The British Psychological Society Annual Review 2009 by The Psychologist

THE SOCIETY

The British Psychological Society was founded in 1901 and incorporated by Royal Charter in 1965. It has three main aims: ■

to encourage the development of psychology as a scientific discipline and an applied profession;

■

to maintain and enhance standards of education, training and practice in the application of psychology; and

■

to raise public awareness of psychology and increase its influence throughout society and the economy.

It works to achieve these aims in a wide variety of ways... The work of the Society The British Psychological Society: ■ has offices in England, Northern Ireland,

Scotland and Wales; ■ accredits undergraduate programmes in

116 university departments; ■ accredits 143 postgraduate programmes in

86 university departments; ■ awards Fellowships for distinguished

achievements in psychology; ■ regulates its members through the Professional Conduct Board and has an Ethics Committee to provide guidance and advice; ■ confers Chartered Status upon properly

qualified professional psychologists – at present there are nearly 17,000 people on its Register of Chartered Psychologists; ■ gives grants to support research and

scholarship; ■ recognises distinguished contributions to

psychological science and practice through individual awards and honours; ■ publishes 11 scientific journals and jointly

publishes Evidence Based Mental Health with the British Medical Association and the Royal College of Psychiatrists; ■ publishes The Psychologist magazine each

month; ■ publishes books in partnership with

Wiley Blackwell under the BPS Blackwell imprint; ■ supports the recruitment of psychologists

through the Psychologist Appointments section of The Psychologist and its website www.psychapp.co.uk;

■ provides a free Research Digest e-mail

primarily aimed at school and university students (also available on the web at www.bps-research-digest.blogspot.com); ■ publishes newsletters and occasional

papers for its many specialist member networks; ■ maintains a comprehensive website

(www.bps.org.uk); ■ has links with psychological societies and

associations throughout the world; ■ runs a media centre to publicise the work

of its members to the media and the wider public; ■ prepares policy statements and responses

to government consultations; and ■ holds conferences, workshops, continuing

professional development and training events.

Our future plans ■ Increase recruitment – the target is 50,000

members. ■ Provide better services to members –

responding to their changing needs. ■ Improve the public understanding of

psychology through working with the media and regular outreach events. ■ Increase our influence on public policy

through the work of our Policy Support Unit, Boards and Parliamentary Officer. ■ Make full use of the strengths and

diversity of the Society membership through a wider range of activities.; ■ Develop the Psychological Testing Centre

to set, promote and maintain standards in testing.

CONTENTS

Representative Council

Boards

Committees

Divisions

Sections

Branches

Special Groups

BOARD OF TRUSTEES & OFFICERS OF THE SOCIETY Board of Trustees President and Chair President Elect Vice President Honorary General Secretary Honorary Treasurer Chair, Professional Practice Board Chair, Membership & Professional Training Board Chair, Research Board Chair, Publications & Communications Board Chair, Psychology Education Board Chair, Professional Conduct Board (to 1 July 2009) Representative Council Appointments Chair, Representative Council (Observer)* Representative Council Cooptees

Ms Sue Gardner Dr Gerry Mulhern Dr Liz Campbell Professor Pam Maras Dr Richard Mallows Dr Carole Allan Dr Peter Banister Professor Judi Ellis Dr Graham Powell Dr Richard Latto Mr Joop Tanis

Dr Gerry Mulhern / Professor Maurice Stringer Dr Richard Mallows Professor Graham Turpin Professor Jill Wilkinson Emeritus Professor Ken Brown

The British Psychological Society St Andrews House 48 Princess Road East Leicester LE1 7DR Tel: 0116 254 9568 Fax: 0116 247 0787 E-mail: mail@bps.org.uk www.bps.org.uk

A N N U A L R E V I E W 2009

2 THE BRITISH PSYCHOLOGICAL SOCIETY

REPRESENTATIVE COUNCIL

A year of change This has been a year of great challenge for the Society with changes brought about through both Statutory Regulation and as a result of the economic recession. In order to meet these changes it has been necessary for the Society to move quickly to ensure that we are well placed to face the future. It is fair to say that the pace of change has both tested the relationship between Council and the Board of Trustees and led to reconsideration of the working relationship between the two. I would like to pay tribute to members of both the Board of Trustees and the Representative Council for their constructive approach to the debate about these changes. The business at both our May and October meetings reflected this change theme with discussion of new member conduct procedures and proposed changes to the governance structure of the Society. The Trustees have moved quickly to propose far-reaching changes to the governance structure of the Society. The need to establish cost-effective structures to deal with the financial pressures we face has been evident for some time. Equally, it is important that they consult widely on the proposed implementation of any new system. The Board of Trustees, while wishing to move quickly to implement changes, has demonstrated a much needed willingness to consult with both Representative Council and the Society’s subsystems. As chair, I would like to thank the President Sue Gardner for making space for this debate and the Trustees for listening to the views of the membership and Council during this time of rapid change.

The future: The need for effective communication The future of Representative Council was a major item of discussion at our October meeting. It has been clear for some time that the functioning of Representative Council needs to change to allow it to keep pace with Board of Trustee meetings. This need for change was endorsed by the Council and a range of options, including a general assembly, backed up by eforums was debated. An important role of Representative Council is to ensure that members’ views are made clear to those who govern the Society. In order to achieve this, members’ views about change must be brought forward to Council through the member networks and communicated effectively to the Board of Trustees. We are hopeful that the proposed changes to the Council will facilitate better communication with members. Finally, I would like to thank Nichola Whitmore-Cooper for her excellent service to the Council and Gerry Mulhern for his role as past chair and his continuing support. Professor Maurice Stringer, Chair

A N N U A L R E V I E W 2009

BOARDS

Membership and Professional Training Board The Board reports to and advises the Trustees on policy, standards, submissions of evidence to public or private bodies and other matters related to professional training in psychology. It accredits postgraduate professional training programmes, oversees the Society’s postgraduate qualifications and awards, and advises on matters pertaining to Society membership.

Learning Centre The Society launched the Learning Centre at the beginning of April 2009. The Centre is an online portal for professional development, showcasing the latest CPD opportunities relevant to psychologists. An online and printed version of the catalogue of CPD events is provided, with over 80 events featuring for 2009/10. An external approval scheme for CPD providers was introduced during 2009; this is proving popular, with many suppliers keen to achieve approved status. The Centre has developed cross-Divisional events, which have received excellent feedback. The Learning centre also launched six e-learning courses. The Learning Centre also offers advice on best practice in CPD. The mandatory CPD system was relaunched as myCPD, providing an online planning and recording system for members, aligned to the Health Professions Council’s standards. It currently has over 15,000 subscribers.

Membership and registration The first half of 2009 saw applications for Chartered Status increase by up to 400 per cent as Members sought to ensure their rights to transfer automatically to the HPC’s register. With only a handful of exceptions, all applications for Chartered Status or Full Division Membership received up to a couple of weeks before the HPC opened its register were processed in time to allow successful applicants to transfer automatically. In November the new specialist Register of Applied Psychology Practice Supervisors was launched, and a new route for international applicants for Chartered Status has been developed. The Team also coordinated the interim review by the Science Council of the Society’s process for awarding Chartered Scientist.

Qualifications and Awards The Society’s Boards of Assessors provide independent qualification routes as an alternative to university-based programmes. These have been added to the HPC list of approved programmes, and will now be subject to the HPC approval processes. A lot of the work this year has been focussed on ensuring we can demonstrate how we meet their Standards of Education and Training. A Qualifications Standards Committee has been appointed to ensure consistency in approach and standards across all Society qualifications. Quality Assurance The 2008/9 academic year was dominated by the introduction of the statutory regulation of practitioner psychologists in the UK. The Board of Trustees has been overseeing a review of 4

THE BRITISH PSYCHOLOGICAL SOCIETY

the accreditation function via its new Quality Assurance Review Group, whose members have been responsible for the development of accreditation through partnership. This is a new model of engagement with universities and their students, applying to all accredited programmes, with the pilot activity planned for 2010 and a formal launch in September 2010. I would also like to thank all members of the Board, Simon Bowen and the Directorate Team Leaders for their hard work during this challenging year. Peter Banister, Chair

Professional Practice Board PPB reports to and advises the Board of Trustees on policy, applied practice, consultation responses and other matters related to the application of psychological science. During my first year as chair I was very impressed by the volume of work undertaken and achievements of the Board, its working parties and standing committees. We have published: Policy statements on ■ Psychological health and well-being; ■ Psychological well-being and the economic crisis; ■ Human rights. Working party papers on ■ Assessment of effort in clinical testing of cognitive functioning for adults; ■ Data Protection Act guidelines; ■ Interim supplementary guidance for chartered psychologists seeking approval and acting as approved clinicians; ■ Psychological health: Connecting communities. A New Horizons strategy for local well-being service networks; ■ Psychological services for people with Parkinson’s disease; ■ The provision of psychological services via the internet and other non-direct means (second edition); ■ Independent practice as a psychologist (fourth edition); ■ Psychologists as expert witnesses (second edition); ■ Psychology concise guide for stroke; ■ Psychological health and well-being: A new ethos for mental health; ■ Guidance on the Mental Health Act for the approved clinician peer review panel.

Standing Committees The Board’s standing committees have been busy, as always, developing policy in psychometric testing, expert witness skills, workforce planning, and health and social care.

Centre for Outcomes Research and Effectiveness (CORE) CORE continues its work on systematic reviews and guidelines; measuring and monitoring outcomes; evaluating evidence-based practice in health services; and evaluating new services and roles arising from policy initiatives. See: www.ucl.ac.uk/clinical-psychology/CORE/core_homepage.htm

A N N U A L R E V I E W 2009

Consultations The Chair of PPB signed off 79 responses to public consultations (see www.bps.org.uk/publications/consultation-papers/consultation-papers_home.cfm ).

Links with Other Organisations PPB has worked in collaboration with a wide range of stakeholders, on: ■

■ ■

■

National Specialised Commissioning Team’s, Specialised Services National Definitions Set (third edition) – Definition No. 23 Specialised Services for Children, and Definition No. 31 Specialised Pain Management Services (adult). RCP’s Inpatient Services for People with Learning Disabilities. Acute Care Declaration (joint with RCP, and a wide range of other professional bodies and mental health charities). Final Demand: Debt and Mental Health (in partnership with RCP, NDMHU and a wide range of other professional bodies and mental health charities) Health needs of children in detention (with Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health and a wide range of other professional bodies).

2009 Awards in Professional Psychology I am delighted to announce the 2009 award winners are Professor Graham Turpin and Professor David Lane for Distinguished Contributions to Professional Psychology and Professor Gisli Gudjonsson and Professor Stanley Rachman for Lifetime Achievement.

Acknowledgements I must thank all contributors to the Board’s work but especially the Board’s members, the profession is indebted to them. Nigel Atter, assisted by Zoë Mudie, deserve the highest praise in advising and supporting the Board. I thank and commend them most heartily. For further information see www.bps.org.uk/ppb. Dr Carole Allan, Chair

Psychology Education Board The Board has endeavoured to achieve its objectives in education standards, the promotion of psychological science and the support of students, teachers and those working in the field of psychology education.

