Advisory Community: Terms of Reference
The full arrangements. Appointment to the Advisory Community is made on these terms.
These terms govern membership of the Advisory Community, which sets out in plainer terms what the circle is and what joining it asks.
Purpose and authority
The Digital Health Commons Forum exists so that health data serves the people it comes from, rather than the market that trades it. The Forum builds and commissions asset-locked custodian organisations across Europe, each holding health data in trust for a discipline and a country, so that sovereignty over health information stays where it belongs.
The Advisory Community is a standing circle of counsel convened by the Board of Directors under the powers of administration conferred on the Board by the Statutes. It exists to give the Board access to judgement, standing and relationships beyond its own membership, so that the Forum moves faster, and more safely, than it could alone.
Advice given by the Advisory Community is offered freely and taken seriously. All decisions rest with the Board.
Standing
The Advisory Community is an advisory circle only. It has no legal personality and no place in the governance structure defined by the Statutes.
Members of the Advisory Community:
- are not directors, officers or agents of DHCF, and are not described as such
- hold no fiduciary duty, no duty of care and no liability for the actions of the Forum
- take no decisions, cast no votes and cannot bind DHCF in any matter
- carry no executive workload, no delivery accountability and no obligation to fund
- may not represent or speak for DHCF externally except where agreed with the Board in advance
Nothing in these Terms of Reference creates an employment, contractual or commercial relationship between DHCF and any member.
Composition
The Advisory Community comprises ten to twelve members, weighted towards Europe, drawn from the following areas of experience.
| Area | What we look for |
|---|---|
| Health system leadership | People who have led hospital groups, national platforms or health institutions and know the domain's real complexity. |
| Governance, privacy and data ethics | People who have set the rules for how personal data is held, and been accountable for them. |
| Law and risk | Legal minds who can read risk in genuinely new territory, not compliance alone. |
| Philanthropy and capital | People who understand how a serious proposal is constructed, and how it is read. |
| Delivery | People who have stood up organisations that outlasted their founders. |
| International health and diplomacy | A voice from a European or international health institution, as the Forum scales beyond its first countries. |
The Board keeps the balance of the Community under review and may adjust these areas as the Forum develops.
Appointment
Membership is by invitation, one person at a time.
- Invitations are issued by the Board. Each serving member may, in addition, propose one person for invitation; the Board decides whether the invitation is made.
- A prospective member accepts by replying to the person who invited them. The Secretary then holds a short conversation covering the current state of the work, these Terms of Reference and the date of the next gathering.
- Appointment takes effect when the Board confirms it and the member has accepted these Terms of Reference and made an initial declaration of interests.
Term
Members serve a term of two years from the date of confirmation. Terms are renewable by mutual agreement between the member and the Board. A term that is not renewed lapses at its end date without further formality.
Commitments
Members commit to four things.
- Counsel
- Attend four meetings a year of ninety minutes, held online, and be open to the occasional short conversation between them on a matter inside your field.
- Credibility
- Be willing to be named publicly as a member of the Advisory Community, on the DHCF website and in Forum materials.
- Connection
- Make one or two warm introductions a year, and be ready to join selected conversations with prospective partners and patrons where you judge it right.
- Candour
- Say what you actually think, particularly when it is inconvenient.
Meetings are convened by the Board, which sets the agenda and circulates any papers in advance. There is no quorum and no voting; the value of a meeting lies in the quality of the conversation, not its formality.
Obligations
- Declaration of interests
- Members declare relevant interests on joining and as they arise. A simple register is maintained by the Secretary. Where a matter under discussion touches a declared interest, the member says so.
- Discretion
- Membership brings early sight of unpublished work, funding conversations and organisational matters. Members treat such material with discretion and do not share it beyond the Community without agreement. This is an expectation of good judgement rather than a formal confidentiality undertaking, and it continues after membership ends.
- Nothing conditional
- Introductions and connections carry no expectation of contracts, mandates or commercial return in either direction. No member position may be used, or be seen to be used, to secure advantage from the Forum or its network.
Ceasing membership
Membership ends in one of three ways.
- Resignation
- A member may step away at any time, without explanation, by informing the Secretary. No notice period applies.
- Lapse
- A term that is not renewed ends at its expiry date.
- Removal
- The Board may end a membership by decision, effective immediately, where it judges that continued membership is not in the interests of the Forum. Grounds include sustained non-participation, an undeclared or unmanageable conflict of interest, or conduct damaging to the Forum or its mission. The decision is notified to the member in writing; no reason need be given publicly.
On ceasing membership, the member's name is removed from public listings and no obligations continue, other than the expectation of discretion set out above.
Remuneration and expenses
The role is unpaid. Reasonable travel expenses are reimbursed where the Board asks a member to attend in person.
Review
These Terms of Reference are reviewed annually by the Board, which may amend them by resolution. Members are notified of any amendment; continued membership constitutes acceptance of the amended terms.
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