In June and July 2008 the Councils of the IMA and the LMS adopted a report produced by their Joint Planning Group bringing eight years of discussions about a possible merger of the two societies to a firm proposal. Both Councils commended the report to their members and in September 2008 members of both societies received the report entitled 'Proposal for a New Unified Mathematical Society' describing the proposed framework for the creation of the new society.
The IMA and LMS Councils at their November meetings agreed to invite Members to vote on the proposed formation of a New Unified Mathematical Society.
The LMS undertook a Referendum of its members in March 2009 in which (of those who voted) 56% of its members supported the formation of a New Society. The proposal to form a New Unified Mathematical Society was considered at two Special General Meetings of the LMS (as required by its Charter). At the first, in April 2009, of those who voted 55% were in favour of the proposal and at the second, in May 2009, 44% were in favour.
The proposal was at the same time considered at an Extraordinary Meeting of the IMA in May 2009 where of those who voted 96% were in favour of the motion.
The motion to proceed with the unification failed as it did not receive a majority of votes in support at the LMS's second Special General Meeting on 29 May 2009.
More details can be found on the IMA website at http://www.ima.org.uk and the LMS website at http://www.lms.ac.uk/ |