Standing Committee on Pre-Tertiary Education The Committee has had continued success in supporting psychology teachers in the pretertiary sector. The committee ran successful workshops at the Annual Conference on promoting links between education sectors and the development of the Diploma, and, in tandem with the Division of Teachers and Researchers in Psychology, had a significant presence at the Association of Teachers of Psychology Conference in Exeter. The Society hosted a stand where teachers could provide feedback to staff and the DTRP held a roundtable on the relationship between HE and Pre-tertiary psychology, from which we have developed proposals to support links between the sectors. Since then, the Committee has concentrated on developing the programme for the education day at the Annual Conference on 14 April, where we will be strengthening our commitment to supporting links between pre-tertiary and HE sectors as well as discussing influencing A-level specifications. In addition, the Committee has drafted a statement on GCSE psychology and launched an e-newsletter for pre-tertiary teachers. 6 THE BRITISH PSYCHOLOGICAL SOCIETY

Standing Committee on Psychology Education for Other Groups The committee welcomed new Chair, Viv Brunsden in spring and has been developing new ways of working and refining it’s remit. The committee will be investigating the development of guidance for curriculum developers with the Royal College of Veterinary Medicine and the Emergency Planning Society in 2010.

Awards The Undergraduate Award went out in over 90 institutions and the Board congratulates all our winners. Congratulations are also extended to the 8 winners of the A Level & Scottish Highers Award for 2008, some of whom took up the opportunity to attend the British Science Association Festival of Science in the autumn. The Excellence in Teaching Awarding Panel was delighted to receive a wealth of submissions this year. The two front running nominations were too close to call and the panel chose to jointly honour Dr David Groome for his lifetime dedication to the teaching of psychology and to Professors Alex Haslam and Steve Reicher for the influence of the BBC Prison Study on the undergraduate and pre-tertiary curricula and their enthusiastic support of teachers and learners studying it. New initiatives approved in 2009 that will be implemented this year include the Excellence in Teaching Award becoming the Excellence in Psychology Education Award and the Lifetime Achievement Award in Psychology Education will be inaugurated in 2011.

Acknowledgements This is my last Annual Review as I step down in summer as chair of PEB after two terms. I’d like to offer my thanks to all members who have served on PEB and its committees and to wish Professor Dorothy Miell, who takes over as Chair, the best for the future. The Board has achieved a great deal since its inception in promoting psychological science in the education sector, influencing curricula and in building relationships that will continue to support our objectives long into the future. Richard Latto, Chair

Publications and Communications Board The Psychologist The Psychologist covered topics as diverse as dancing plagues, happiness and child-rearing, and Anna Karenina. Authors and interviewees included Albert Bandura, Dorothy Rowe and Barbara Tizard. New guest columns furthered the magazine’s role as a forum for discussion and controversy among members of the Society. Advertising in The Psychologist continues to be a vital source of income for the Society. We also experimented with uploading ‘tasters’ and occasional full copies on an external publishing platform. October saw The Psychologist’s staff journalist, Dr Christian Jarrett, win the Guild of Health Writers’ award for ‘best trade and specialist publication feature’.

Research Digest The Society’s Research Digest continues to grow in reach and ambition. The blog welcomed its millionth visitor last autumn and the fortnightly e-mail boasts more than 25,000 subscribers.

A N N U A L R E V I E W 2009

The Digest ended the year as the tenth most influential science blog and the highest ranked psychology blog.

Journals Society Journals are celebrating an excellent year with record sales revenues of over £1.1 (a 9.3 per cent increase over 2008). Our 2009 highlights included: ■ an overall impact factor rise with three journals reaching an all-time high; ■ nearly two million hits last year for the online journals service; ■ the launch of a new monograph publication entitled Teaching and Learning Writing. The year also saw the initiation of a partnership with the International Network for the Availability of Scientific Publications to make journals available to institutions in developing countries.

Public Relations and Marketing The PR and Marketing team dealt with over 2200 media calls, and sent out some 160 media releases and statements. Annual Conference attracted global media interest. We launched Member Update, the e-newsletter for Society members. We secured an apology and correction from the Daily Telegraph for the misreporting of research from the Division of Forensic Psychology Conference.

BPS Blackwell books 2009 was another successful year for the BPS Blackwell imprint, published by Wiley. Sales were very encouraging for our flagship undergraduate series of ‘BPS Textbooks in Psychology’ and many new titles appeared.

Public engagement The 2009 round of public engagement grant funding proved as popular as ever with 19 applications being received, three of which received funding: ■ water efficiency and behaviour change masterclass; ■ educational DVD to promote an online mental health resource for primary school aged children; ■ provide the psychological dimension to a website for bereaved young people. The annual British Academy/British Psychological Society annual lecture was delivered by Dr Martin Seligman on ‘Positive psychology and positive education’.

Policy support unit We responded to 89 consultations during 2009. These responses were submitted to 34 separate bodies across the UK, including governments, non-government organisations and non-departmental public bodies.

Parliament During 2009, the Society’s parliamentary office has continued to provide overall support for government and parliamentary relations and to provided an advisory role to several of the Society’s working parties. The year saw the launch of the new parliamentary office internship scheme, whose first participant was Dr Teodora Gilga. Dr Graham Powell, Chair

8 THE BRITISH PSYCHOLOGICAL SOCIETY

Research Board The Research Board is responsible for the promotion, advancement and diffusion of knowledge of psychology, pure and applied, and encouraging new developments in psychological science and its applications. See: www.bps.org.uk/the-society/organisation-andgovernance/research-board/research-board_home.cfm The Board continues to be proactive in providing guidance and support to the general public, members and other professionals through the production of evidence-based documents and leading on consultation responses. Of particular significance, the Board considered the proposed new Research Excellence Framework and its ramifications for psychology. It also contributed to annual liaison meetings with the Economic and Social Research Council and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council to discuss their funding of research. The Board is also strongly involved in the ESRC International Benchmarking Exercise: Psychology. The Working Party on Code of Research Ethics (joint with the Ethics Committee) is progressing with the complex task of revising and amalgamating a number of existing guidance documents relating to the conduct of psychological research. The Board is also concerned to further advance and promote psychological science. To this end, in addition to continuing to strengthen its links and joint work with the Science Council, the Academy for Social Science, The Royal Society and the Campaign for Science and Engineering (CaSE), it has agreed to undertake more direct engagement and support of the work of the Psychology Section of the British Science Association. Activities undertaken by the History of Psychology Centre include: the appointment of a Society Curator of Psychology at the Science Museum; the launch of a new website; nine history of psychology seminars held; ongoing work on electronic journals access; and the beginning of the full integration of Society archives into the Wellcome Library collection and catalogue. The Board continues to support scientific activities through its numerous grant schemes. Research Seminars were supported on the following topics: sustainability, music and language, and psychological issues in men’s health. Postgraduate study visits were also supported for visits to: Medically Induced Trauma Services (USA), Trondheim University (Norway), Indiana University (USA), University of Southern Denmark (Denmark), and the University of Stirling. Scientific excellence is also recognised at different career stages. ■ Presidents Award for Outstanding Contributions to Psychological Knowledge: Professor Dominic Abrams and Professor Jon Driver; ■ Spearman Medal: Dr Matt Field; ■ Award for Outstanding Doctoral Research Contributions: Dr Yulia Kovas and Dr Merim Bilalic; ■ Book Award: Prof Alan Baddeley for Working Memory, Thought and Action. Under the second year of the Undergraduate Research Assistantship scheme 34 applications were received and nine were funded. For further details on any of the award or grant schemes, please visit: www.bps.org.uk/the-society/organisation-and-governance/researchboard/awards_grants_lectures_2007/awards_grants_and_lectures_home.cfm.

A N N U A L R E V I E W 2009

I succeeded Professor Martin Conway as Chair of the Board in Spring 2009. I would like to thank all members of the Board for their valuable contributions during the year. Particular thanks are also due to Liz Beech and Dr Lisa Morrison Coulthard for their excellent advisory and administrative support, ensuring that everything is dealt with effectively and efficiently. Judi Ellis, Chair

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COMMITTEES

Ethics Committee The committee has been concerned with ensuring the Society maintains its key function in providing a code of ethics and conduct for its members and in providing authoritative and helpful guidance on ethical matters. A new Ethical Guidance and Support section has been published on the Society website: www.bps.org.uk/the-society/code-of-conduct/code-of-conduct_home.cfm An ethics expert reference group has been established to support the office in providing ethics advice to members. The committee will monitor demand, especially in the light of statutory regulation. A Media Ethics Advisory Group has been established (with the Publications and Communications Board) to provide support and advice to members of the Society. The Working Party on the Code of Research Ethics (with the Research Board) is continues; the final document will be published next year following consultation. The Committee is grateful to Professor Ian Diamond and Michelle Dodson of the ESRC for their input and to Professor John Oates for his able chairing. The Committee has contributed to many consultation responses, including the ESRC Research Ethics Framework, UKCP Code of Ethics and Conduct and NHS Connecting for Mental Health Consultation on Public, Patient and Other Interested Parties Views on Additional Uses of Patient Data. Thanks are due to the members of the Committee who contributed to these responses. Looking ahead, relations with HPC will continue to be a live issue, as will providing advice to members in a different and complex regulatory landscape. The Ethics Committee will continue to keep itself and the Society informed, provide expert input where required, and raise broader issues as it sees fit. The Committee has been concerned by the new membership rules and is keen that they are amended in line with its concerns. This work will continue. The Committee also has responsibility for overseeing matters relating to diversity and equal opportunity. Richard Kwiatkowski chaired the Committee. Dr Halla Beloff was Deputy Chair until November 2009, when Dr. Phil Stringer was appointed as the new Deputy Chair. On behalf of the Society we would like to sincerely thank Dr Halla Beloff who stepped down from the Committee this year; she was one of the original members and her incisive wisdom, humanity, dedication, advice and hard work over the last 10 years were an inspiration. We would also like to thank Chrissie Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Rourke, who served as the Societyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Professional Conduct Officer until spring 2009. The Committee immensely valued and appreciated her impeccable, professional, and personable support and guidance.

A N N U A L R E V I E W 2009

It is important that all the members of the committee are thanked in this brief report; they have worked hard in an often complex and difficult environment; they are senior members of the profession, or eminent lay people, with many demands on their time. The work of the committee would be impossible without the skill, effort and dedication of the staff at the office, especially Lisa Morrison Coulthard and Elizabeth Beech, who have provided an incredible level of professional and personal support. Richard Kwiatkowski, Chair

Standing Conference Committee This has been a very successful year for the Committee. The Annual Conference in Brighton was held in glorious sunshine and was attended by 515 delegates. Keynote speakers included Professor Kerry Chamberlain, Professor Janet Treasure, Professor Richard Ryan and Professor Andy Ellis. The new format, following on from the highly successful Dublin conference, seems to be in line with members' wishes. The 2009 Student Lectures were held in Edinburgh (a disappointing attendance of 120) and London (with more than 600 delegates again filling Kensington Town Hall). These lectures continue to receive excellent feedback and are an important feature of Society provision. The 2010 lectures will be in London and Nottingham, with the latter receiving support from Nottingham Trent University. The 2010 Annual Conference will be held in Stratford-upon-Avon (14–16 April) and we aim to reach the same delegate numbers as at Brighton 2009. We received an overwhelming number of submissions for this conference following our call for abstracts, more than 300 in total (an increase of over 50 per cent on the previous year) – for further details about the conference visit www.bps.org.uk/ac2010. In 2011 Annual Conference returns to Glasgow from 4–6 May and it is hoped that this will prove to be as popular a location as it was for the Centenary conference of 2001. The conference venue will be the Marriott Hotel, which is in the city centre with easy access to shops, restaurants, pubs and museums, providing additional attractions to what will be an exciting social and scientific programme. Further information on these and other Society conferences can be found at www.bps.org.uk/conferences. Ken Brown, Chair

