson of the long range planning Committee and the members are appointed by the chairperson.

d) The ICO Treasurer is ex officio the chairperson of the Travelling Lecturer Committee.

e) The ICO Secretary or Associate Secretary is ex officio member of all Committees except the Nominating Committee, the Long Range Planning Committee and the ICO Prize Committee.

f) Except for the cases of rules b, c, and e above, the members are proposed by the chairperson and appointed by the Bureau. To avoid delays in the operation of Committees, the appointment of members by the Bureau can be made by mail.

7 - ICO Travelling Lecturer Programme:

ICO has established in 1988 a Travelling Lecturer Programme to promote lectures on modern aspects of optics in interested territories by scientists of international reputation with good lecturing skills. The program is aimed specially at developing nations, but is not necessarily restricted to them. As a rule, it is expected that the lecturer's local expenses will be met by the host institution and that ICO's contribution will be towards the travel costs. Scientists or host groups interested in participating in this program should write to the Treasurer of ICO with details of the proposed lecture program and ICO support requested.

Within the financial limits of the budget, an ICO Committee, with the ICO Treasurer as chairperson, decides for the ICO Travelling Lecturer grants. This Committee in principle does not meet, but works by mail and telecommunication facilities so as to secure the fastest response compatible with good operation.

8 - ICO Book:

ICO has established in 1990 a series of books: the title "International Trends in Optics" has been chosen for the series. There is one volume every three years. The ICO President, the ICO past-President or one of the ICO former Presidents acts as the editor.

The books are intended to provide an authoritative overview of research that is underway in the field of optics throughout the world. The articles should be suitable for the specialist and non-specialist alike and should provide general, readable overviews of many different aspects of optical science and engineering. They should tend to be less formal than the standard technical reviews found in journals. In addition to examining their designated topics, the authors should also discuss unsolved research problems and speculate on future directions in their fields.

The royalties typically paid to the editor and the authors are instead paid to ICO.

9 - ICO Prize :

ICO has established in 1982 the ICO Prize, to be given each year to an individual who has made a noteworthy contribution to optics, published or submitted for publication before he or she has reached the age of 40. (Specifically, the Prize winner must not have reached the age of 40 before December 31 of the year for which the Prize is awarded). The character of the work of successive Prize recipients should preferably alternate between predominantly experimental or technological and predominantly theoretical. The "noteworthy" contribution in optics is measured chiefly by its impact (past or possibly future) on the field of optics generally, opening a new subfield or significantly expanding an established subfield in research or technology.

The ICO Prize involves:

• a citation,
• a cash award of an amount established in the triennial budget of the ICO and indicated every year in the call for nominations
• travel support to attend said meeting to an amount to be determined by the Bureau²,
• waiver of registration fees at said meeting
• and the invitation to present an invited paper and receive the award at the next ICO Congress or another ICO meeting mutually agreed to by the Bureau and the award winner.³

Every year, the ICO Prize Committee issues a call for nominations that is published in the ICO Newsletter, receives the nominations and selects the recipients for approval by the Bureau at its next meeting. The award needs not be made each year if the Prize Committee so chooses. The Prize is preferably given to an individual, but it can be shared by two persons. Eligibility for the Prize is not excluded by previous prizes awarded to the individual. The selected Prize winner is then announced in the ICO Newsletter and, if possible, in one or more optics journals. The prizes are presented at each ICO General Meeting.

² For 2003-2005, these amounts are a cash award of US$2000 and up to US$1000 towards travel expenses.

³ In addition, the Carl Zeiss foundation has generously agreed to donate an Ernst Abbe medal.

10 - ICO Galileo Galilei Medal:

10.1 - The Galileo Galilei medal of ICO is awarded for outstanding contributions to the field of optics which are achieved under comparatively unfavourable circumstances.

10.2.1 - The outstanding contributions in the field of optics should refer to :

- fundamental scientific questions or problems, or

- research or development of optical methods or devices, or

- scientific or technical leadership in the establishment of regional optical centres.

10.2.2 - "Comparatively unfavourable circumstances" refers to difficult economic or social conditions or lack of access to scientific or technical facilities or sources of information.

