The International Society for the Study of Drug Policy (ISSDP) is a society of scholars committed to advancing drug policy research.

ISSDP Election for Vice President

Dear ISSDP members, affiliates, and previous members/attendees:

Elections for our new Vice President will take place in October 2025. For this election, we have an open call for nominees globally (not limited to any region). We are now inviting nominations (including self-nominations) for this important role.

The deadline for nominations is October 15, 2025.

The Vice President will assume the role for 1.5 years, moving into the role of President when the current President’s (Caitlin Hughes) term is concluded (end of the 2027 ISSDP Conference, June 2027). The Vice President plays an important leadership role on the Board and hence the position involves a greater time commitment than Board membership. We strongly encourage that interested nominees contact the current President (caitlin.hughes@flinders.edu.au) and/or Vice President (kilmer@rand.org) for details and discussion about the responsibilities of this role.

Nominations should be supported by a proposer and seconder who are both members of ISSDP. The proposer and seconder should ensure that the person nominated is a current ISSDP member (not affiliate) and is willing to serve. Self-nominations, with a proposer and seconder, are also welcome. If you are unsure of your current status, please ask us.

Note, our by-laws state that the President and Vice-President shall represent two different countries. The current President, Caitlin Hughes, represents Australia, therefore the nominee should be from a different country. Each member of the Board is considered to represent the country of their primary institutional affiliation, regardless of country of birth or citizenship. We highly encourage nominees from the Global South, although this is not required.

Please email nomination details to Alissa Greer (committee Chair) Alissa_greer@sfu.ca by Wednesday, October 15. Each nomination should be accompanied by a personal statement (two pages maximum) and a nominee photograph with the details below which will be circulated with the ballot paper. The personal statement should consist of:

• A short biography of the nominee.
• A short comment about their past engagement with the society (e.g. being a current/past board member, attending conferences, contribution to scientific committees, sub-committees etc.).
• A note on the skills they will bring to the Vice President role.
• A comment on why they wish to run for Vice President and outline of what they hope to accomplish in this important role, including contributions to our priority areas of 1) building global south engagement and 2) mentorship of future scholars.

After the closing date for nominations (October 15, 2025), a ballot listing all nominees, their personal statement, and photograph will be circulated via email to ISSDP members for online voting for 10 days (open from October 20-29, 2025). The results will be reported to the Board before November 1 and announced to our members shortly thereafter.

The current ISSDP Board consists of the President (Caitlin Hughes, AU), the outgoing Vice-President (Beau Kilmer, USA) and Trustees: Rebecca Askew, UK; Yatan Pal Singh Balhara, IN; Alissa Greer, CA; Marie Jauffret-Roustide, FR; Gideon Lasco, PH; Bronwyn Myers, AU; Aileen O’Gorman, SCO/UK; Rosalie Liccardo Pacula, USA (immediate past President); Jessica Storbjörk, SW; Liesbeth Vandam, PT. The Founding President (Peter Reuter, USA) is an ex-officio Board member. Lucy Strang (Treasurer) and Elle Wadsworth (Secretary) are Board attendees.

Please contact us if you have any questions.

ISSDP Electoral Committee: Alissa Greer (Chair) (Alissa_greer@sfu.ca), Nicola Singleton (Nicola.Singleton@kcl.ac.uk), Karen Laidler (kjoe@hku.hk), Naomi Zakimi (nzakimi@sfu.ca).

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