FAQs

You become a member of ICON•S by paying your annual membership fee on the Join ICON•S page. Your ICON•S account is created at the same time.

• Regular Membership: $150 USD per year, which also includes (upon request) an online subscription to I•CON—the International Journal of Constitutional Law.
• Discount Membership: $80 USD per year, for scholars from non-OECD countries, students, and post-doctoral scholars, with the same rights and privileges as the regular membership.
• Patron of the Society: $250 USD per year, for those in a position to support the Society as one of its “patrons”, with all the available membership rights. All patrons of the Society are publicly acknowledged.

Memberships are valid for one year; full details are on the Join ICON•S page. If you are not in a position to pay the membership fee, please see the question on fee waivers below.

All memberships cover the registration fee for the Annual Conference during the membership period, and include the right to vote in the Council elections and to participate in activities that are organized for members only. Members are informed by email of all the Society’s events and activities. Members still need to register for each Annual Conference.

Memberships are renewed automatically at the end of each subscription period. To switch to another membership level or to cancel your membership, log in via Member Login and select Change or Cancel under My Memberships. If you cancel, your membership remains active until the end of the period you have already paid for and will not renew.

Yes. A reminder is sent to the email address associated with your membership 45 days before your renewal date. It comes from Stripe, our payment provider, under the name New York University. If you do not wish to renew, please cancel your membership before the renewal date, as described above.

Membership payments appear on your card statement as ICONSOCIETY MEMBERSHIP. Payments are made in US dollars, so your bank may show a slightly different amount if it converts the currency or adds a foreign transaction fee.

Membership fees are non-refundable, including renewals that were not canceled before the renewal date. If you believe you were charged in error, for example if you were charged twice for the same membership, please contact us at icons@icon-society.org before disputing the charge with your bank, and we will look into it. A dispute with your bank takes several weeks to resolve and incurs additional fees for the Society.

We understand that financial hardship, or legal restrictions on making payments, can be a barrier to participation, and we offer a limited number of fee waivers each year. To apply, please complete the Waiver Application Form on our fee waivers page, briefly explaining your reasons. Requests are considered on a case-by-case basis, all information provided is kept confidential, and waivers have to be approved by the Co-Presidents of the Society. For the 2027 Annual Conference, new requests must be received by 15 November 2026. For any questions, please contact us at icons@icon-society.org.

You will receive an invoice via email once you have paid your annual membership fee. You can also find your invoices under Order History after logging in via Member Login. Please contact us via email (icons@icon-society.org) if you need a different address on an invoice or anything else. For example, if you need an invoice under your name but addressed to the institution that will refund your membership fee, please contact us to request such an amended invoice.

To access the online subscription to the I•CON journal, please get in touch with us at icons@icon-society.org.

Your ICON•S account is created when you pay your membership fee on the Join ICON•S page; it is not possible to create an account without becoming a member. You can log in to your account to manage your membership and access your invoices.

Your account remains, but your membership is no longer active. Your membership is active as long as the membership fee is paid (or a fee waiver has been granted). To become an active member again, log in and pay the membership fee on the Join ICON•S page.

Log in via Member Login, select Edit Profile, and update your email address there. Your membership and invoices stay with your account.

Select ‘Lost Password?’ on the Member Login page to reset it. Once logged in, you can also change your password under Change Password. If you are still having trouble, please contact us at icons@icon-society.org.

ICON•S chapters can work cooperatively with other organizations, particularly academic organizations, but should not be formally affiliated with any single institution. They should always remain distinct and avoid being captured by specific interests.

ICON•S chapters file an annual report with the Co-Directors of Chapter Development and inform them of any changes to their governing rules. They also promote the Society’s growth and respect the decisions of the Society’s Executive Committee. Members of the governing bodies of ICON•S chapters are expected to be active members of ICON•S and pay the ICON•S annual membership fee regularly. All ordinary chapter members are encouraged to join ICON•S as active members and pay the annual fee. The Co-Presidents of ICON•S can grant exceptions upon request if this is considered beneficial to the growth of the local chapter.

Chapters are expected to organize academic activities such as local conferences and workshops. They can mentor junior scholars, create a legal blog, collaborate with other academic institutions and other ICON•S chapters, organize publications, and collaborate with the ICON•S Annual Conference. There is no minimum number of events, but chapters should be active throughout the year, and their annual events should not coincide with the ICON•S Annual Conference.

ICON•S chapters usually have a gender-balanced leadership, including two co-chairs and a Board. Their governing bodies should change regularly. Some chapters also include other positions and bodies, such as secretary-general and specialized committees.

Only ICON•S members can propose the creation of an ICON•S chapter. Founding members should also be ICON•S members (at the very least, the proposed co-chairs). There is no set number of founding members, but the founding group should reflect the Society’s commitments to diversity, gender equity, and early-career scholars.

ICON•S members who wish to establish a new national or regional chapter should contact the Co-Directors of Chapter Development at icons.chapterdevelopment@gmail.com. A proposal includes the chapter’s rules of governance and background on the founding members, with short biographies and the academic context in which the chapter will work. Once approved, a chapter may apply for up to US$2,000 for its launch event. Existing chapters are listed on the Chapters page.

An ICON•S Interest Group consists of a group of scholars hoping to build deeper connections with a view to future collaboration on research and engagement on a particular theme. The key aim of an Interest Group is to enhance the capacity of ICON•S to serve as a forum for supporting cross-national and inter-disciplinary research both at our conferences and beyond. There is a range of existing Interest Groups in the Society which you may be interested in joining; a full list can be found on our Interest Groups page. Interest Groups are open to all ICON•S members working on the respective themes, and each group’s page explains how to join.

Interest Groups are run by their convenors, who maintain the group’s membership list and organize its activities with its members. Groups fund their own activities where needed, and those activities should acknowledge their affiliation with ICON•S. Each year, around the time of the Call for Submissions, the Director of Interest Groups asks the convenors for a brief report on the group’s activities and convenors, so that the information on the ICON•S website stays accurate. Groups that are no longer active may be removed from the website.

Only ICON•S members can propose the creation of an ICON•S Interest Group. Each Interest Group must have more than one convenor, and its convenors must come from more than one institution. Geographic and gender diversity among them is encouraged.

A proposal for an Interest Group must include:

• the title of the Interest Group
• the focus and broad goals of the group, in one to four paragraphs, bearing in mind the Society’s mission
• the names, email addresses and institutional affiliations of the proposed convenors
• the activities planned for the group’s first three years, such as thematic panels at the ICON•S Annual Conference, online events, or blog symposia
• where available, the names and institutional affiliations of those interested in joining

To propose a new Interest Group, please send your proposal to Elisabeth Perham, Director of Interest Groups, at icons.interestgroups@gmail.com. New Interest Groups are approved by the Co-Presidents of ICON•S in consultation with the Director of Interest Groups.