British Academy: The UK's National Academy for the Humanities and Social Sciences
The BASIS committee
The Chair of BASIS is an honorary officer of the Academy, elected at the Annual General Meeting of Fellows, with the title of Vice-President, for a period of up to seven years. As such (s)he is ex officio a member of the Council and the Management Advisory Committee.
There are currently twelve ordinary members of BASIS, appointed by the Council for a four-year term that may be renewed once. The composition is approximately 50% Fellows of the Academy and 50% members from outside the Fellowship, drawn from across the humanities and social sciences, with an appropriate range of language-based, history-based and social science disciplines, and of geographical interests and institutional backgrounds.
Each ordinary member is assigned the role of 'assessor' for two or three organisations, to build a fuller understanding of the plans, policies and activities of the individual organisations, and to ensure that their grant applications are fairly and accurately evaluated by the BASIS committee. Two assessors are appointed to each organisation , and they form the core of a quinquennial in-depth review process for that organisation. They are not expected to act as an advocate or required to sit on committees or attend council meetings for that institution.