A Study Circle runs for 3 calendar years, officially commencing on 1 January of its first year of activity and closing on 31 December of its third year.

Starting:

Once the new Study Circles are accepted by the General Assembly at the year’s Summer Session, an email will be sent out to all applicants/coordinators informing them of the outcome of the meeting.

The new coordinators will be invited to the Joint Meeting of the Board and Coordinators (FM2) that takes place at the end of the Summer Session. This meeting provides the first orientation for coordinators for the coming year. New coordinators that are not able to attend in person should be available via Skype.

Coordinators are then summoned to the next Joint Meeting (FM3) in the Autumn following the Summer Session, where they will have a more in depth group orientation and information/Q&A session for all coordinators, covering details about how to organise the circle, the Winter and Summer Sessions, etc.

It is strongly recommended that both new coordinators attend this meeting, and at least one of the coordinators must take part.

Between FM2 and FM3, new coordinators should familiarise themselves with the page Intranet>Coordinators, which contains all the information required to begin running a Study Circle and to prepare for a Winter Symposium.

Closing:

Finances:

Any funds provided by NSU that remain unspent after each Winter and Summer Session must be returned to NSU along with the submission of accounts. As such, there should be no NSU funds remaining when the Circle comes to the end of its 3 year cycle.

Any external funding raised from other institutions or groups should be administered according to the relevant organisational guidelines.

Any funds raised through participation fees that remain unspent after 3 years may be distributed at the discretion of the coordinators, according to the following guidelines:

• If participants in the circle intend to make a new application to NSU, for an ad hoc or another 3 year project, this money may be retained in order to support these activities.
• If the circle is dissolving entirely, the money may be used for the following projects:
  • To support a publication or other outcome relating to the Circle’s activities (e.g. satellite group)
  • Donated to NSU
  • Donated to another non-profit activity (such as an arts or research project, e.g. residency, study; collaborating partner institution; or other cause relevant to the circle’s aims)
  • Donated to a registered charity of the coordinators’ choosing
• The funds shall not be retained for the coordinators’ or other participants’ personal purposes.

These funds must be distributed by the 31 December of the third year of the Circle, and outgoing coordinators should write to the Board to give notice of their decision.

Publication:

Circles may apply for NSU funding to support publication activities. While these activities might continue beyond the active life of the Circle (i.e. the 3 years cycle), an application for NSU funding can only be made within these 3 years. As such, the final deadline for a publication funding application for a Circle which is closing is two weeks before the Autumn Board Meeting (SM4 Meeting) of the Circle’s third year. A Circle cannot apply to NSU beyond this date, but may choose to use their own resources (e.g. external funding/participation fees) to fund any publication.

Coordinators should send out an email to all participants in the life of the circle, to enquire as to whether they have published any outcomes based on work they presented/developed at NSU. Coordinators should report any such publications to the Board so that they can be listed on the NSU website.

Archives:

The Circle’s webpage and associated materials/documents on the NSU website will be moved to archival section: http://nordic.university/study-circles/archive-study-circles/