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DIVISIONS

Division of Clinical Psychology This has been an action-packed year for the Division. As usual, we had our Strategy Meeting midway through the year, where we reviewed the objectives we agreed for 2008-9 and set new ones for this year – available in detail at www.bps.org.uk/dcp/news/strategy_objs.cfm Our subsystems review has progressed – we now have an Executive made up of chairs of the four nations of the UK, regional branches within England aligned to the strategic health authorities and we are identifying leads for our five key areas of service delivery (work with older people, adults, children and young people, people with learning disabilities and clinical health), as well as continuing to have a range of flourishing specialist Faculties. Our work is supported by our Service User and Carer Liaison Committee, who are available to work with all our subsystems and sit on our Executive. Key achievements this year include a (reasonably) smooth transition to statutory regulation, increasing links with other professional bodies (such as the RCN and RCP) via the Inter Professional Collaborative, considerable input to the New Horizons policy document which outlines plans for mental health in England for the coming years, a significant increase in membership, and the development of our own logo and public information webpage – www.clinicalpsychology.org.uk Our plans for the coming year include ongoing provision of high quality member services – following member surveys on our main DCP Conference and our monthly magazine Clinical Psychology Forum, we are in the process of improving both. We will be working closely with the new Society Learning Centre to improve the range of low-cost, accessible CPD events we provide. We are currently investing in the development of a leadership programme, which will be available in all four countries. In terms of influencing the political and policy context, we are preparing ourselves for the impending general election and looking at how to ensure that clinical psychology is seen as having a considerable amount to contribute to the psychological well-being of the UK, whatever the outcome. We continue to publish a range of position and briefing papers for our members, to guide us all in appropriate service delivery. We are in the process of developing protocols to enable IAPT programmes to easily recognise the therapeutic skills of clinical psychologists. We are working with the wider Society on the development of post-qualification registers in areas such as supervision and expert witness work. Finally, improving public, media and commissioner understanding of our role. We have plans for a comprehensive programme to improve the profile of clinical psychology, including providing media training for key officers to ensure that we have appropriate spokespersons available, increasing our public information production (e.g. the production of self-help leaflets), preparing media releases on hot topics, and looking at how we can encourage the appropriate portrayal of clinical psychologists in popular television and media as an accessible way of helping the public understand our role. Jenny Taylor, Chair A N N U A L R E V I E W 2009

Division of Counselling Psychology This has been a year of change, with the transfer of regulatory function to the Health Professions Council. This was reflected in the Division Committee’s strategy meeting in October 2009. The outcome was the development of three strategic aims: ■ the Division as the resource for Counselling Psychologists; ■ facilitating Division communication processes and structures; ■ developing opportunities regarding work and training. A statement of clear goals to be achieved prior to the AGM in July 2010 was derived from these aims and put to members. This year your Divisional Committee will: 1. deliver a high quality website containing lots of useful resources; 2. fight for your increased opportunities in work and training.

1. Deliver a high quality website containing lots of useful resources A communications working party has been established under the excellent leadership of Dr Peter Martin. Communications are being strengthened with existing branches and network groups which are being encouraged to develop their presence on the Division website. The website has been regularly updated with important information and to help members to facilitate their work and training. Dr Anjan Nath, in consultation with Society staff, has designed a new site and plans are in place for a smooth transition when the Society’s major revamp of the site goes live in 2010. A regular announcements list is being issued and the Communications Group has also been working with the training leads to meet the needs of trainers and students.

2. Work towards increased opportunities in work and training Representation on practice committees and external bodies continues to be developed and a request for expertise has been sent to all members to widen our pool of expertise. The Committee has committed to meeting the needs of recently qualified counselling psychologists and has subsidised a one day seminar on trauma. A working group is discussing how we can help members whose settings are less represented at present, such as forensic settings or private practice. Our free evening seminars for trainees continue to be well received and a special issue of Counselling Psychology Review on the Qualification in Counselling Psychology is being published in 2010.

Other activities We are making available all issues of Counselling Psychology Review as PDFs. The Review has been reorganised into an academic journal and a newsletter; the first issues of these were published in November 2009. The Conference Committee is active under the leadership of Jill Mytton, organising the 2010 conference ‘Counselling Psychology Works’ in Glasgow in July 2010. This is again being subsidised by the Division to the tune of £10,000 to make it as affordable as possible. Conference bursaries are available to trainees and recently qualified members.

14 T H E B R I T I S H P S Y C H O L O G I C A L S O C I E T Y

Continuing professional development is being offered through the programme of Master Classes at the lowest possible cost. I would like to personally thank the Division Committee as well as the many members and staff who have supported the work of the Division over the past year. Barbara Douglas, Chair

Division of Educational and Child Psychology The committee has met six times, including a one-and-a-half day Wider Issues meeting in September. This has been a significant year for educational psychology with the introduction of statutory regulation in July and the changing role of the Society as a consequence. The academic year has seen the registration and employment of the first cohort of educational psychologists (EPs) following the introduction of the three-year doctoral training route. It is good to report that the Health Professionals Council (HPC) has taken the advice of the Society and set its entry-level qualification for psychologists at the same level as the Society's current doctoral level. Our thanks go to those within the Society and the Divisions who have worked hard in helping the HPC to come to this decision. A great deal of committee time has been taken up with debate around these issues together with continuing serious concerns in relation to future funding for educational psychology training. Members of the committee were delighted to welcome in September the first newly qualified EP representative for three years and a year-2 trainee representative. Committee business has been wide and varied. Some examples are: ■ attendance at Society Board and Council meetings, including the informal round table meeting with other Division chairs; ■ attendance at Children’s Workforce Development Council meetings to consider issues around EP training; ■ set up of new Working Group on Supervision for EPs at all levels, with two subgroups with wide representation; ■ regular review and updating of our strategic plan in line with the Society strategic plan and regular updating of our website; ■ completion and publication of the joint report (DECP, Association of EPs, National Association of Principal EPs ) on evaluation of EP services in the light of outcomes for children; ■ completion of paper on the direction and future role of DECP; ■ DECP position paper on inclusive education to sit alongside the Society social inclusion position paper; ■ new protocols for election of committee Chair Elect, Chair, officers, newly qualified EP and Year 2 trainee; ■ joint events with other Divisions and Groups; ■ negotiations with the newly formed DECP Northern Ireland to provide a focus and forum for EPs in Northern Ireland; ■ arrangements for the annual DECP conference and professional training event in January 2010 – ‘Building the Evidence’ – and the first DECP one day event for EP trainees, also in January. A N N U A L R E V I E W 2009

Thanks are due to the very many people for their invaluable help throughout the year, in particular, the conference committee, the associates of the committee, the press officers, the editorial boards of Debate and Educational & Child Psychology and committee members who have taken on specific roles and responsibilities. Joy Wellan, Chair

Division of Forensic Psychology It has been a busy 2009 for the Division committee as we continue to progress our strategic business plan. The committee has worked hard for the membership and is keen to ensure the needs of members are met. This is an update on the progress on our four broad strategic areas over the last 12 months.

Enhancing a professional identity The Division continues to enhance its professional identity by ensuring our communication with members is continually improved. For example, the website continues to be developed in response to members needs. In 2008 specific job roles within the committee were developed beyond the usual Chair, Treasurer and Secretary roles. These job roles were fully achieved in 2009. The details of all committee roles, and the DFP members who lead on these, can now be found on the DFP website. We feel these roles allows for greater speed and efficiency. We also continue as a Division to be well represented across the various Society committees, as well as having excellent representation in government consultations. Our publications are one of our key methods of communication, and Forensic Update continues to be produced regularly. The Forensic Update team is currently making modifications based on feedback from the 2009 member survey. There is also the relaunching of our other publication, Issues in Forensic Psychology, as a book series.

Upholding and enhancing professional standards Continuing professional development has continued to be a priority area of work for the Division this year, with sponsored events for full and in-training members. An increased number of events are planned for 2010. As part of this, there is further consideration for the provision of events for affiliate members. With regard to CPD, we continue to develop our Division of Forensic Psychology Conference. In particular, there has been a focus on inviting eminent keynote speakers. This has led to a consistently high standard of presentation. We are also fortunate to now have a member of the DFP committee whose role is â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;conference leadâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; and who is working hard to ensure quality standards for the conference.

Growing the membership The Division has continued to agree a costed business plan, with the development of this led by our Treasurer. The plan is linked directly to the strategic plan to ensure all finances are appropriately allocated. Spending is based on the benefit for members, and all expenditure continues to be linked to a strategic area and aim prior to its agreement for funding.

Developing and promoting forensic psychology as a scientific discipline The Division is continuing to promote the science of forensic psychology. The DFP committee is working hard to ensure all of our training events, including the Conference, demonstrate a 16 T H E B R I T I S H P S Y C H O L O G I C A L S O C I E T Y

sound scientific and theoretical underpinning. We are also continuing to develop initiatives that will allow the promotion of forensic psychology, as well as enhancing our professional identity, through positive interactions with the media. Carol A. Ireland, Chair

Division of Health Psychology The DHP has had a very active year. The principal activities have revolved around changes in the regulation of practising psychologists, reviewing the activities and functioning on the committee and delivering more services to members. Key activities include: ■ Discussions over the statutory regulation of psychologists who provide service to the public. In July the HPC published the titles that are subject to statutory regulation and we were pleased to see ‘health psychologist’ as one of these protected titles. ■ Regular newsletters were introduced to keep members abreast of activities. To date, four newsletters had been sent to members via e-mail. Further details of the DHP activities are posted on the website. ■ A successful Annual Conference was held in Birmingham and we held a meeting with the Division of Neuropsychology (‘Neuropsychological Impact of Health Conditions’). A rolling programme of one-day meetings with other Divisions is planned. ■ We have conducted a review the subcommittees of the DHP. ■ A conference committee has been established to provide support on the all aspects of the running of conferences. ■ The publicity and liaison subcommittee instituted a review of all publicity. As a result, the editorial team of Health Psychology Update was strengthened with specific editorial posts: www.bps.org.uk/dhp/health-psych-update/health-psych-update_home.cfm The review of our website led to a members area introduced and newsletters made available online www.bps.org.uk/dhp/members-area/members-area_home.cfm ■ The Workforce Planning Committee has been reorganised and renamed so as to reflect its actual activities, which cover the activities of health psychology practice. ■ Members of the DHP continue to provide responses to a range of consultation documents. There are 120 members on the Specialist Knowledge List and in the year ending March 2009, 68 consultations had been responded to by Division members. ■ Much of the administrative work for activities was performed by members of the DHP committee. This was becoming increasingly burdensome and it was decided to move a number of these administrative tasks to the Society office. These included the website technical management and some of the organisation of our Annual Conference. Continuing professional development had four very successful events this year – www.bps.org.uk/ dhp/cpd/cpd-events.cfm – and will now work with the Society’s Learning Centre. ■ The survey of members reported and is being used to guide activities of the executive. ■ Support for health psychology students continued. This year the internship scheme that supports students to complete a piece of work made two awards and the bursary scheme to assist students to attend the Annual Conference made 12 awards. ■ Publicity for health psychology has continued through presentations, including one at a Psychology for All event, and the production and distribution of leaflets about health psychology to A level Psychology students. ■ New stage 2 training was approved on 14 September and has now been launched: www.bps.org.uk/careers/society_qual/qual_downloads$/health_download$.cfm Stanton Newman, Deputy Chair A N N U A L R E V I E W 2009