10.2.3 - The outstanding contributions must be documented, if applicable, by internationally acknowledged publications. Exceptionally, reports can be considered, provided that they are made available to the Award Committee.

10.3 - The award is normally given to one person. Exceptionally, however, if a collective contribution is judged to be worthy of the award a team of several persons may be selected.

10.4 - Every year, the ICO Committee for the Regional Development of Optics issues a call for nominations that is published in the ICO Newsletter, receives the nominations and selects the winner for approval by the Bureau at its next meeting. The award need not be given every year if the Bureau so chooses.

10.5 - The award consists of :

a) the Galileo Galilei Medal,

b) a cash award of an amount determined by the Bureau

c) assistance in travel as determine by the Bureau⁴ to present an invited paper and receive the award at the next ICO Congress or another ICO meeting mutually agreed to by the Bureau and the award winner⁵,

d) waiver of registration fees at said meeting

e) special attention and appropriate measures of ICO to support the future activities of the award winner.

⁴ For 2003-2005, these amounts are a cash award of US$1000 and up to US$1000 towards travel expenses.

⁵ The Società Italiana di Ottica and Fotonica has generously agreed to donate the Medal for a number of years.

11 - ICO Fellowship Programme:

This section was cancelled in 2002.

12 - ICO Proceedings Donation Programme:

Territorial Committees and scientists from countries that are preparing for ICO membership may request to receive copies of the Proceedings volumes issued on the occasion of meetings participating in the ICO Proceedings Donation Programme. At least all ICO General, Topical, Regional and Cosponsored Meetings participate in the Programme. These proceedings will be kept in a scientific library open to all researchers and engineers working in optics. The cost of printing and shipping will be born by the organisers of the meetings. The ICO Secretariat will keep the mailing list and send the appropriate mailing labels in due time to the meeting organisers. In view of the expenses involved, there will be a limit of one address per ICO Member Territory and one address per country preparing for ICO membership. In addition, it is expected that Member Territories and countries where the access to scientific literature is relatively satisfactory will refrain from requesting to benefit from the Programme.

13 - ICO Bureau Meetings:

The ICO Bureau meets typically one time per year in the years without a General Meeting, and in addition once immediately before and once immediately after every General Meeting.

14- ICO/ICTP Award for Young Researchers from Developing Countries:

Approved by ICTP, August 1999.

ICO, the International Commission for Optics, and ICTP, the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Trieste, have agreed to establish a joint prize, called the ICO/ICTP Award. It is reserved for young researchers from developing countries⁶, who conduct their research in a developing country.

The award will be given to scientists less than 40 years old⁷ who are active in research in Optics and have contributed to the promotion of research activities in Optics in their own or another developing country.

The award consists of the following:

1) the ICO gives a cash amount⁸ and a diploma.

2) The ICTP invites the winner to attend a three weeks College⁹ at Trieste at the next appropriate opportunity, and to give a seminar on his/her work when appropriate. ICTP will pay for travel and living expenses.

The award will be delivered to the winner at Trieste in the presence of representatives of ICO and ICTP.

The award is given to one person every year. The winner is selected on the basis of nominations received by the Award Committee in response to a call published by both ICO and ICTP. The Award Committee consists of four members, of which two are appointed by ICO and two by ICTP for a period of three years. Among the four members, ICO appoints the Committee Chair.

The nominations must be documented by a complete curriculum vitae including a list of publications and selected reprints (no more than three) as well as a complete employment history and a description of the nominee's achievements for the promotion of research activity in developing countries.

⁶ Developing Countries are defined by the list of Developing Countries of the United Nations Organisation.

⁷ Specifically, the winner must not have reached the age of 40 on December 31st of the year for which the award is given.

⁸ For 2003-2005, the amount if US$1000.

⁹ The ICTP in Trieste organises a Winter College on Optics, or Laser Physics, or Photonics, or Quantum Optics once a year, normally three weeks in February. In the past already, several of these Winter Colleges were organised in cooperation with the ICO, while that in February 2000 is being organised in cooperation with the ICO and OSA, the Optical Society of America.