New Year 2010

From the Chair

New members

Sci Comm news

Eurochat

Feature: The dawn of
another industry

Event Report: Swineflu,
pandemic or hamdemic

Event Report: My worst
day in the office

Interview: Romana
Canneti, media lawyer

Stempra newsletter

FEATURE: The dawn of another industry

First proposed as the Association of Scientific Societies Public Relations Officers (yes, that really is ASSPRO for short), Stempra started as a scribble on a napkin and ended up a thriving pinnacle of success. Three Stempra committee members track its history from conception, and look forward to a brand new constitution.

The good ole days
Moving to a larger committee
Constitutional matters

 The good ole days

Like most good things, Stempra was dreamed up over lunch. The brainchild of Stephen White of the British Psychological Society and Jill Nelson, who was then at the Royal Society and is now the People's Trust for Endangered Species, the idea was for an association of science communications folk who would benefit from the chance to meet other like-minded individuals.

Bringing together non-commercial science, medical and engineering communicators in 1993, this was to be an association that could support those who felt isolated and undervalued by their own organisations. With the help of Peter Cooper and the Royal Society's extensive address book, the pair contacted scientific societies and recruited their first 50 participants.

Stephen says: "The first few years were fascinating because all we wanted to do was create excellent networking opportunities for the members. We did, and lots would turn up."  Early events included meet-the-journalist experiences, which Stephen remembers were "particularly popular, and an eye-opener for many of our less experienced members".

The Public Understanding of Science movement was just emerging and challenging the existing dynamics between scientists, the public and intermediaries of all kinds. With word-of-mouth advertising and a reputation for being friendly and helpful and organising good events, the size of the organisation increased steadily.

"Then as now, Stempra put great value on sharing information and providing practical support," says Dianne Stilwell, now an independent consultant and a founding member along with Stephen. "I think almost all the early meetings were technique- and issue-focused. I remember sessions on crisis PR, how to work with designers, public affairs and lobbying, what makes a good press photo and event organisation."

Moving to a larger committee

The early committee had eight members, which has recently expanded to 15 (see below). The committee members bring a wealth of expertise to the organisation, with current members working for a diverse range of organisations such as the Department of Health, Science Media Centre, Human Tissue Authority and universities from around the country. Their jobs cover the broad gamut of communications including working as a press officer and public and policy affairs.

Katrina Nevin-Ridley, who chairs the committee and is Head of Media at the Wellcome Trust, says: "Stempra could not function and put on such a range of exciting and relevant events without the commitment and the hard work of all the committee members. Each person brings something different to the mix.

"Members are always at the end of an email or phone and work in their spare time to deliver worthwhile events, providing great networking opportunities. There are also our unsung heroes, who work tirelessly behind the scenes. These include Robbie Walker our treasurer, who is a true treasure and looks after membership and accounts, and Simon Levey, who manages the website."

Ruth Francis from Nature is one of the new members who joined the Stempra Committee this year. “As Head of Press for Nature I enjoy an international perspective on the press officer role, which I hope is both useful and interesting for the committee,” she says.

Others who joined the Stempra committee this year are Laura Nelson, who works for the Human Tissue Authority, Jenny Gimpel from UCL, Helen Jamison from the Science Media Centre, Becky Purvis from the Association of Medical Research Charities (AMRC) and Bob Ward from the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment.


Members of the committee also represent different regions of the country, with Alex Waddington from the University of Manchester and Tara Womersley from the University of Edinburgh. Hazel Lambert, who works for the Medical Research Council, also recently moved from London to the Edinburgh office.

So what do the founding members think of the organisation now? Another early member, Barbara Davies of Understanding Animal Research (then the Research Defence Society), says: "Stempra has admirably fulfilled the role of an informal network of science PR people who can all learn from each other."

But Stephen also wonders if, heady with success, we've allowed ourselves to be blinkered. "We are now very nearly a separate industry", he says, "and that is perhaps where we've made mistakes. Communicating science is no different from communicating anything else, but we still keep trying to invent wheels that already exist."

So how can we eliminate that, now that we live in a world where communication takes place 24/7 via so many more means? An ability to look sideways at the competition is vital to staying ahead, says Stephen. And that’s what Stempra must strive for.

Constitutional matters

At our last AGM, we made what at first seemed a straightforward change to the constitution – to expand the committee size from an overstretched eight members to 15. Following lively discussion at the AGM, we went back to look at the constitution and realised that this change was more complicated, as the original committee was cleverly balanced in terms of numbers and roles. So we set up a sub-group to identify whether the constitution needed updating to reflect the changing face and role of Stempra, and, if so, how such changes would help the constitution to continue to serve the organisation in the long term.
 
Stempra's founding constitution was very robust so the group didn't identify any radical changes. But there were some areas that needed some updating or modifying. For example, we increased the size of the committee with two new officers – a Newsletter Editor and a Web & Online Manager – and two corresponding ordinary members to retain the core committee’s balance. We introduced quorums at meetings to ensure single individuals cannot make decisions that will affect the whole Stempra membership. We clarified decision-making procedures, strengthened the criteria that must be met to make serious changes to the constitution in future, and revised and amalgamated some of the organisation’s stated aims to bring them up-to-date with what our members do and need from Stempra.
 
Tracking down and consulting some of the founding and previous Stempra committee members, the group produced some final proposed changes to the constitution. The aim is that these changes remain true to the initial purposes of Stempra while enabling the organisation to continue to develop and grow in a changing environment and ultimately remain relevant to the needs of its members.

So what happens now? To modify the constitution before the next AGM we must hold a Special General Meeting. We will ensure you receive details of the date, time and place and the planned business at least three weeks in advance. At the meeting there will be an opportunity to discuss and raise any concerns over the proposed changes and they will then be decided by a simple majority of those present and eligible to vote. Each Stempra member has one vote which must be given personally.

Following the meeting, we will circulate the updated constitution and place it on the Stempra website.

Simon Levey
Communications Officer, Queen Mary, University of London
SimonL@stempra.org.uk

Tara Womersley
Press and PR Officer, University of Edinburgh
Tara@stempra.org.uk

Becky Purvis
Policy and Public Affairs Manager, AMRC
Becky@stempra.org.uk  

<< Back to
current newsletter