South Pacific Underwater Medicine Society
Incorporated in Victoria A0020660B
Terms and Conditions of Membership
Version 6 Approved 24 May 2019
SPUMS is the peak medical society representing doctors in the field of Diving and Hyperbaric Medicine in the South Pacific region.
SPUMS Aims
SPUMS is a voluntary not for profit medical society with the following purposes and aims:
- To promote and facilitate the study of all aspects of underwater and hyperbaric medicine.
- To provide information on underwater and hyperbaric medicine.
- To promote communication between members of the Association and to publish a journal for the Association.
- To convene members of the Association annually at a scientific conference and to hold meetings and other functions or activities to inform, and to develop fellowship and friendship amongst members of the Association.
SPUMS Membership policy
Members must abide by SPUMS Purposes and Rules and accept SPUMS privacy policy:
Purposes and Rules: https://spums.au/images/Policies/SPUMS%20Purposes%20and%20Rules%20updated%20July%202021.pdf.
Privacy Policy: https://spums.au/images/Policies/Privacy%20Policy_2016-09-07.pdf.
By joining SPUMS, members of all categories agree to abide by the Purposes and Rules of SPUMS and the terms and conditions. A full copy of the Purposes and Rules is available on the SPUMS website: https://spums.au/images/Policies/SPUMS%20Purposes%20and%20Rules%20updated%20July%202021.pdf.
Categories of membership
The following categories of membership are available:
1. Full Members: $300.00 (AUD)
Full membership is available to any medical practitioner who is legally qualified in the country of their nationality or the country of their permanent domicile whose membership has been accepted in accordance with the procedure set out in SPUMS Purposes and Rules.
2. Educational Institution Membership Subscription: $600.00 (AUD)
Any educational institution may apply for membership subscription to the Association and it may appoint a delegate to attend meetings of the Association.
3. Associate Members: $150.00 (AUD)
Associate Membership is available to any person who is not a legally qualified medical practitioner, who has applied for membership and been accepted as an associate member of the Association in accordance with the procedure set out in SPUMS Purposes and Rules.
4. Retired Members: $150.00 (AUD)
Any Full Member who has been a member of SPUMS for at least 10 continuous years and who has retired from all paid medical employment can request transfer to the retired membership category.
5. Student Member: $150.00 (AUD)
Student Membership is available to any person who is not a legally qualified medical practitioner and who is undergoing training to become a medical practitioner will be eligible to join as a Student Member. The Student Member does not hold voting rights at the Annual General Meeting and is not eligible for any reduction in registration fees for the Annual Scientific Meeting. Once the student has qualified as a medical practitioner they will automatically transfer to the full membership category.
Membership/subscription fees
Current membership/subscription fees are available on the SPUMS website and are revised annually. Membership categories 3–5 have discounted subscription rates which are determined each year by the SPUMS Executive Committee. Membership fees are reviewed and revised annually at the SPUMS Annual General Meeting and set for the next calendar year.
SPUMS Financial year and membership year
SPUMS financial year runs from January 1st to December 31st. Membership/subscriptions are prospective, to be paid in advance of each financial year.
New memberships/subscriptions
New members shall pay the applicable membership fee at the time of joining, irrespective of the time of the year. New members will receive access to all four embargoed editions of Diving and Hyperbaric Medicine Journal (DHMJ) as soon as the membership subscription is processed. Membership subscription will permit access to the SPUMS website and resources, discounted registration at the SPUMS Annual Scientific Meeting and other material and all non-embargoed editions of DHM.
Membership renewals
NOTE: SPUMS MEMBERSHIPS WILL BE AUTOMATICALLY RENEWED EACH YEAR UNLESS THE MEMBER OPTS OUT
SPUMS recognises that doctors are busy. We value your membership and want to make it convenient for you to renew your membership each year.
There is an expectation that members should join SPUMS in January to align with SPUMS financial year, and the academic publishing year of DHM Journal. However, new memberships can be accepted any time, and renewals will be processed 12 months after the member’s date of joining SPUMS (known as the anniversary date).
Your membership will be automatically renewed each year on the anniversary of your joining date, unless you advise us not to renew. Notification that membership will be automatically renewed will occur for all members, 30 days prior to their anniversary date.
