Society AGM

Outgoing President Nicola Gale was thanked for her hard work over the last 16 months, and incoming President Professor Kate Bullen welcomed. She said: ‘One of the core functions of the President is to act as an ambassador and I hope to meet as many of our members as I can in the coming year.’ The meeting also welcomed new President Elect David Murphy, who said: ‘I hope to live up to the expectations of those who voted for me, to meet the hopes of those who voted for one of the other excellent candidates and to engage the silent majority who didn’t vote at all.’

Also at the meeting, former Society Chief Executive Ann Colley was granted an Honorary Life Membership. Four new Society Sections – Cyberpsychology, Defence and Security Psychology, Male Psychology, and Political Psychology – were approved after receiving the required membership support.

The Society’s 2017 Annual Review is available online via www.bps.org.uk/news-and-policy/members-can-now-read-our-2017-annual-report-online. Among the highlights it covers is the establishment of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Psychology, set up to spearhead our efforts to bring evidence-based psychology to politicians and policymakers at Westminster. The report also looks forward, with Sarb Bajwa, the Society’s Chief Executive, writing in his introduction: ‘I understand there is a clear desire for change in how the Society operates and how we represent and support our members. The key areas I have identified for investment are: providing more professional support, enhancing our external impact, improving communications with our members and scaling up the ambition of our CPD and conference programmes.’