Expert Council

REGULATIONS of the Expert Council

General provisions
- Within the framework of the USAID project “Building the future”, the Expert Council (hereinafter - EC) is established with responsibilities to develop and implement a unified policy on assessment, acceptance of the research proposals and executed works of experts, which is to ensure a collective approach to technical harmonization processes in research.
- Composed of faculty/staff members of AUCA, EC defines the terms of references of calls for research proposals, announces calls for research proposals, awards research grants and validates/rejects the research outputs.
- EC is established by the Vice-President/Chief Operating Officer (VP/COO) based on a proposal from the Head of Research Office.
- The composition of Expert Council is defined in September of each year by the decree of VP/COO upon a proposal of the Head of Research Office.
- EC is composed of 5 members including researchers and/or faculty members of AUCA.
- EC announces calls for research proposals; organizes meetings and discussions of intermediate results; monitors the research project implementation and makes the primary and definitive assessment of research reports and notes.
- EC makes recommendations to the VP/COO concerning the regulations of EC in order to improve the work of the EC.
- The composition of EC can be changed during the academic year by the decree of VP/COO upon the proposal of the Head of Research Office.
- Research Office provides a technical and logistical support for the work of EC (organizing EC meetings, contact point, etc.)
- EC members, including chairman and deputy chairman are not allowed to submit research proposals within USAID Building the Future project.

Functions of the Expert Council

2.1. Duties of the chairman of Expert Council

The chairman of Expert Council:

Approves the agenda for the EC meetings;
Announces and conducts the EC meetings;
Signs the protocols and decisions of the EC members;
Convenes an extraordinary meeting of EC on its own initiative or the initiative of at least 2/3 of the members of EC;
Oversees the implementation/execution of decisions of EC members;
Resolves other issues concerning the activities of EC in accordance with this Regulation, AUCA Charter and other regulations;
Approves the terms of reference of the calls for research proposals in the framework of the USAID project “Building the Future”;
Announces the calls for proposals;
Selects research proposals submitted by faculty/researchers of AUCA in accordance with the requirements of the terms of reference;
Analyzes documents submitted by researchers and faculty of AUCA and provides assessments;
Checks the compliance of the final research outputs with the requirements of the terms of reference;
Votes during the meetings.

2.2. Duties of the EC members

The EC members have to:

Attend the meetings of the Expert Council. In the case of absence for justified reason EC member has to notify in advance the chairman of EC.
Approve the terms of reference of the calls for research proposals in the framework of the USAID project “Building the Future”;
Announce the calls for proposals;
Select research proposals submitted by faculty/researchers of AUCA in accordance with the requirements of the terms of reference;
Analyze documents submitted by researchers and faculty of AUCA and give assessment;
Check the compliance of the final research outputs with the requirements of the terms of reference;
Vote during the meetings.

In the absence of the chairman, his/her duties are performed by the deputy chairman of the EC. The deputy chairman is elected among the members of EC by all EC members.

Organization of the work of Expert Council

3.1. The EC carries out its work through meetings. Meetings are held as often as needed, but at least once a month.

3.2. Meetings of the EC are competent at presence of not less than three of its members (condition of quorum 3/5).

3.3. The decisions are adopted by a vote of members present at the meeting of the EC by a majority vote. The decision is made in the form of a resolution.

3.4. Deputy Chairman of the EC drafts agenda of the next meeting of EC and submit it to the Chairman no later than three days prior to the scheduled meeting.

3.5. Minutes of meetings are made by the Deputy Chairman of the EC and approved by EC members and sent to each EC members within one week after EC meeting.

3.6. The services of EC members are paid from the budget of the USAID “Building the Future” project’s research component. Rate for one hour of work is 10 US dollars. Payment includes all taxes and social payments on the basis of service contract with AUCA.

3.7. Payment includes working hours during and outside of the EC meetings.

3.8. At the end of each month EC members have to prepare a report on their activities as EC member, on how much hours they have worked in one month. On the basis of EC members’ reports each month chairman of the EC prepares a final report about the working hours of EC members and request payments.

Expert Council members are:

Jildiz Nicharapova, PhD, Research Advisor, Research Office and Associate Professor of AUCA, Chairman.
Svetlana Jacquesson, PhD, Director of Central Asian Studies Institute (CASI) and Professor of AUCA, member.
Elena Molchanova, Kandidat Nauk, Psychology department, Associate Professor of AUCA, member.
Jeenbek Kulenbekov, PhD, Environmental Management and Sustainable Development Program Coordinator and Associate Professor of AUCA, member.
Kanat Sultanaliev, MSc, Director of Tian Shan Policy Center (TSPC), AUCA, member.