Core Team
The running of the Student Robotics Competition Program is delegated to the Core Team. The Core Team is a group of people who have collectively agreed to take on the responsibility of defining and delivering the Competition Program for a single competition cycle (1 year). They are accountable to the Trustees. The purpose of the information contained within this page is to clearly define the responsibilities of the Core Team and how they interact with the Trustees.
It is important to understand that the Core Team are not expected to, and should not carry out, all of the tasks required to deliver a competition. The Core Team is a select group that has agreed to a higher level of commitment to deliver the Competition Program than general Student Robotics volunteers and they should work with the volunteering community at large to deliver on their commitment.
Defining Features
The Core Team is expected to have the following defining features. The reason for these is to ensure diversity and resilience within the team.
Be geographically dispersed
Not be all male (as can often end up being the case in the engineering sector)
Have a range of experience and skills
Have some members who have previously competed in an annual competition
Formation
All registered Student Robotics volunteers are contacted approximately one month before the Core Team is to be convened to invite them to register an interest in being part of the next Core Team. Current members of the Core Team are welcome to register interest for the next annual competition cycle. The Trustees will pre-select a maximum of 10 people to invite along to a meeting to form the Core Team, based upon the Defining Features listed above. Ideally the Core Team will have no more than eight members, as teams larger than this do not generally operate effectively, and no fewer than five. It is assumed that a couple of the people invited may decided that they cannot commit to the responsibilities of being a member of the Core Team, hence inviting more than eight people.
The Core Team is convened/reconvened at the start of the annual competition cycle, around early July. This takes place during a physical meeting (with the option of remote attendance for those who cannot make the physical meeting). At the meeting the Trustees will discuss their expectations of the Core Team, what the Core Team can expect from the Trustees and what responsibilities members of the Core Team will be taking upon themselves. After discussing these points and answering any questions, all attendees (with the exception of the Trustees themselves) will be given the opportunity to join the Core Team. There is absolutely no pressure to join the Core Team if one feels that they cannot commit themselves. Once the Core Team is convened they will be asked to elect a Chairperson and a Treasurer (referred to as the Core Team Treasurer, to distinguish them from the Charity's Trustee Treasurer). After election of a Chairperson and Core Team Treasurer the remaining meeting time will be spent discussing ideas for the next Competition Program, with the Trustees offering guidance and suggestions based upon their past experiences.
At the end of the annual competition cycle, around early June, the Core Team is expected to meet with the Trustees to review the previous Competition Program. This serves as a useful event for both the Core Team to reflect on their achievements and the Trustees to gather as much information as possible to feed into the next competition cycle. After this meeting the Core Team is effectively disbanded. There is approximately a one month gap until the Core Team is next reconvened, allowing everyone to take a break. As mentioned above, previous Core Team members are very welcome to register their interest in being a Core Team member again.
Expectations/Responsibilities and Roles
Trustees' Expectations of the Core Team
Agree to uphold Vision, Mission and Values.
Operate within the framework defined in this operations manual.
Abide by the Code of Conduct.
Commit to running a single annual robotics competition.
Elect a Chairperson and Treasurer who must fulfil the responsibilities of their respective roles.
Stick to the most recently approved budget. All members are responsible, not just treasurer.
Manage assets owned by the Charity for the purpose of fulfilling the annual robotics competition.
Be self-organising:
The Core Team is free to recruit other members into the Core Team, however it is strongly recommended that the Core Team is maintained between 5 and 8 members (inclusive). A team smaller or larger than this will not be able to operate effectively.
The operations manual only requires the roles of Chairperson and Treasurer within the Core Team. The Core Team is free to define other roles within itself as it sees fit.
The Core Team can define any structure below it (i.e. not part of the Core Team itself) and delegate aspects of the Competition Program as it sees fit.
A record of roles created both within and below the Core Team should be kept, along with who is filling them.
Each person in a role should document processes and anything else that they feel relevant relating to their role to help both current and future volunteers This documentation should be licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Core Team's Expectations of the Trustees
Agree to uphold Vision, Mission and Values.
Operate within the framework defined in the Charity's constitution and in this operations manual.
Abide by and uphold the Code of Conduct.
Manage all legal requirements relating to running the Charity.
Provide long-term direction and planning for the Charity.
Maintain a record of SR volunteers with name, email, telephone and emergency contact details. Entries on this record will be reviewed every 18 months and entries deleted if the individual does not indicate a continuing desire to volunteer. For now only Trustees will have access to this dataset. This dataset may include extra information such as what areas of SR they are interested in volunteering in.
Maintain documentation of processes and useful information for both current and future Trustees. This documentation can be found in the wiki of the ops-manual git repo.
Manage fund-raising to ensure that their is sufficient funds for the current and future activities.
Role of the Chairperson
Convene and Chair meetings of the Core Team.
Ensure that minutes of Core Team are taken and made available to the trustees and other members of the Core Team.
Provide monthly progress reports to Trustees.
Role of the Core Team Treasurer
Prepare a budget for the competition.
Seek approval for the budget (from the trustees).
Keep financial records (in a form to be agreed with the trustees).
Submit final accounts (at the end of the competition cycle).
Understand and follow the requirements defined in the Money Matters section.
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