At an extraordinary General Assembly of the International Council for Science (ICSU) and a General Assembly of the International Social Science Council (ISSC), the two organizations’ members voted overwhelmingly that the two organizations should merge. This in-principle decision followed a recommendation by the two organizations’ executives, setting the two councils on a trajectory to become one by October 2018.
The vote was an in-principle agreement to merge the two councils, and to establish a Transition Task Force to develop detailed transition plans, including legal requirements, new statutes and governance structures for the merged organization. The Task Force proposal will be put to a vote during a joint meeting of ICSU and ISSC Members in October 2017 at the 32nd ICSU General Assembly in Taipei. If the two organizations’ members endorse these plans in 2017, the transition will be implemented and overseen by the ISSC and ICSU executives, with a founding General Assembly of the new organization tentatively planned for October 2018.