Division of Neuropsychology I thank officers and committee members of the Division for their contribution to the running of the committee as they stand down this year. Dr Tom Kelly, as treasurer, for has recently led on the development of the commissioning documents. Dr Jamie Macniven stands down from being honorary secretary. Dr Stuart Anderson stands down from his role in Post Qualification Training. We also thank Professor Jonathan Evans for his contribution as CTCN liaison. I also wish to thank members of the committee for their work over the past year, reflected in the report below. We envisaged that it might be in members interests’ for there to be a specialist register of Clinical Neuropsychologists. This was because the HPC would only regulate Psychologists under their ‘basic entry’ criteria into the profession. A survey of members indicated that over 90 per cent of members were in agreement with the establishment of a register. The trustees of the Society agreed to such a rule change. At the AGM in November there was a favourable vote for the rule changes that would allow for the specialist register. In future Psychologists on the HPC register (such as under the title ‘clinical’ or ‘educational’) could be cross-referenced with the DoN specialist register to ensure that not only do they meet the needs of the HPC but also have skills and qualifications for practice as clinical neuropsychologists. To underscore the need for neuropsychology in various client groups, commissioning guidelines will be launched in early 2010. Dr Kathryn Bond is the editor of the DoN newsletter. Since the last AGM three issues of have been published. The website is managed by Dr Tom Manly and over the next year we will explore how PQT may be provided via the web. We established a working group to explore how training in neuropsychology may be represented at D Clin Psy levels. The courses for providing underpinning knowledge and research competencies for the PFMQ are showing continued uptake of places and a new course at the University of Bristol will be available soon. The 2009 PQT events have been well attended and well received; one was in Cardiff, the others in London. The Charney manor child neuropsychology residential course has continued. Dr Jamie Macniven was involved in the revision of the Society briefing paper on stroke with Ian Kneebone and Reg Morris; this is due for publication soon. Dr Macniven also co-wrote the Society document Psychological Services for People with Parkinson’s Disease, published in February 2009. A Division of Neuropsychology in Scotland has been set up, with activities organised for the year ahead. The Division continues to have a solid financial position. The positive financial position based on membership fees, an active continuing education programme, and cautious spending of division funds, appears to be successful and there would in normal circumstances no need for a significant shift in range and quantity of division activities. Huw Williams, Chair

18 T H E B R I T I S H P S Y C H O L O G I C A L S O C I E T Y

Division of Sport and Exercise Psychology There has again been substantial growth and activity within the DSEP. A key focus has been on promoting the DSEP to new members, employers and members of the public with letter campaigns and promotional leaflets targeting employers of sport and exercise psychologists, heads of psychology departments and students. Work has continued with the Society media centre on a PR strategy, based on the 2012 Olympic Games, to raise the profile of sport and exercise psychology and the DSEP in the media, with the general public and those involved in elite sport. Further progress has been made by the cross-Society working party developing guidelines for dealing with obesity and led by the DSEP. A report from this group will be available in 2010. Work is also continuing on the parliamentary seminar. Our first candidates for Stage 2 training have registered and the first workshop for supervisors of Stage 2 candidates was held, leading to the opening of the register of Approved Supervisors in sport and exercise psychology. DSEP members have made a number of contributions to the Division’s activities and development. The DSEP Book Series, edited by Professor David Lavallee and Dr Marc Jones, published Counselling Skills for the Sport Psychologist, by Dr Brian Hemmings and Dr Jonathan Katz. The DSEP was represented at the Psychology for All Event in March 2009 (Dr Amanda Daley, Dr Melissa Day, Dr Iain Greenlees and Dr Rachel Rahman). We also contributed to the Second European Coaching Psychology Conference with a keynote lecture from Professor Remco Polman and a symposium by Dr Sophia Jowett. Student members have been active as ever, for example producing an article on the DSEP for PsyPAG Quarterly and holding a symposium at the PsyPAG Annual Conference (Stuart Flint, Simon Payne and Helen Owten). Our DSEP PG representative Sarah Wood has recently become PsyPAG Chair-Elect and we send our congratulations to her. Dr Gavin Breslin has established a sport and exercise psychology group within the NI Branch, with a planned programme of activities for 2010, and Dr Toni Miniti submitted for Society public engagement funding. I would like to thank all these individuals for their valuable input into DSEP activities and encourage more members to join them. DSEP members are crucial to the Division’s sustainability and evolution and these initiatives are helping to further the range and involvement of DSEP members in our profession. In addition, the DSEP committee has continued to deal with the everyday running of the Division (e.g. development of a web forum on the DSEP webpages, development of a CPD strategy and events programme, monitoring and amending the Division’s Strategic Plan, and, amending the Division’s rules). Throughout 2009, committee members, including members of the Training Committee and Board of Assessors, have worked hard to support these initiatives and to maintain the impetus of the Division. My thanks go to all of them for their commitment and hard work. Dr Joanne Thatcher, Chair

Division for Teachers and Researchers in Psychology The Committee has been active this year in promoting the Division to wider sectors of academic psychology to open up discussion and share good practice. At our meeting in February 2009, we discussed the 2008 membership survey. This was followed in May by a strategy day at which we discussed our longer-term aims and objectives and how we could best serve both teachers and researchers within the Division. It was recognised that A N N U A L R E V I E W 2009

currently the Division provides excellent support for teachers of psychology and for those whose research is related to teaching, but that it may not be serving as well those who join as researchers of non-pedagogic research. Therefore, at the AGM we initiated a discussion with members about the focus and activities of the Division and we will continue this via our newsletter and an online discussion forum. Our aim is that during 2010 we will relaunch the Division with a revised strategic plan including targeted activities to achieve our aims and a new logo. This year the Division has provided many opportunities for members (and potential members) to discuss teaching and research-related activities through our participation in and sponsorship of national events and through our publications. Committee members have represented the Division at a number of events by sponsoring stands and holding round-table discussions, and we also contributed to the funding of the PsyPAG Annual Conference. The Division encourages communication through a variety of media and our publications have improved in quality, interactivity and frequency this year. We now publish: an e-newsletter three times year, with monthly shorter e-newsletters in-between; revised web pages with teaching resources being added daily; and an expanded and more regular Psychology Teaching Review. In addition to these outward-facing activities, committee members have been involved in consultations within the Society and represent members on all Boards. The Division has promoted and celebrated teaching and research through activities such as our Bursary Competition and as part of the panel for the Excellence in Teaching Psychology Award. In 2008, committee member Peter Reddy led the development of a multimedia guide for A level students and throughout this year the DVD has been disseminated widely to careers departments, libraries and even more widely to the general public via YouTube. One of our key aims is to attract new members and retain current members. The services we provide to current members have improved considerably over the last year and will continue to improve. This year there will be a day at the Annual Conference when all papers, symposia and awards relating to Psychology education are scheduled on the same day. This is a joint initiative with PEB and the Division will be hosting a symposium on â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Reflecting into Practice: The role of research in informing teaching practiceâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. I would like to thank all of the committee and Society staff for their support in this my first year as Chair. Dr Jacqui Taylor, Chair

Scottish Division of Educational Psychology The introduction of the new Award in Educational Psychology (Scotland) and statutory regulation with the Health Professions Council have brought with them new challenges for the SDEP Executive and Training Committees. A major focus early in 2009 was on endeavouring to ensure that the unique nature of the role and the non-clinical context in which Scottish educational psychologists operate was reflected in the competency standards being developed by the HPC. In this, we worked alongside our UK colleagues in the DECP. We also dealt with many queries about membership and grandparenting in the transition to HPC Registration and uncovered some long-forgotten qualifying courses in Scotland. 20 T H E B R I T I S H P S Y C H O L O G I C A L S O C I E T Y

The Training Committee has had a role in supporting the probationers and supervisors who have been the pioneers of the new Award, which was set up to improve the robustness of the third (probationers’) year of training. It provided for the first time a qualification to mark the completion of this second stage of professional training. The Award has become the standard entry qualification for EPs in Scotland, recognised as equivalent to the three-year doctorate training in the rest of the UK. As teething problems are to be expected in the first run of a new system, we have worked to ensure that the new arrangements are monitored and reviewed, and that any concerns dealt with. Routine tasks for the training committee have included the ongoing process of reaccrediting services to take probationers, observing and commenting on the Strathclyde MSc selection process, attendance at the Membership and Professional Training Board and liaison with ASPEP. The best practice guidelines for trainee placements have been revised. We have been represented on the BPS Quality Assurance review group which has developed plans for a new partnership approach to accrediting university programmes. The Executive Committee responded to a major consultation on National Qualifications in Scotland, a consultation about clinical psychology and child and adolescent mental health services, and a consultation on changes to the secondary legislation and Supporting Children's Learning code of practice in relation to ASL legislation. In response to moves to restructure Society governance, we have been active in speaking up for what Division membership can offer and used this material to argue for maintained support for and representation from the Divisions. The SDEP was involved in planning the Professional Development Programme in which psychologists from across Scotland undertake together some action research related to identified themes and areas of interest. The topics for 2008–9 were ■ ■

Cognitive behavioural approaches in educational settings; Towards more effective and efficient self-evaluation for educational psychology services.

The detailed reports, INSET materials and summaries are available to download. Members of the committee continued to meet with ASPEP and a representative from HMIe as part of the National Reference Group for Educational Psychology Services. The SDEP continued to be represented on the Joint Forum (along with the Association of Principal Educational Psychologists (ASPEP) and the EIS trade union) and also continued to meet twice yearly with ASPEP. The annual conference for educational psychologists in Scotland was planned jointly by the SDEP and the ASPEP and held in Edinburgh. Conference arrangements ran smoothly and efficiently and attendance was good, with stimulating keynote presentations with relevant workshops from practitioners. The first online edition of the publication will shortly appear. The first edition of the SDEP newsletter was distributed at the conference, and it is intended to publish this twice yearly. It will also become available online to members. The move to HPC regulation has brought major changes to our role within the Scottish context. We intend to focus closely on consulting with and representing our members, raising A N N U A L R E V I E W 2009

our profile nationally, and developing our role in supporting our members to deliver high quality applied educational psychology in Scotland. The Training Committee will continue to monitor capacity issues within the profession. We intend to consult members about possible move towards a doctorate qualification. Jean Campbell, Chair

22 T H E B R I T I S H P S Y C H O L O G I C A L S O C I E T Y

SECTIONS

Cognitive Psychology Section The Cognitive Psychology Section largely serves to meet the needs of academic psychologists who have an interest in cognitive psychology. We are keen to be as broad as possible and one of our aims over the past year has been to talk more with other sections and encourage interdisciplinary communication. One means by which we serve our membership is to award an annual Cognitive Prize to a journal paper or book chapter reporting novel observations or providing significant theoretical insight into human cognition; the winning publication is regarded as having made an outstanding contribution to the field of Cognitive Psychology. The winner of the 2009 award was Brown, G.D.A., Neath, I., & Chater, N. (2007). A temporal ratio model of memory. Psychological Review, 114, 539–576, and Professor Gordon Brown gave the Prize Talk at the 26th Annual Cognitive Section Conference at the University of Hertfordshire. The annual Section Conference is the principal means by which we serve our membership. The 2009 meeting at the University of Hertfordshire was organised by a team led by Professor Ken Gilhooly, who did an excellent job and should take credit for a highly successful event. More than 150 delegates attended, and the feedback was universally positive. The keynote speakers were Professor John Duncan of the MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, Cambridge, Professor Lawrence Barsalou, Emory University, who gave the Broadbent Lecture, 2009, and Professor Richard Wiseman of the University of Hertfordshire. The 2010 conference will be held at Cardiff University from 6–8 September, and preparations are already advanced for that. We are keen to encourage postgraduate attendance at the Conference, and the way we support this is by offering bursaries to postgraduates to contribute to travel and accommodation costs. Additionally, we put on an event for postgraduates called ‘Lunch with the Keynotes’, which provided an opportunity for students to spend a relaxed and informal session with the keynote speakers and to ask them questions about their careers, their research, and so on. This event was oversubscribed and was regarded as a great success by all involved, and it is something we intend to carry forward into future conferences. We also make contributions to the Society’s Annual Conference, and in Stratford-upon-Avon in 2010 we will be putting together a symposium on incongruities and aesthetics in music and language. In terms of the roles within the Committee, the Cognitive Section has seen some expansion, and we are keen to welcome new members who are keen to make a contribution to our activities. We have called for nominations for three new Ordinary members of the Committee and are hopeful that this will be taken up. The Section Committee is keen to encourage new members to join us and contribute to the pool of energy and new ideas. For further information about ways of getting involved contact Catriona Morrison (c.morrison@leeds.ac.uk). More information about the Section can be found on our website: www.bps.org.uk/cognitive-section/cognitive-section_home.cfm. Dr Catriona Morrison, Chair

