The International Society for Clinical Spectroscopy (CLIRSPEC) is a non-profit organisation, constituted in 2015. The Society exists to act as a platform for those individuals, teams and organisations wishing to promote the translation of spectroscopy into the clinical environment, for the general benefit of patients; for example, to improve patient diagnosis and prognosis.
One of the main roles of the Society is to provide the organisational structure for the successful SPEC International Conference series.
Organisation
Membership of the Society is open to anyone interested in the translation of vibrational spectroscopies, in particular infrared spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy, into the clinical arena. The Society has a Council who act as a guiding voice for the field. Membership of the Council is through election from, and by, the general membership. The Council elect a small team of Directors who oversee the day-to-day running of the Society.
Brief History
At the meeting of the International Advisory Board (IAB) of the SPEC 2012 conference in Thailand, it was proposed that the SPEC community create a Professional Society to support the SPEC International Conference series. In November 2013, the CLIRSPEC Network was initiated in the UK, with funding for three years from the UK Government’s Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC Grant Reference: EP/L012952/1). This EPSRC Network consists of academics, clinicians and instrument vendors.
One aspect of the CLIRSPEC Network funding was to develop an inclusive International Society for Clinical Spectroscopy. Following in-depth discussion it was decided that this International Society could fulfil the role of the Professional Society identified by the SPEC IAB. The CLIRSPEC Network was tasked to define the scope and remit of the Society which was incorporated as a non-profit UK company in June 2015. The SPEC IAB, together with members of the CLIRSPEC Network and additional partners, formed the initial Council, with a small subset to act as initial Directors.