Being more engaged with Parliament.

One of the reasons I wanted to take on the VP external relations role was because I’ve always felt strongly that scientists shouldn’t be such wallflowers when a largely non science parliament makes policy decisions regarding science, technology and engineering….and don’t get me started about statistics…..

So I was quite excited to learn that the IPEM has representation at the Lords Parliamentary Science and Technology committee.  I wrote about this in blog No.4.  Last week Elspeth Bartlett (IPEM:Communications Officer) and I went along to a workshop organised by the Science Council and the Lords Science and Technology committee about engaging with parliament.

The workshop itself was the first one they had done and possibly a little mis-aimed at times but we did learn more about how the information makes its way into the Lords and then in to the Commons and finally hopefully into law. Click here to find out more.  http://www.parliament.uk/hlscience

The upshot of the afternoon was: If you feel really strongly about anything, you can write directly to the committee itself and petition them about a particular topic.

For example for those of you who follow Ben Goldacre’s blog or on twitter you will know that he feels very strongly about all the unpublished data that drug companies hold. He petitioned the committee and gave his evidence, along with others, last year

Ben Goldacre

http://www.badscience.net/2013/04/my-evidence-to-the-uk-parliamentary-select-committee-inquiry-into-missing-trial-data/

The published report can be downloaded here http://www.parliament.uk/documents/commons-committees/science-technology/Clinical%20trials%20combined.pdf

Obviously, for the biggest impact we would want a topic to come from the IPEM HQ! May be we should ask the office to do a simple poll to ask members what they think IPEM should be petitioning this committee about. 

A number of firsts: My first trustee meeting, my first communications committee meeting and my first visit to the IPEM offices.

I can gladly report there is definitely a refreshingly cool breeze of change in the air. First hinted at in past President’s Dr Peter Jarrit’s scope editorial Vol 21 (1) March 2012 and now in mid transition as described by our dynamic CEO, Rosemary Cooke CBE in the last issue of SCOPE.

At the trustees meeting we discussed the overall strategy of the IPEM and money of course.  As current President Dr Steve Keevil discusses in the first issue of SCOPE this year, one of the biggest strategic changes taking place within IPEM is the devolving of decision making down to the committees and councils so that they don't have to wait for the trustees to decide on operational matters better decided by the committees themselves. We discussed at great length the results of the members’ survey. If you haven’t read over it already I recommend that you do (http://www.ipem.ac.uk/Members.aspx).  Some of the comments are both amusing and damming! Some good ones too.

At the end of the trustees meeting day I felt that I had learned more about how the IPEM works since I joined back in 1993 (gosh has it really been 20 years!!!). I had no idea the IPEM was doing so much.  I feel a little guilty that I had been dismissive of the organisation for so long.  Yes, it’s true, even though I had been a member of the MR-SIG since 2008 and now VP I had never really bothered to find out.  It’s a 2 way process of course. On the one hand we don't make it easy to find out stuff that’s going on. But it’s also up to us to at least point ourselves in the right direction to get the info. The website is drastically improving but it’s still difficult to navigate. The annual report is a good source of info but a bit dry to read. The newsletter is excellent but like a lot of newsletters I get from other organisations and journals it gets lost amongst the many emails I get.  For more info on Who’s Who click here http://www.ipem.ac.uk/Members/CommitteesGroups.aspx It's a lot of clicks and it doesn't look pretty but we’re all there.

The Communications Committee meeting or Comms Comm as it’s ‘affectionately’ called, took place a few days later in the IPEM offices in York. Again I’m embarrassed to say that I was kind of hoping that the idea floated (not very seriously) of moving the HQ to London would be accepted but having visited York, I take it back. It’s a charming place and actually from London takes less than 2hrs if you get the right train. Oh and they’ve managed to source CLUB biscuits (showing my age again :/) so they’re guaranteed to get me back.  It was a long day but very energising. It’s been a long time coming but I really think that this current configuration of the Comms Comm is going to bring the IPEM into the 21^st century. Marc Miquel is chair, he was brilliant as editor in the progression and guiding of SCOPE into the format we know and love now and he will be brilliant at Charing this committee too. Tenacity with a capital T. You can find the other members at the link above. I won’t steal their thunder but we’re hoping to launch a really exciting campaign this year to raise the profile of physics and engineering in healthcare, inspired in part by some of the answers we got from the member survey so do go and read it (http://www.ipem.ac.uk/Members.aspx.)