A N N U A L R E V I E W 2009

Consciousness and Experiential Psychology Section It is now 12 years since the section was founded; its inception reflected the return of consciousness to the research agenda of contemporary psychology. Growth and stability over that time shows that consciousness studies has now established itself as a major topic with important links to many areas of research, both in psychology and also in other disciplines. Having been Chair of the section for three years, I shall be standing down. Susan Stuart is Chairelect and, having already made major contributions to the section’s activities – including in the role of Secretary, will take over in November 2009. Thanks are also due to the extraordinary contribution of Gethin Hughes for his work as Treasurer and for various initiatives aimed at student and particularly postgraduate participation. Two former students of mine – Natalie Gough and Emma Crofton – presented and both presentations were highly praised by delegates. Several students presented for the first time and were given an attentive hearing with rigorous questions in a friendly atmosphere that I am sure helps presenters to be at their best. Our 2009 conference (11–13 September) had the principal theme of ‘Consciousness and belief’. We returned to St Anne’s College in Oxford where we were supported with customary ease and facility. I would like to thank Lisa Simmons and staff at St Anne’s for their help right up to the last minute and beyond. We had Raymond Tallis, Jonathan Cole and Chris French as keynote speakers and not only did each entirely justify the praise that has been given them for their academic presentations, but they joined in the conference as a whole, including the social experience of the pub next door. They made themselves available for conversations throughout the conference in the spirit that our section likes to foster. From all accounts this was one of our best conferences ever. The high calibre of contributions, comments, questions, and discussions was much appreciated by delegates. Details of all our events and other reports and information available on the section’s pages on the Society website. I would like to thank John Pickering and Susan Stuart (for the conference programme), Lesley Graham (for all conference design matters), Mike Beaton (for the abstract booklets), Emma Shackle (for liaison with the venue), Jane Henry (for the in-section journal), Debbie Biggerstaff (for the phone calls) and to all the committee for the wealth of contributions of all kinds. Thank you. The fields of consciousness and experiential psychology are both highly visible with many research groups, academic groups, conferences, journals, books and other outlets and publications. The Consciousness and Experiential psychology section continues to attract interest from members and others from the broad church that is modern psychology and from other disciplines beyond. We welcome new members, contributions to our in-section journal, and anyone interested in presenting or attending our conferences. For more information or to make contact, please see our web pages on the Society website: www.bps.org.uk/CEP Dr Guy Saunders, Chair

24 T H E B R I T I S H P S Y C H O L O G I C A L S O C I E T Y

History and Philosophy of Psychology Section Annual Conference In April 2009 the Section’s Annual Conference was held in the Psychology Department at the University of Edinburgh. We were delighted to welcome Keynote Speaker Roger Smith from Moscow. His book Being Human: Historical Knowledge and the Creation of Human Nature was the inspiration for a lively round-table discussion on the vital role of history in the human sciences. As usual, the conference featured papers submitted by international contributors, independent scholars and graduate students including: ‘Notions of Insanity in SeventeenthCentury Scotland’ (Ed Miller), ‘The Influence of Sir John Batty Tuke in Nineteenth-Century Edinburgh’ (Nathalie Chernoff), ‘Scottish Psychology in America’ (Jean-Marie Chevalier) and ‘Ecopsychology’ (Mark Hoelterhoff). Papers were heard on a wide-range of interesting topics, including folk psychology (Marion Godman), mirror neurons (Adam Green), psychology in the Danish education system (Christian Ydesen) and feminist reconstructions of psychology’s history (Alexandra Rutherford and Wade Pickren). A notable highlight was a symposium on ‘The Scottish School of Educational Research 1925–1950’ convened by Ian Deary and featuring contributions from David Bartholomew and Martin Lawn. Particular thanks for the smooth running of the conference are due to Peter Wright and to Pete Lamont, whose after dinner magic show was both astounding and hilarious. Peter and Pete kindly offered to host the Section Annual Conference for a second year running in 2010.

Publications The section’s journal continues to attract high quality contributions. Under Liz Valentine’s efficient leadership History and Philosophy of Psychology publishes a combination of refereed papers, conference papers, comments and book reviews. Contributions from historically and philosophically minded scholars from across the human sciences are always welcome (see www.bps.org.uk/history/history_home.cfm). Julie Perks has continued her innovative work in coordinating contributions for The Psychologist’s Looking Back pages. These have included pieces on sex in psychological warfare (Herbert A. Friedman), the work of Alfred Binet (Richard Howard), British practical psychology (Ludy T. Benjamin, Jr) and attachment theory (Barbara Tizard).

Teaching CHIP workshop In September the Higher Education Academy sponsored and hosted a workshop on ‘The Teaching of Conceptual and Historical Issues in Psychology’ to which several Section members contributed. Alan Collins, Peter Hegarty, Pete Lamont and I shared our enthusiasm for our subject with some 30 delegates at the one-day event in York. Future events along these lines are planned, possibly in conjunction with the Section’s Annual Conference.

The History of Psychology Centre The History of Psychology Centre was this year pleased to announce the appointment of a BPS Curator of Psychology at the Science Museum: Dr Philip Loring, previously of Harvard University. Finally, may I take this opportunity to offer my thanks to all of the Section’s committee members for their hard work during the past year? Particular thanks must go to Alan Collins who has chaired the Section with great competence and humour for the past three years. Geoff Bunn, Chair

A N N U A L R E V I E W 2009

Mathematical, Statistical and Computing Section The Section presented a well-attended symposium at the Society’s Annual Conference in Brighton in April. It was entitled ‘Expanding the Toolkit: Innovative statistical approaches for psychologists and researchers in clinical practice’. Four papers were included: by Brendan Bunting, Andy P. Field and Sam Cartwright-Hatton, David A. Routh and Carole B. Burgoyne, and Gillian W. Smith and Mark Shevlin The Section’s annual scientific meeting was held in December at Staffordshire University with David Bartholomew as the keynote speaker. Thom Baguley and David Clark-Carter presented papers on the future of research methods training of psychology undergraduates after the cessation of the Society’s Qualifying Examination. Professor David Clark-Carter, Chair

Psychobiology Section The Section held its Annual Scientific Meeting (ASM) at the Low Wood Hotel, Windermere, in early September, with approximately 40 delegates attending. In total there were 20 oral papers and 17 posters presented, covering a diverse range of topics under the broad heading of psychobiology. These included the cognitive and mood effects of enriched fish oil, the effect of glucose on visual memory and the relationship between attachment style and the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. Salimetrics Europe once again sponsored our undergraduate project prize and there was a record number of entries for the judging panel, chaired by our secretary Dr Cathy Montgomery, to evaluate. The winner was Alex Presland from Cambridge University whose presentation on noradrenergic modulation in rats was extremely impressive. A fundamental ingredient in the success of any ASM is the contribution made by our guest lecturers. On this occasion our scientific programme was enriched by two leading experts in quite distinct fields, whose talks were greatly appreciated by the delegates. Professor Andy Parrott from the University of Swansea presented findings about the harmful effects for both physical and psychological functioning of use of the drug ecstasy (MDMA), particularly where users had been involved in physical exertion such as energetic dancing. Professor John Weinman from the Institute of Psychiatry, Kings College London, talked about the psychobiological aspects of wound healing and recovery, and provided a fascinating account of the interaction between the psychological and physical aspects of healing. At the Section’s AGM, which was held as part of the ASM, Dr Mark Wetherell from Northumbia University stood down from the committee after having served for a number of years, some of them as its chair. Mark’s contribution to the Section’s growth and success was acknowledged by all those present. Dr Sarita Robinson from the University of Central Lancashire was elected to the vacant committee place. The secretary (Dr Cathy Montgomery) and treasurer (Dr Georgia Butler) were re-elected to their positions. Dr Lynne Dawkins also remains as the newsletter editor. Technical difficulties in implementing the change in format of the Section’s newsletter from hard copy to electronic, decided upon at the previous AGM, were discussed, and it was decided to persevere with the intended change whilst acknowledging that there will be a period of transition dictated by extraneous concerns. Delegates also expressed an interest in taking advantage of the opportunity to provide a symposium at the Society Annual Conference in 2011 to highlight the importance of psychobiological research to a wider audience.

26 T H E B R I T I S H P S Y C H O L O G I C A L S O C I E T Y

The 2010 ASM will take place once again at the Low Wood Hotel, Windermere, from 1-3 September, and the preparations for this event are in progress. Anyone interested in attending the ASM or joining the Psychobiology Section should contact the Section’s chair at murphyp@edgehill.ac.uk. The Section’s webpages will carry details for the submission of abstracts and registration in due course. Dr Philip Murphy, Chair

Psychology of Education Section The last year has seen the production of two innovative issues of Psychology Education Review (PER). The first, a groundbreaking account of drawing and mark making, had interest for established researchers and students alike. The second, an Open Dialogue, continued the Section’s interest in promoting the discussion of psychological perspectives in relation to education. The first issue was edited by Justine Howard and Ruth Kershner, with Debbie Pope taking a role in the second. Debbie will be working on future issues with Justine. PER is an exceptional publication, produced twice each year. High profile contributors mingle with new and developing researchers to broaden debate and stimulate thinking and discussion. The 2009 Annual Conference, held for the first time in Preston, was particularly successful with very good levels of attendance right through to the Sunday morning. Many thanks go to Debbie Pope and colleagues for all their work towards this. The theme of the conference was ‘Transitions in Education’. Susan Hallam (Institute of Education, University of London) gave the Vernon Wall Lecture, focusing on ‘Transition and the Development of Expertise’ with Linda Hargreaves (University of Cambridge) giving the opening keynote. Following recently established practice, the conference concluded with a debate around emerging research methodologies – particularly those associated with the internet and online social networking. This was led by Dr Karl Wall (Institute of Education, University of London) and occasioned lively debate not only about the methodologies, but also about the ethics of online research. Preparations for the 2010 conference are under way. The conference is returning to Milton Keynes. The conference committee comprises Karl Wall, Andrea Creech and two new members: Keith Schofield and Katherine Cartmell. The Committee and Section continue to promote the role of psychology in teacher education. As the Society as a whole gives its attention to the place of psychology in society and the enormous contribution it can make at many levels, so the Section has turned to looking at the ways it can support and enhance what it offers to members at each stage of their interest or career in psychology. Central to this is a commitment to exploring how psychology can inform learning and educative processes in their many forms. We hope to broaden the base of those who attend Section conferences and to engage with other Sections and Divisions in the Society in joint activities at regional, national, European and international levels. I would like to express my thanks to Lynne Rogers, who has stepped down as Chair while remaining on the committee, and to Peter Sutherland, who has played a key role in organising book reviews for PER –the most recent instance of many years of dedicated service to the Committee and Section in a range of roles and positions. We welcome new blood to the committee in the persons of Keith Schofield and Katherine Cartmell; both have already made a significant contribution to the planning of the next year. Karl Wall, Chair

