Definition of UIS:
The acronym “UIS” stands for the Union Internationale de Spéléologie, in the original French. Although the name may be written differently in other languages, the original acronym is maintained.
The UIS is a non-profit, non-governmental organization which promotes interaction between academic and technical speleologists of a wide range of nationalities to develop and coordinate international speleology in all its scientific, technical, cultural, social, and economic aspects.
History:
Speleology took its first steps toward recognition as a science when specialized cave exploration techniques developed at the end of the 19 th Century. In the mid-1900s, the international speleological community, mostly Europeans, had the idea of holding international speleological congresses. In a meeting on August 22-23, 1949, in Valence, France, the decision was made to hold the first congress in Paris, France, in 1953. Since then, International Speleological Congresses have been held in Italy (Bari, 1958), Austria (Vienna, 1961), Yugoslavia (Postojna, 1965), West Germany (Stuttgart, 1969), Czechoslovakia (Olomouc, 1973), Great Britain (Sheffield, 1977), United States (Bowling Green, 1981), Spain (Barcelona, 1986), Hungary (Budapest, 1989), China (Beijing, 1993), Switzerland (La Chaux-des-Fonds, 1997), Brazil (Brasilia, 2001), Greece (Kalamos, 2005), United States (Kerrville, 2009), Czech Republic (Brno, 2013), Australia (Sydney, 2017), and France (Le Bourget-du-Lac, 2022).The next will be in Brazil (Belo Horizonte, 2025). Over 21,000 pages of valuable information are available in the congress proceedings.
The initiative of speleologists at the 1965 congress led to the proposal for the creation of an international entity to unite speleologists from around the world and coordinate their speleological activities. The UIS was then founded on September 16, 1965, during the closing session in the Festival Room of the University of Ljubljana during the 4 th International Congress of Speleology. The first statutes were approved, and the first board of officers elected: Bernard Gèze (France) as President, Gordon T. Warwik (England) as Vice-President, Stjepan Mikulec (Yugoslavia) as second Vice-President, and Albert Anavy (Lebanon) as Secretary General. The internal regulations were approved in 1969 and the latest revision of the statutes was made in 2017.
Structure:
At present, the UIS is presided over by the Bureau, which is comprised of an Executive Committee of five officers (president, two vice presidents, general secretary, and treasurer), who are joined on the Bureau by seven adjunct secretaries. Each Bureau member must be from a different country. These Bureau members are elected at the General Assemblies, which are held during the International Congresses. The Bureau is assisted by an Advisory Committee, consisting mostly of the past presidents and other past officers.
To coordinate and promote the technical and scientific development of international speleology, the UIS established Commissions to advance those topics. These groups work independently, organize their own meetings, develop projects, interact with other institutions, often publish their own bulletins, and may maintain websites. They meet at a minimum at the International Congresses of Speleology where they elect officers, makes plans, and report their activities to the General Assembly. At present, the UIS has 21 Commissions (click here for the latest details and contact information):
The number of Commissions is not fixed, and new ones can be created or old ones eliminated if necessary. The creation of a Commission results from the initiative of cave explorers and/or scientists who are interested in that topic. Speleologists who wish to join a commission only need to contact the Commission President and request that their names be included so they can participate in meetings, discussions, seminars, and symposia.
To improve cooperation and the results of international expeditions, the UIS instituted a Code of Ethics. This code, although it does not have the force of law, provides ethical guidelines for such activities to promote the development of speleology, increase our knowledge about international speleological heritage, and foster interactions between speleological communities.
To integrate the results of speleological activities of the member countries for use by speleologists around the world, the UIS maintains a Documentation Center in La Chaux-des-Fonds, Switzerland, via the Swiss Speleological Society, and online through the Karst Information Portal. In the same spirit, the UIS has developed the Multi-Lingual Dictionary of Speleology (with 26 languages included as of 2017), and keeps up-to-date the International Speleological Calendar of events related to speleology around the world.
