Nordic Working Group on Process Control

(Guidelines for Nordic Working Group on Process Control - NPC Working Group)

The group was initiated in Stockholm on 24 October 1994.

1. The Nordic Working Group on Process Control is an independent group of individuals who work together to strengthen the ties between the process control communities in the Nordic Countries and to advance the field of process control within these countries.

2. The Working Group consists of at most 16 members, of which there shall be at least one academic and one industrial member from each of the countries Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. The Working Group proposes new members which need to be approved by a majority of the persons present at the NPC Workshop (which functions as a General Assembly). The Working Group selects its own chairman (formann). Membership in the Working Group is discontinued in the following cases:

    1. The member fails to attend three consecutive Working Group meetings.
    2. The members responsibilities or position within his/her organization is significantly changed.
    3. After five years of membership.
The membership may be extended for another five years if proposed by the Working Group and approved by the General Assembly.

3. The working group initiates activities in order to strengthen the ties between the Nordic process control communities. This may include initiating projects, meetings/workshops, exchange of researchers etc. The Working Group may apply for funds to achieve it goals, but is in general, unless stated otherwise, not financially responsible for any of the activities it initiates. Important new activities should be approved by the General Assembly.

4. One activity of the Working Group is to propose the location, date and organizers of an annual or semi-annual "Nordic Process Control Workshop". The proposal should be approved by the General Assembly. The objective of the workshop is to bring together the Nordic process control community, and to focus the interests of Nordic industry and academia on mutual research goals. The use of the term "workshop" signals that the meeting should be informal in style with ample time for discussions, and it is not expected, for example, that written papers are submitted. Instead, a collection of recent publications from the Nordic countries may be distributed as literature (notes) for the workshop.

5. The Working Group or a subcommittee appointed by the Working Group awards the "Nordic Process Control Award" to persons who have a made a lasting and significant contribution to the field of process control. The award is presented at the NPC Workshop and the receiver is expected to give a lecture.

6. The local arrangement committee is financially responsible for the NPC Workshop and also for providing funds for the Nordic Process Control Award (mainly a travel grant), although the Working Group may contribute if funds are available.

7. Changes in these guidelines must be approved by at least half of the memebers in the Working Group (at not only half of those present at a meeting) and by the General Assembly.

These guidelines are dated 29 Oct. 1994.

(End Guidelines)

Policy for selecting chair (approved Aug. 2007 and takes effect from Jan. 2009).
The organizer of the present Workshop is the WG chair, and the organizer of the next is the WG co-chair. Practical implementation:
- Workshop location and organizer are decided 3 years ahead.
- The workshop organizer becomes WG co-chair 0.5 year later (2.5 years before his/her workshop) and WG chair 2 years later (1 year before his/her workshop).