A N N U A L R E V I E W 2009

Psychology of Women Section 2009 was a busy and productive time for POWS, with a change of editorial group for POWSR. Sally Johnson and Nancy Kelly (both of Bradford University) are the new co-editors, and many thanks to Lindsay O’Dell (Open University) as outgoing editor for her huge contribution. There has been considerable change and recruitment to the POWS Committee, reflecting how POWS is aiming for a more outgoing and active engagement, both with the Society and within other academic disciplines and community groups. Reflecting this, we were pleased to receive an unprecedented number of submissions for the 2009 POWS prize, of a very high standard, making the judges’ task very difficult. The Section has continued to develop academic associations with feminists from different countries. The theme of the 2009 Conference was ‘Feminisms and Professions’, following closely psychology’s registration with the Health Professions Council (July 15–17), with Lucy Johnstone (Bristol University) talking on ‘Challenges to Psychiatric diagnosis: What can Feminists do?’. Lucy argued that clinical psychologists should generate formulations as jointly negotiated written statements produced collaboratively between the client and their therapist. Such an approach would not only democratise the ‘expert-patient’ relationship but also demedicalise psychological difficulties. The second keynote, ‘Doing Film: A Feminist Approach’ by KumKum Bhavnani (University of California, Santa Barbara) discussed her trajectory from social psychologist to social and cultural theorist, and now film maker, including how film offers opportunities to present complex political ideas and transnational mutual implications in an accessible way. The final keynote was presented by Professor Liz Bondi of Edinburgh University on the subject of ‘Feminism and the Regulation of Psychological Therapies’. A feminist geographer and psychotherapist (as well as senior researcher), she has extensively researched the trajectories and narratives of vocation offered by voluntary sector counsellors in Scotland. She addressed dilemmas facing psychologists in the context of state regulation. Also during the conference, parallel symposia were held on a variety of topics, including domestic violence, gender and ethnicity, health, subjectivities and discourse, pregnancy and mothering, women’s lived experience, femininity and physicality, feminisms and fear of crime, with perspectives and presence from Africa, Scandinavia, Saudi Arabia, Spain and Portugal. In terms of further activities within the Society, the Section remains active at committee levels, including organising a successful symposium at the Society Annual Conference in Brighton. A symposium is also planned for the Annual Conference in Stratford-upon-Avon in 2010. The POWS 2010 conference will take place at Cumberland Lodge (14–16 July), focusing on the theme of ‘Virtual Feminisms: Feminisms and Movements, Embodied Feminisms’ (the call for papers is now out). Keynote speakers confirmed for this conference are Jessica Valenti (academic and founder/moderator of ‘Feministing’ website, US), Professor Eva Magnusson (Umea University, Sweden) and Professor Jeanne Marecek (Swarthmore College, US), and Professor Wendy Stainton Rogers (Open University), while we are awaiting confirmation (contingent on funding) from Dr Anita Ghai (Jesus and Mary College, New Delhi, India). Erica Burman, Chair

Psychotherapy Section The work of the section this year has focused on developing and providing annual training conferences that meet the varied needs of our membership. We identified a need for a training event that addresses questions of social and cultural human values within psychological therapies for psychologists and other practitioners of psychological therapies. Since the growth 28 T H E B R I T I S H P S Y C H O L O G I C A L S O C I E T Y

of IAPT, the emphasis for psychologists and psychological therapists has been on specific skills training rather than the broader social, cultural and human values that interweave with psychotherapy. As these aims are clearly embodied in the psychotherapy section constitution, this section is well placed to provide training that addresses these broader values. A very successful and well-attended two-day training conference was held in March 2009 under the title ‘Psychotherapy and Empowerment in Groups’. We attracted a varied range of speakers using group psychotherapy within contexts that cross social and cultural boundaries between NHS, voluntary and private sectors and with client/user groups that challenge psychotherapists to innovate and adapt, for example women with learning difficulties, women in prison with dangerous and severe personality disorder. Participants heard how psychotherapists were adapting psychotherapeutic methods to meet the challenge of particular client groups, for example embracing AA approaches to alcohol addiction within psychotherapy groups. They also heard an NHS director of nursing and a chief executive describe their agendas in relation to clients using psychological therapies and Professor Jenny Firth Cozens talking about incorporating compassion into organisational agendas. We have continued to improve the communications and infrastructure of the section. This is a slow process, but this year has seen the appearance of a website for the section, compiled and edited by one of the committee members, Leslie Yeung, who has had the Society website training. It is informative and interesting for members. Through this and the growing e-mail list, we hope to continue the work of raising the profile of the section. Our review editor, Adrian Hemmings, is working on a face lift for the regular section review, updating its form and function, spurred on by Rachel Varley, assistant editor. This year we have for the first time obtained partnership and sponsorship for the 2010 training conference with an NHS trust, the Tees, Esk & Wear Valley NHS Foundation Trust, assisting both with finance and publicity. This is planned for 29-30 March 2010. We have been fortunate in attracting speakers of distinction, such as Phil Mollon and Paul Gilbert, who can provide both stimulating presentations and engaging workshops that develop psychotherapeutic skills, meeting the requests of our members. The theme of the conference is ‘Beyond Words: Trauma and the Human Condition’. Finally, thank you to a hard working committee and please see our website for further information: www.bps.org.uk/ps/ps_home.cfm. Angela Douglas, Chair

Qualitative Methods in Psychology Section During 2009, the Qualitative Methods in Psychology Section (QMiP) remained the largest of the British Psychological Society's Sections and one of the largest networks with the Society. Membership support has enabled us to be extremely active in promoting qualitative methods in psychology and sponsoring relevant events and awards.

Events QMiP sponsored several events during 2009. Brendan Gough was invited to hold a showcase event on 23 February at the University of Nottingham, and it was on ‘Researching Gender: Qualitative Approaches’. Alison Tweed was also sponsored to hold an event on ‘Reflective and Reflexive Practice’ on 29 April at the University of Leicester. We held our Annual General Meeting on 15 October at Aston University. Thank you to the members who joined us; we really value your contribution. The AGM was followed by a workshop led by Wendy Stainton A N N U A L R E V I E W 2009

Rogers and Paula Nicolson on ‘Getting Qualitative Research Funded’. Finally, a workshop was held on 22 October on ‘Using the Signifier “Psychosocial”: Practice, Theory and Research’ at Leeds Metropolitan University with presentations from Erica Burman, Ian Parker, Paul Stenner, Peter Branney and Stephen Frosh. We thank all our presenters and organisers for such interesting and informative events. All were very well attended and, we hope, provided a valuable service in training and networking.

Awards QMiP has established several prizes and competitions. These are important for rewarding excellence in qualitative research, providing a public acknowledgement of such achievements, and remaining responsive to initiations by our membership. The 2009 winner of Outstanding Research by an Early Career Scholar was Paul Sullivan, and two events (to be held in 2010) have been funded through this year’s Seminar Competition: Dora Brown, Adrian Coyle, and Patrick Coyne on ‘Maximising the Impact of Qualitative Psychological Research on Health’ and Viv Brunsden on ‘Visual Methods and Psychology’. We were delighted that our Section nomination for Academician of the Academy of the Social Sciences, Jonathan A. Smith, was accepted by the Society and subsequently by the Academy. Congratulations to you all. Details of QMiP prizes and competitions can be found at www.bps.org.uk/qmip/qmip_home.cfm.

Newsletter and website The QMiP Newsletter (now Bulletin) is published twice a year and sent to all members. The newsletter editor is Peter Branney. Peter is supported in the role by Zazie Todd as advisory editor and by four associate editors, each with separate areas of responsibility: Stephen Gibson (newsletter development), Victoria O’Key (book reviews/publication news), Helena Priest (research articles), and Victoria Tischler (events news/reviews). The Section website is updated regularly and is a further important way in which the section communicates its activities to the public.

In summary In all, 2009 has been a busy and successful year for the Qualitative Methods in Psychology Section. We are looking forward to 2010 in which we are holding our second QMiP Conference at the University of Nottingham on the 23–25 August. Dr Anna Madill, Chair

Transpersonal Psychology Section The year 2009 was another successful, although sometimes rather difficult, year for the Section due to a number of changes in the Society’s administrative machinery; these have now been incorporated into Section procedures. The year also saw us continuing to forge links with other national and international transpersonal psychology groups.

The 2009 Conference The Section held its 14th three-day Annual Conference at the ever popular venue of Cober Hill near Scarborough. Once again there were many excellent talks and workshops, and it was encouraging to see so many students keen to present papers. Keynote presentations were given by Bernard Carr, Professor of Mathematics and Astronomy at Queen Mary, University of London and former President of the Society for Psychical Research (‘Can science be extended to incorporate normal, paranormal and spiritual experiences?’), 30 T H E B R I T I S H P S Y C H O L O G I C A L S O C I E T Y

the Rev. Prasada Caroline Brazier, who is responsible for the Amida psychotherapy training programme with her husband, David Brazier (‘Guilt: The taboo of our age’), Dr Andrew Powell, founder of the Royal College of Psychiatry Special Interest Group in Psychiatry and Spirituality (‘Spiritual reality in psychotherapy’), Dr Malcom Walley, Retiring Chair (‘Beyond duality: Evolution, being and gender revisited’) and Professor David Fontana, co-founder and Foundation Chair of the Section and Past President of the Society for Psychical Research (‘What might post mortem survival be like?’) We updated our technology in the course of the year, making it possible for us to record all the keynote talks. One problem we were unable to resolve was the electronic booking system, which we were told by members of the Section proved so frustrating that many who hoped to attend wasted time in making their bookings or even gave up altogether. The system we have established for 2010 is more user friendly, and reverts to the well-tried system known as Martin Treacy, with the result that registering should be much easier and more pleasant.

The Section Committee At the AGM held at the 2009 conference, Malcolm Walley retired from his position as chair having completed his three-year term of office. Malcolm was warmly thanked for his hard work and commitment during a difficult period. In the absence of formal nominations, Ingrid Slack agreed to assume the role of interim chair and was subsequently nominated to assume full office in 2010. David Fontana accepted the role of co-chair. The Section committee is now as follows: Chair: Ingrid Slack Co-chair: David Fontana (with special responsibility for media involvement) Hon Secretary: Jessica Bockler (national and international links) Hon Treasurer: Kendal Wrightson (webmaster) Co-opted member: Martin Treacy (conference registrations) Co-opted member: Tricia Whitehouse ( convening one-day events)

Transpersonal Psychology Review Mike Daniels continues with his excellent work on the thriving Section journal. All those who gave papers at the 2009 Conference were invited to submit them with a view to publication.