There is no penalty for opting out of this process. In order to opt out, please advise SPUMS Treasurer
If you opt out of automatic renewal (or your renewal is unable to be processed), reminders to renew will be sent at 30 days before, then 15 and 30 days after your anniversary date. If membership renewal has not occurred by 30 days after the anniversary date, then access to DHMJ and SPUMS membership will cease.
Members who have not renewed within 30 days of membership expiry are required to resubmit a full application to join SPUMS, should they wish to rejoin
SPUMS refund policy
SPUMS membership is paid annually in advance. SPUMS financial year matches the calendar year, i.e., 01 January to 31 December. Whilst SPUMS does not routinely refund membership fees; in the event a member decides to rescind their membership e.g., due to change in personal circumstance, SPUMS is prepared to refund 50% of the annual membership fee so long as the membership is cancelled no later than six months from the anniversary date. After six months, no refund can be provided due to costs already incurred, particularly in production of DHM journal.
Enquiries regarding refunds should be directed to the Treasurer. Email is preferred:
SPUMS Diving Doctors List
Medically qualified SPUMS members can apply to join the Diving Doctors List.
SPUMS members will be accepted to the Diving Doctors List when they provide evidence that they have completed an approved training course in underwater medicine. In order to perform occupational medicals, a course of at least 70 hours instruction is required, or 10 working days.
Members joining the Diving Doctors List must agree that selected contact details will be published on the SPUMS website in a public area that permits members of the public to search for, and identify their practice phone number, practice address, including via a Google mapping service.
SPUMS members listed on the Diving Doctors List must agree that their continuing medical education is up-to-date.
Members will be responsible for the accuracy of their contact details. Members can update their own details by logging onto the secure members area of the SPUMS website: www.spums.org.au.
SPUMS Members listed on the Diving Doctors List will be asked to confirm their practice contact details at the time they renew their membership.
Attendance at SPUMS hosted events including the Annual Scientific Meeting
SPUMS convenes an annual scientific meeting, and from time to time also hosts other educational events, seminars and meetings. These events are frequently held at overseas locations.
Members, delegates and speakers who attend SPUMS hosted events and any associated activities do so entirely at their own risk. SPUMS is not responsible for delegates who attend these events.
Members, delegates and speakers who attend SPUMS hosted events agree to obtain full health checks, appropriate travel and vaccination advice, purchase appropriate travel and medical insurance, and carry any necessary medications for their travel. They also agree to keep up to date with any Australian Government travel warnings about SPUMS hosted venues, to be fully informed when making decisions about travel: http://smartraveller.gov.au/Pages/default.aspx.
Annual Scientific Meeting Refund Policy
SPUMS Annual Scientific Meetings are complex to organise and are undertaken by volunteer member convenors. The convenor(s) act in good faith, giving up significant personal time to run the conference. When undertaken overseas, an added layer of complexity is introduced, involving international currency and risks of cancellation due to diseases political events and pandemics. Hence at the time of committing to an annual scientific meeting, it is frequently necessary for SPUMS to outlay significant sums of money in advance, which cannot always be recouped if an untoward event occurs, and which are not available to be refunded to delegates. Members are advised to carry travel insurance to cover such eventualities.
The following refund policy for cancellation of conference registration has been developed taking into account the significant requirements for advance payment of potentially non-refundable services to secure the conference:
Cancellation greater than 9 months before the conference: 100% refund
Cancellation greater than 6 months but less than 9 months before the conference: 75% refund
Cancellation greater than 3 months but less than 6 months before the conference: 50% refund
Cancellation less than 3 months before the conference: Nil refund
SPUMS website
SPUMS website contains content which is the intellectual property of SPUMS. The website, logo and visuals and other content has been created by SPUMS, is the roperty of SPUMS and is protected by Australian copyright laws.
Users of the website are informed that their accounts on the website (or their access to your website, if they don’t have an account) can be terminated in case of abuses.
Links to other websites
SPUMS is not responsible for any third party websites that have links from the SPUMS website. Users are responsible for reading these third parties’ own Terms and Conditions or Privacy Policies.
Changes to these Terms and Conditions
We reserve the right, at our sole discretion, to modify or replace these Terms and Conditions at any time. If a revision is material we will try to provide at least 30 days' notice prior to any new terms taking effect. What constitutes a material change will be determined at our sole discretion.
Contact us
If you have any questions about these Terms and Conditions, please contact us:
Download a copy of SPUMS Terms and Conditions.