International Congress of Speleology (ICS):
To advance and share the state-of-the-art in speleology, the UIS organizes the International Congress of Speleology (ICS) every four years. In these congresses, papers on the various facets of speleology are presented, including scientific topics such as geology, hydrogeology, mineralogy, biology, climatology, archaeology, paleontology, geography, and therapy, as well as on technical work (exploration, survey, rescue, new techniques, documentation) and cultural themes (religion, art, music, painting, sculpture, and the collection of stamps and coins). In addition to the formal presentation of papers, these congresses schedule meetings of the many Commissions; opportunities are also provided for the exchange of ideas and participation in various cultural activities, such as social gatherings, competitions, and technical visits, as well as excursions before, during, and after the congress to visit the karst and caves of the host country.
The directions of the UIS depend largely on the Bureau; policies are developed during the annual meetings of the officers, as well as during the General Assemblies at the international congresses. The General Assembly consists of the delegates of the member countries. It approves major decisions proposed by the Bureau, reviews reports of the Commissions, evaluates the financial situation of the UIS, approves new and modified major UIS documents, approves new members countries, elects new Bureau members, and select the host country for the next congress.
Present Situation:
At present, the UIS has 57 member countries, located on all inhabited continents of the world, and is open to the affiliation of all national associations and federations. The majority of the commissions are active and provide a copious scientific production; the UIS also publishes the IJS – International Journal of Speleology (via the University of South Florida) and the UIS Bulletin for the dissemination of news of the Union. The Bibliographic Commission also publishes Speleological Abstracts , an annual bibliographic listing of speleological literature, and the Karst Information Portal provides free access to publications online. UIS also maintains a website containing information about speleological contacts around the world, as well as to UIS documents such as UIS Statutes, Internal Regulations, and Code of Ethics, plus the UIS Bulletin, the ICS Proceedings, UIS books, the Multi-Lingual Speleological Dictionary, the calendar of upcoming speleo events, a list of member countries, a list of the addresses of the officers of all the internal organizations, a list of the national delegates, and a list of the Commissions, as well as many links with the websites of all the national organizations of most countries. The web address of the UIS is: http://www.uis-speleo.org. Since July 20, 2002, the UIS offices have been at Titov trg 2, Postojna 6230, Slovenia, in space provided by the government via the Institute of Karst Research of the Slovenian Academy of Arts and Sciences, where all the UIS Archives are now stored.
The present officers, elected at the General Assembly in July 2022 in Le Bourget-du-Lac, France, for the 3-year period from 2022 – 2025 are as follows:
President
Nadja ZUPAN HAJNA (Slovenia)
Vice presidents
Administration – Zdeněk MOTYČKA (Czech Republic)
Operations – Nivaldo COLZATO (Brazil)
Secretary General
Johannes MATTES (Austria)
Treasurer
Mladen GARAŠIĆ (Croatia)
Adjunct Secretaries
José María CALAFORRA (Spain)
Gerard CAMPION (UK) Mario PARISE, Italy
Marc MENTENS (Philippines)
Mario PARISE (Italy)
Patricia SEISER (USA)
Nathalia UASAPUD (Colombia)
Bärbel VOGEL (Germany)
Invitation:
If you are a speleologist, whether a scientist or an explorer, or simply someone who likes speleology, contact the UIS and have your speleological group contact the national federation or society of your country. Encourage your group to join the UIS Encourage your national association or federation to become a member of the UIS so it can send a delegate and vote at the General Assembly.
Help the UIS grow and advance truly international speleology, whether developing new techniques, exploring new caves, studying new theories, practicing rational speleological tourism, preserving the natural heritage, publishing information, or encouraging sustainable development of caves and karst areas. Enjoy speleology in your own way, but participate. Don’t wait to see what the UIS can do for you, but rather see what you can do to help develop speleology. Continue to enjoy speleology in the place and way you always have, but share what you do with the rest of the international community through and with the support of the US.
José Ayrton Labegalini
UIS Past-President