The future We look forward to a successful and interesting year in 2010, and to a great Conference at Cober Hill on 17–20 September. Ingrid Slack, Chair, and David Fontana, Co-Chair

A N N U A L R E V I E W 2009

BRANCHES

London and Home Counties Branch 2009 was the fourth year of operation of the branch. We continued with twice monthly talks, continued to host an internationally known speaker and entered into our first conference. Our regular student career paths events continued to prove popular. We also developed the organisation structure of the committee and saw an unexpected change in leadership due to the sudden and tragic death of our new Chair, Francis Butler. 14 March 2009 saw the culmination of 18 months of hard work with the ‘Psychology for All Conference’ at the University of Westminster. It attracted 150 academics, presenters, chairs and researchers from all over the country and ticket sales closed at 450. Professor Richard Wiseman opened the conference with a talk on the psychology of luck that captivated the lay audience. There was then a choice of over 40 workshops held in six streams over the day, and numerous research labs. The conference closed with a keynote speech by Ruby Wax. Also in March, Emma Donaldson-Fiedler of Affinity Health at Work spoke on ‘Preventing Stress: Promoting Positive Manager Behaviour’. In April we were delighted to host Professor Albert Bandura of Stanford University and a former APA President to speak ‘On Reducing Urgent Global Problems by Psychosocial Means’ to a packed audience of nearly a thousand. DVDs of this event and of our Psychology for All Conference can be purchased from the website. Also in April there was another of our popular Student Career Paths in Clinical and Counselling Psychology events. In May we had a talk on ‘People, Money, Power and Darwin: Why psychology can explain the financial crisis when nothing else can’, from Kim Stephenson of Stephenson Consulting, and in June Professor Denis Mareschal of Birkbeck College spoke on ‘Mechanisms of Category Learning in Infancy’. The academic year finished with a popular talk on the ‘Psychology of Wine’ by Miles Thomas of the University of East London. We were pleased to welcome four new committee members and co-opted more from those who attended our AGM in July. This was held at the new Kings Cross development. After the meeting at which the new Chair, Francis Butler, stepped into office, we had drinks and canapés by the side of the Regent’s Canal. A student career paths talk in October focused on clinical and counselling psychology, with contributions from Annie-Marie Doyle and Pam James. It was early in November that we heard the sad news that our new Chair Francis Butler had unexpectedly died shortly after his return from a holiday abroad. He is sadly missed for his knowledge, contacts and sense of humour. As the previous Chair, I resumed this role until a Chair Elect is found. In November Professor John Oates of the Open University spoke on ‘Public Engagement and Developmental Psychology: Making Impacts’ and in December Dr Tom Farsides of Sussex University spoke on ‘Be careful what you wish for. What sort of altruism de we want more of in the world?’ Karen Powell-Williams, Chair

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North East England Branch The North East of England Branch is one of the largest of the Society’s regional branches in terms of the area it covers and the number of members. It stretches from the River Tweed to The Wash and from Hull to the borders of Lancashire. The branch has about 5000 members. The major event for 2009 was our second annual conference, held at Sheffield in June. The conference took place over two days and highlighted psychology in the region. As it was a relatively new undertaking, it was a learning experience for us and perhaps more work than we had anticipated. So, again, could I extend my thanks to those committee members who took on the main roles of organising the conference? The conference focused on psychological research and innovations that were taking place in the region. We had three distinguished keynote speakers: Dr Helen Gavin from the University of Huddersfield, who gave a stimulating talk on the psychology of sexual deviance; Dr Penny Dick from the University of Sheffield, who spoke on professional part-time work, inequality regimes and strategies of resistance; and Professor Nigel Beail from the University of Sheffield, who spoke on individual psychotherapy with people who have intellectual disabilities. The conference also featured a number of papers by other local applied and academic psychologists as well as several workshops and posters. The conference was well attended, particularly by students at local sixth form colleges, who gave positive feedback, so we hope we have encouraged them to follow a career in psychology. We held our Annual General Meeting at the conference on 26 June. This was also well attended. In spite of the difficulties in putting on the conference we feel that it was a great success and that we have learned from the experience. We are currently in the process of planning next year’s conference and AGM, this time in the north of the region at Radisson Hotel, Durham, on 22 October 2010. The conference will focus on the psychological work that is being done in the region in the areas of sexual behaviour and on food and appetite. Lynda Boothroyd, who gave a very interesting paper at this year’s conference, has agreed to be one of our keynote speaks.

Branch officers The office bearers for 2009-10 elected or co-opted were: Chair: Dr Simon Whitaker Vice Chair: Dr Shripati Upadhyaya Chair Elect: Dr Roxane Gervais Secretary: Dr Jonathan Mitchell Treasurer: Ian Conyers Ordinary Members Keith Schofield (PSYPAG Representative) Dr Gemma Traviss Carmen Laird Chloe Randal Shaista Meer Ann Whaley Anne Shepherd A N N U A L R E V I E W 2009

Simon Goodson David Bowcock Fiona Lacey Dr Simon Goodson Simon Whitaker, Chair

Northern Ireland Branch One of the aims of the committee has been to improve the level of local service to members. To this end we have worked to convince the Society that members in Ireland need local Divisions to better represent member’s interests. The Branch’s arguments for greater local autonomy have been accepted by the Society, which now recognises that regional Branches and activities play a vital role in retaining and growing Society membership. Members in Northern Ireland now have new local Divisions providing opportunities for members in the areas of forensic, health and educational psychology. This growth in the number of local Divisions is timely, allowing psychologists to exert an influence on the new Assembly. The Branch organised the first (in a series) of Stormont events at which psychologists highlighted research work of particular relevance to the elderly. Dame Joan Harbison, the Older People’s Advocate, opened the Stormont research presentation. A particularly pleasing feature of our new Divisions is their willingness to cooperate on matters of mutual interest, allowing Northern Ireland psychologists to speak with a united voice on regional issues. The Northern Ireland Branch draws its membership from across Ireland and is careful to organise events geographically to allow as many members as possible to attend. This is why our annual conference tends to be located in border areas (for the past two years near Enniskillen). The Branch has also strengthened our relationship with the Psychological Society of Ireland (PSI) through organising joint events. Excellent examples of this are new annual joint health conferences and the extensive North-South collaboration (between NIBPS, PSI, NEPS and the NI Education and Library Boards) to bring the International School Psychology Association (ISPA) Colloquium to Ireland in July 2010. The Branch has also encouraged our new Divisions to establish links with their PSI counterparts to run joint all-Ireland events. The success of this approach has encouraged other local psychologists to form Divisions and an agreement in principle has been reached for a new Division in occupational psychology, with counselling psychologists also preparing their case, and sport and exercise psychology developing a working group.

NI Branch membership figures Total Membership: 1880 By Division Division of Clinical Psychology* Division of Counselling Psychology** Division of Educational and Child Psychology* Division of Forensic Psychology* Division of Health Psychology* 34 T H E B R I T I S H P S Y C H O L O G I C A L S O C I E T Y

291 52 72 50 56

Division of Neuropsychology Division of Occupational Psychology** Division of Sport and Exercise Psychology Division for Teachers and Researchers in Psychology Scottish Division of Educational Psychology

29 146 24 27 3

* local Divisions currently established ** under consideration I would like to thank our committee members and our regional administrator Anne Kerr for their hard work for the Branch over the years. Jackie Doran, our web editor, has worked hard in updating the Branch website. Finally, I wish Carol McGuinness (incoming chair), our committee and all our members a happy and productive year. Maurice Stringer, Chair

Scottish Branch We have continued to promote and support members in their profession and liaise closely with both the Society and the Scottish Policy Officer to ensure psychology is at the forefront in Scotland. Over the past year a number of the committee and branch members were involved in special projects and have had input to a variety of consultations through the Society’s Policy Support Unit. We have held a scientific meeting, an undergraduate conference, a postgraduate conference and our own Annual Conference.

The committee The committee meets four times a year, with additional work being undertaken by teleconference and e-mails. Meetings alternate between Glasgow and Edinburgh. I thank the members of the committee, past and present, for their hard work over the past year. Last year saw the departure of Rose Evison, due to work commitments, and Anthony Sneider, who has left the employment of the Society.

Working party Our working party on survivors of childhood sexual abuse was undertaken on behalf of the Branch in May 2007, with Rose Evison as convener. The strategy, now known as SurvivorScotland, has been developed to tackle the problem of survivors absorbing a lot of public money without receiving the help they needed. Accounts of the work done by the group during its first two years can be found on our website and Thanos Karatzias has now taken over the role of convener.

Bulletin Bridget Hanna has continued as editor of the Bulletin, our Branch newsletter.

Conferences The theme of the November 2009 conference was ‘Psychology across the life span’ and we had Dr Matthias Schwannauer, Professor Chris Main, Professor Steve Stradling, Professor Ian Deary and the Society President, Sue Gardner, as our keynote speakers. It was held in Edinburgh and was preceded by our Postgraduate Conference.

A N N U A L R E V I E W 2009

Both events attracted a wide variety of interesting papers and posters. Although attendance at the conference was low compared to previous years, it provided an opportunity for delegates to meet informally and for discussion time after individual papers.

Undergraduate conference Plans are well advanced for the Undergraduate Student Conference at Queen Margaret University on the 10th March 2010. See our website for more information.

Annual Conference The 2010 Annual Conference will take place in Stirling; its theme is ‘Challenging the future of Scotland’. The promotion of the conference and an online submissions process will begin in March 2010, so please check the website regularly for further information: www.bps.org.uk/scottish/events/events_home.cfm.

Advice John Macgill, Policy Officer – Scotland, continues to provide the committee with regular reports on work for the Society in Scotland and the Scottish Steering Group, at which chairs of the Scottish Divisions continue to meet regularly. John has provided us with regular monitoring reports and policy digests which include items discussed by the Scottish Government and questions raised in the Scottish Parliament. This has been useful in helping us to see where psychology could have a wider role in Scotland and in updating us on key. Liz Baikie, Chair

South West of England Branch Overview The Branch was inactive between September 2006 and September 2008, and last year saw a relaunch. The focus of our activity was on recruitment to committee positions and establishing regular activities, including committee meetings, quarterly newsletters (three so far), website updates and local events. We now have most committee positions filled and meet every two months. The major challenges of 2009 were learning roles and responsibilities, getting to grips with the problems associated with such a large geographical region (stretching from Land’s End to Bristol, including the Channel Islands) and finding time to devote to setting up a new committee whilst maintaining full-time employment elsewhere. I think the committee has risen to these challenges and look forward to continuing to lead the committee in 2010.

Activities To mark our relaunch we held a scientific meeting outside Exeter on 14 November 2009, with internationally renowned speakers based in the South West: Professor Nichola Rumsey (University of the West of England) on ‘The trials and Tribulations of Appearance Research’, Professor Alex Haslam (University of Exeter) ‘Rethinking the classics: Have Milgram and Zimbardo misled us?’, Professor Stephen Monsell (University of Exeter) ‘Experiments on mind control: Preparation for a cognitive task’, Professor Sue Blackmore (freelance) ‘Are you sure you’re conscious?’ and Dr Barry Cripps (Freelance) ‘Jack of all trades, master of one! Personal reflections’. We held the AGM on the evening of 14 November and a CPD workshop, ‘Working with dreams and nightmares in therapy’, led by Professor Delia Cushway on 15 November. Both events were well received, although attendance was disappointing and future events will use an alternative venue to increase participation rates.

36 T H E B R I T I S H P S Y C H O L O G I C A L S O C I E T Y

We have helped organise careers events for undergraduate students at the University of Bristol and the University of the West of England, as well as sponsoring a prize at the South West Undergraduate Conference (hosted by the University of Exeter). The committee continues to help and support Branch members, respond to enquiries from the public and respond to consultations. We have promoted the Branch and the Society at several events to raise awareness and increase membership of the Society.

