Governance

The development of TARDIS and associated software tools are helped through several coordination roles fulfilled by community members (see Team). There are several governance rules to ensure scientific excellence, continuity, and transparency. The TARDIS community has matured substantially in recent years and we will revisit these rules as the community evolves.

Rules for TARDIS-core

New members of TARDIS-core are nominated by current members. All members of TARDIS-core can vote on nominated candidates, who require a 2/3 majority in their favour in order to be approved.

Rules for terms

The rule for all roles will be as follows (with the exception of the PI). A single term is limited in time but the number of subsequent terms is not limited. The term limit for all terms is 3 years and is renewable once for another 3 years and then has to be advertised to the wider community.

Every member of TARDIS-core is allowed to vote and the election will follow an anonymous rank voting system. If this results in a tie the PI will facilitate a discussion with a subsequent run-off election.

For 6 months the previous position holder will act in an advisory role to the new position holder.

Term rules for the PI: The selection of the PI will follow a similar process with the difference that their terms are 5 years (renewable once for another 5 years). A re-election for the role of PI is advertised in TARDIS-core and will be selected from members of this group (unless the group decides on an outsider with 2/3 majority).

Science Decisions

Decisions that concern implementation details for TARDIS and related projects that pertain to science questions should be discussed within the TARDIS core team.

Software Decisions

Decisions about software architecture and design should take into account consistency over the TARDIS code-base and best-practices. The final decision (after discussion with the rest of the team) rests with the software architect (veto-able by a 2/3 majority).

Financial Decisions

Financial decisions can only be made by the PI but they have to inform TARDIS-core with a reasonable lead time to allow them to raise any objections. The TARDIS-core can veto decisions with a 2/3 majority.