SOCIETY
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16/2/09
The British Psychological Society
Liz Campbell Contact Liz Campbell via the Society’s Leicester office, or e-mail: president@bps.org.uk
President Elect Sue Gardner
Honorary Treasurer Dr Richard Mallows Chair, Membership and Professional Training Board Dr Peter Banister Chair, Psychology Education Board Dr Richard Latto Chair, Research Board Professor Martin Conway Chair, Publications and Communications Board Professor Graham Powell Chair, Professional Practice Board Dr Martin Crawshaw Chair, Professional Conduct Board Joop Tanis The Society has offices in Belfast, Cardiff, Glasgow and London, as well as the main office in Leicester. All enquiries should be addressed to the Leicester office (see inside front cover for address). The British Psychological Society was founded in 1901, and incorporated by Royal Charter in 1965. Its object is ‘to promote the advancement and diffusion of a knowledge of psychology pure and applied and especially to promote the efficiency and usefulness of Members of the Society by setting up a high standard of professional education and knowledge’. Extract from The Charter
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President’s column
President Dr Elizabeth Campbell
Vice President and Acting Honorary General Secretary Professor Pam Maras
15:30
ur annual conference this year is in economic tightening, to be able to have their Brighton on 1–3 April. There is still time intellectual and professional development needs to book for the conference (see met at one annual conference event. www.bps.org.uk/ac2009). Brighton is a great An integrated conference also makes sense place for a conference, as far as I am concerned. in terms of the economics of the event for the The sea air, the range of restaurants and pubs, Society, and would allow us to host the the shopping and the ambience of the town conference in high-quality settings and invite provide all those elements of ‘secondary gain’ a range of prestigious and international that add up to an enticing package. contributors. A single, comprehensive The Annual Conference has had various conference is also better able to meet the needs incarnations over the years in an attempt to of our student members and our postgraduate make it a vehicle that serves the needs of our trainees, who need that kind of broad exposure members while also showcasing the best of to the whole range of psychology in order to psychological science and practice. help them make informed career choices. I have fond memories of the conference that Such a conference would also put the the Society held in Glasgow in 2001, which Society on the map of key international marked the conferences. As the Society seeks to raises centenary of the the profile of its international activities Society. With more and involvements, an annual conference “Brighton is a great place than 2000 with international pulling power would for a conference, as far delegates, this was be a very important vehicle. as I am concerned” a very lively and I must confess that I find it intellectually disappointing that some of our member stimulating event networks do not see the virtue of such an that allowed for great opportunities for annual mega-conference. They could still networking. One of the key differences between exercise the quality control over content as they that conference and those since was that all the do at present and host their various professional member networks (we used to call them meetings alongside. In the APA model, the subsystems) held their annual conferences at Divisions determine their own particular slice of the same time. It was possible to dip in and the conference while sharing some of the social out of all kinds of presentations that one might events and other communal activities. I can only never otherwise have had access to, and there imagine that Society members would all benefit was a chance to bump into people whom one from a much richer and diverse intellectual might not have seen for years. experience with such an arrangement. This model for an annual conference is On a different note, the new Strategic Plan, the one used by the American Psychological which will underpin our activities for the next Association, where all their 52 Divisions hold five-year period, is under development and we their annual meetings at the same time. This will be launching it for consultation within the makes for a conference of real critical mass and next few weeks. This is an opportunity for you momentum. My preference would be to have to think about and contribute to the future this as the model for the our annual conference. development of the Society. Please do take this I am a member of three Divisions and chance to let us know your views. a couple of Sections; I simply could not find the time or the money to attend each of those individual conferences. I am sure that there are many members like myself whose interests, research activities or professional practice are not circumscribed by any single Division or For a database of forthcoming events Section. Having access to the whole gamut of organised by the Society and other psychological science and practice at one organisations, see www.bps.org.uk/diary. conference would certainly make me feel like the proverbial kid in the sweety shop. It seems To advertise your event, contact to me that it would really make sense for the psyadvert@bps.org.uk or +44 116 252 9552. individual Society member, in these times of
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EVENTS DIARY
vol 22 no 3
march 2009