Committee members Chris Kent, Chair Leonie Christian, Secretary and Treasurer Jane Humphreys, Vice Chair Lynne Ingram, CPD Officer Gill Gustar, Newsletter Editor and Press Officer Chris Dack Co-CPD Officer Rachel Manning, Website Manager David Llewellyn, Ordinary Member Helen Taylor, Ordinary Member Barry Cripps, Ordinary Member Elizabeth Gabe-Thomas, Postgraduate Representative Claudia Dougall, Undergraduate Representative (outgoing) Anna Price, Undergraduate Representative (incoming)

Conclusion We look to consolidate our activities and increase the number of events offered in the coming year. The challenges faced by the new committee last year should ease, with Members getting used to their roles. I would like to thank all the committee members for their time and effort in relaunching the Branch and look forward to working with them in the coming year continuing to represent psychologists and psychology in the South West. Chris Kent, Chair

Welsh Branch This year has seen a few changes within our committee and we would like to thank Margaret Everson for providing administrative cover and welcome back Helen Bazley. Our committee has grown and we now have representatives from seven Welsh universities. Over the last year we have delivered a varied series of scientific meetings by the following speakers Professor John Pearce (Animal intelligence), Dr Paul Hutchings (How prejudices influence emotion recognition across races), Vicky Ellam-Dyson (Just how could the use of psychology in executive coaching prevent leadership derailment?), Professor John Seddon (Changing management thinking), Professor Teresa Carla Oliveira (Rationality, cognition and intuition: Is the unconscious logical?), Dr Laura Bunting (Help-seeking behaviour and risk in the context of female fertility), Dr Chris Chambers (Linking the psychology and neuroscience of human attention using transcranial magnetic stimulation) and Dr Paul Thomas (Does complexity guarantee success?). Next year we have, amongst others, Professor Robert Snowden, Professor Graham Hitch and Professor Mike Oaksford speaking. We organised two events over the last few months. Firstly, two members of the Health Professions Council gave talks at City Hall in Cardiff and, secondly, a psychology taster day was conducted at City Hall in Cardiff for around seventy local sixth formers to get an idea of the A N N U A L R E V I E W 2009

work of psychologists. We hope to organise the psychology taster day again and also in other areas of Wales. We conducted a small survey of our members to establish what they would like to receive from the Branch. Many comments centered on linking better with other areas of Wales, so we are in the process of providing, for example, more scientific meetings across Wales. Through the use of videoconferencing we regularly link to two branch members in Bangor and hope to expand this connection. We have been involved in policy consultation responses with regard to delivering the new NHS for Wales and reducing suicide and self-harm in Wales amongst others. Once again we contributed to the science exhibition at The National Eisteddfod (thanks again to Wynford Bellin). The annual student conference was held at UWIC and around 40 undergraduate students presented their work. Many thanks to the staff at UWIC for putting on such a successful event and to all the students for presenting their work and attending the sessions. Bursaries were given to Branch members to attend the Welsh British Psychological Society Student conference, Cognitive Science conference, Vision Science Society conference and BSA Risk study group conference, and money was awarded for a series of seminars that will bring together academic institutions from Wales and England with National Offender Management Service Wales and HMP Parc. We also sponsored PsyPAG’s conference dinner at their 24th annual conference at Cardiff University. Dr Nick Perham, Chair

Wessex Branch The Wessex Branch has again been busy this year, using its hub structure to reach out to members within the Branch’s boundaries and beyond. The AGM scheduled for February 2009 had to be abandoned because of bad weather. This meant the vote to change the rules to simplify and give greater flexibility to Branch operations also had to be postponed. It was decided to reschedule the AGM and the announcement of results of the vote to coincide with the Annual Conference in Brighton in April; this enabled the committee to meet members on ‘home territory’ and the opportunity to engage with the membership in a presentation and question and answer session. The vote to change the Branch rules was carried and members were duly notified. Following the AGM, the past and present chairs facilitated break out groups to discuss the requirements of the Branch by its members. One outcome of this was to highlight the need to relay information and concerns both down from the national Society and up from the Branch members. Further, members wished the Branch to facilitate connection between psychologists of all disciplines, both to serve as a support network and to provide an arena for discussing current social issues of interest not only to psychologists but also to the wider local community. On the third day of the conference the vice-chair presented a symposium showcasing research activity in local universities. Guest lectures on applied subjects have proved popular this year. Two given in the Solent hub drew audiences of between 70 and 80; these were ‘The Psychology of Success’ (Patrick Jordan) and ‘a CBT Approach to Dissociation’ (Fiona Kennedy). The latter was particularly informative in the light of NICE guidelines to using CBT. Fiona Kennedy presented the historical background to understanding dissociation and the current thinking on a CBT 38 T H E B R I T I S H P S Y C H O L O G I C A L S O C I E T Y

approach and measure. She presented her research and reflections on clinical intervention and treatment of dissociation-related psychopathology such as PTSD, BPD and DID. Other presentations on applied subjects included ‘A Day in the Life of a Harm Reduction Coordinator’ (Jenine Wills), giving an insight into the role of the Poole Addictions Community Team’s work, and ‘The Pleasures, Pressures and Pitfalls of being an Expert Witness’ (Annabel Poate-Joyner), which were organised by the Dorset Hub. ‘The Selection of South Pole Expedition Members’ was organised by the Thames Valley Hub. To round off the year Simon Bowen, the Society’s Director of Membership Support and Services, gave a presentation on how it is changing to meets the needs of its members and engaged in a lively question and answer session. Committee members are all volunteers and I pay tribute to them for their time, creativeness and dedication to meeting the needs of the Branch members. As a committee we are always open to constructive feedback on how we can improve our service to members. Finally, my personal thanks to our administrator for her excellent organisation and webpage maintenance and for easing our way forward. Kathryn Fielden, Chair

West Midlands Branch The year began with our AGM at Worcester University, which had three excellent speakers. Dr Joe Kiff, winner of West Midlands Psychologist of the Year, 2009 talked about setting up ‘The Psychology Wiki’, which is available at www.psychology.wikia.com; Dr Grainne Fadden, runner up and consultant clinical psychologist, talked about ‘Meriden’ – a family-based programme operating in the West Midlands; and Linda Meina talked about working with young offenders in a forensic setting. All three talks were highly engaging and informative. The Branch committee has spent much of this year planning ways to improve membership engagement. With the introduction of regulation by the Health Professions Council (HPC), the Branch committee recognises the important role it has to play in representing all its members, including those who do not fall under one of the new protected titles. At Christmas we held an interesting event in Birmingham where Janet Vaughan from the British Psychological Society membership department came to talk to us about all the Society has to offer to its members and the plans for future member benefits. She also helped to clarify a lot of the confusion about the roles of the Society and the HPC. This event was also the forum for the launch of the search for the West Midlands Psychologist of the Year 2010, an award we are looking forward to presenting next Christmas. As always, we are keen to get submissions from psychologists working in any area and at any stage of their career. If you or one of your colleagues or friends has been applying psychology in a way that benefits the community in the West Midlands then please get in touch. In 2010 the BPS Annual Conference will be held in the West Midlands, at Stratford-upon-Avon and the Branch will have a big presence there. I look forward to meeting lots of Branch members at our wine reception where our speaker will discuss ‘The psychology of success’. We are also planning an event for the Cheltenham Science Festival in association with the Psychology Section of the British Science Association. We are hoping this will showcase the science of psychology to the public and enhance the general understanding of what we all do.

A N N U A L R E V I E W 2009

As most of you know, the Branch committee is run by volunteers, so I would like to thank all the committee members for their hard work this year â&#x20AC;&#x201C; particularly Helena Taylor Knox, who held the role of branch chair from April until November. The branch relies on input from its members, so if you would like to get involved at any level then please contact me and come and find us at the Annual Conference. Catherine Steele, Chair

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SPECIAL GROUPS

Special Group in Coaching Psychology The Special Group in Coaching Psychology (SGCP) continues to grow from strength to strength. Through our efforts, coaching psychology is now regarded as coming of age as a profession and SGCP as a community. Diversity is our strength and we will continue to promote this value in everything we do. We have a fresh and engaging committee and the achievements of the SGCP would not have been possible without their support and hard work. We have just hosted our second European Coaching Psychology Conference at the Royal Holloway, University of London. The conference has enabled us to continue to develop new relationships with coaching psychologists and psychological professional bodies across Europe. In 2009, we pushed to develop a route to accreditation for coaching psychology practitioners and in 2010 we shall seek further clarification from the Society to establish it. There is the continuing development of: ■ ■

■

e-mail discussion list – as part of an online community of practice. peer practice group – as part of continuous professional development across different regions and strengthen our community of practice. web presence – we have reinvigorated our website, which now has a front page aimed at the public, highlighting our aims and commitments, together with various web-links including Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin. The menu provides lists of events and a range of resources including publications. online list – our website provides a list of SGCP members who have Chartered Psychologist status, which is linked to the Directory of Chartered Psychologists and offers an opportunity for chartered members to provide more detail about the services they offer.

We have provided CPD throughout the year with the support of our events team. This is done through workshops run by key academics and practitioners within the coaching psychology world, evening networking events where you can meet fellow members and listen to guest speakers, and webinars. We have further events scheduled for the future. Many congratulations to Dr Alison Whybrow for getting the Award for her distinguished contribution to the discipline of coaching psychology in 2009.

Our future Looking ahead, my vision for the SGCP is to aim to: ■ ■

Engage our wider communities that are beyond coaching and coaching psychology. Raise the public awareness of the SGCP and coaching psychology, about the benefits that coaching psychology can bring to our everyday life, be it about personal development, career progression, business performance, community cohesion, social or climate change.

Publications We continue to publish the International Coaching Psychology Review (ICPR), in collaboration with the Interest Group in Coaching Psychology, of the Australian Psychological Society; and The Coaching Psychologist (TCP). Both publications provide peer reviewed A N N U A L R E V I E W 2009

academic articles, and are abstracted in PsycINFO. ICPR has also been added to the existing list of Society publications that are exclusively listed by the online aggregator, EBSCO and is abstracted in Google Scholar.

Further information For more information about the activities undertaken by the SGCP, please visit www.sgcp.org.uk. Ho Law, Chair

Special Group of Psychologists and Social Services For SGPASS 2009 can be termed the Year of the Flux. Of the several meanings ascribed to the term ‘flux’, I would use the one about uncertainty before significant change. There have been, and will continue to be, major changes in the social care sector. SGPASS must highlight the contribution that can be made by psychologists. In reporting the membership of the committee, I must acknowledge a significant loss, not only to SGPASS but also to the wider psychological community, through the death of Golda Smith. I valued Golda's clearly articulated position on the provision of services to people in the Jewish community. Within the wider psychological community, Golda made an assertive contribution to raising the profile of child protection as a professional concern. Our loss is deeply felt. We thank Olivia Craig for her time as chair and her continuing involvement. Valerie Hero, whose eponymous activity must be acknowledged, has stepped down after being the thread of continuity for all the time l have been associated with SGPASS. Harry Davies, as the honorary secretary, maintains that continuity. Rebecca Williams, as honorary treasurer, has vigorously engaged with the role. Special thanks are due to Pete Woods for his perceptive contribution. Following a successful bid for funding from the Professional Practice Board, we have started to undertake the first national survey of psychologists working in the social care sector. This is a major undertaking for SGPASS and the results will inform us on a wide range of issues. There are major changes occurring in the legislation covering social care. SGPASS coordinated a Society response to the government's consultation on ‘Fair Access to Care Services'. We await the revised guidance as it will have a major impact on all people requiring social care services. The impact of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 is being felt within the sector and the committee is concerned with ensuring that a psychological approach informs good practice. The Committee continues to have significant representation within the Society itself. No report of this year's events would be complete without a note of disappointment that the General Social Care Council, after completing the task of registering social workers and their trainees, has decided not to proceed with the direct registration of paid social care workers. These workers enter the lives, often on a daily basis, of some of the most vulnerable people in our society. SGPASS believes that vulnerable people should be afforded the highest safeguards by people paid from public funds. We continue to argue for some form of registration, possibly through the Independent Safeguarding Authority. Looking to the future, the flux continues. SGPASS needs to develop a clearer strategy to maximise its impact. As a member reading this report, it could be that you have both the time and the inclination to be involved. Please contact me through Society membership services. There is much still to do. John Newland, Chair 42 T H E B R I T I S H P S Y C H O L O G I C A L S O C I E T Y

For a list of Society officers and accounts see our Annual Report 2009 www.bps.org.uk

A N N U A L R E V I E W 2009

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