Minutes of the UFHRD General Meeting, January 2015,
Friday 23rd January 2015, Wolverhampton Business School
(All documents from the meeting can be found in the ‘files’ area of )
- Professor Sharon Mavin, Chair of UFHRD, opened the meeting with thanks to WBS colleagues for hosting and particularly thanked Janet Firth for organising the meeting. New and existing members were welcomed to the meeting.
- Apologies
Present
Sharon Mavin, Chair and Northumbria University; Jim Stewart, Exec Sec and Coventry University; Bob Hamlin, Hon. Treasurer and Wolverhampton University; Xiaoxian Zhu, Teesside University; Valerie Anderson, Vice Chair for Research Activities and Portsmouth University; Ruth Stewart, CIPD; Andrew Armitage, Anglia Ruskin University; Mark Loon, Worcester University; Linda Alker, MMU; Sally Sambrook, Bangor University
Apologies Received and Noted
Trisha Harrison, LJMU; Rick Holden, LJMU; Peter Cureton, LJMU; Mary Hartog, Middlesex; Diane Keeble-Ramsay, Anglia Ruskin; Aileen Lawless, LJMU; Alison Hollinrake, UCLAN; Jan Myers, Northumbria; Ruth Sacks, Westminster; Sunitha Narendran, Kingston; Ronan Carbery, UCC; Lyn Nicholl, Worcester; Paul Tosey, Surrey; Nicholas Clarke, Southampton; Claire Valentin, Edinburgh; Rona Beattie, GCAL; Julia Claxton, Leeds Beckett; Carole Elliott, DUBS; Sophie Mills, Coventry; Amanda Lee, Coventry; Dave McGuire, Edinburgh Napier; Eduardo Tome.
3 Minutes of the Last Meeting
The Chair suggested alternative language in item 6, ‘Appointment/Election of Officers’ on p4 of the minutes. The word ‘slated’ is therefore replaced with the word ‘planned’. The use of ‘webmistress’ in the same minute was also queried. The Exec Sec reported that the term was initiated and adopted by Monica Lee when managing the website but that he had been in correspondence with Jan Myers and the title of Web Coordinator was now suggested. The title was approved. The minutes were otherwise accepted as an accurate record.
4 Matters Arising
The Exec Sec reported contact with Ruth Sacks at Westminster and a proposal to hold the October meeting and a workshop on 29th and 30th. These dates were checked and found to clash with school half term holidays. It is established Forum practice to avoid that clash. Subsequent discussions with Ruth have confirmed new dates of 22nd and 23rd of October. Andy Armitage offered to lead on arranging a workshop and this offer was accepted. The Exec Sec also reported that Teesside University have now confirmed through Xiaoxian Zhu willingness to host a Forum meeting in 2016.
5 Action Points
Action Point 1-Exec Sec to liaise with Ronan on the possibility of extended deadlines for submissions to 2015 conference, Track/Stream Chairs to encourage submissions and all members to promote conference submissions. Action taken. Discharged.
Action Point 2-Linda Alker and Jill Murray to review arrangements for 2016 conference based on the evaluation of 2014 conference. On the agenda. Discharged.
Action Point 3-Ruth Stewart to check with CIPD office on the continuing award of their prize at future conferences. Ruth reported that CIPD are reviewing their awards and will report progress when achieved. Ongoing and new Action Point 1
Action Point 4-Linda Alker and Jill Murray to establish a conference organising committee with required UFHRD representation and consider the stream proposals.On the agenda. Discharged.
Action Point 5-Linda Alker and Jill Murray to investigate the process of providing authors with an ‘opt out’ of having papers available on an open UFHRD website and to apply that process in the 2016 conference. On the agenda. Discharged.
Action Point 6-Chair of Research Activities and Research Activities Committee to review honorarium scheme and report to the AGM in 2015. Ongoing and new Action Point 2
Action Point 7-Forum Chair to progress AHRD MoA. Ongoingand new Action Point 3
Action Point 8-Chair of Practitioner and Organisations Committee to progress ideas on Practitioner Briefs with Wendy Ruona. Chair pointed out that this item links with other AHRD items and so the action will pass to the Chair. Ongoing and new Action Point 4
Action Point 9-Forum Chair to progress joint UFHRD/AHRD research project. Ongoingand new Action Point 5
Action Point 10-Valerie Anderson to convene the working group to produce a draft response for the BSI consultation. Chair reported that the response had been produced and considered by her and the Exec Sec, and submitted with no changes. Congratulations and thanks for an excellent job were expressed to Valerie and her colleagues. Valerie confirmed the Forum response had been formally received by BSI. Discharged
Action Point 11-Forum Chair to contact Jan Myers about becoming webmistress. Jan now confirmed to replace Rick as Web Coordinator. Discharged
Action Point 12-Chair and Exec Sec to accept the offer of a feasibility study on charitable status and report back to the 2015 AGM. Chair reported two meetings with the legal students and distributed letters with initial advice. A number of questions were raised and discussed in response to the advice. Agreed action for Forum Executive to present a report on pros and cons of charitable status to the AGM. Ongoing and new Action Point 6
Action Point 13-President, Chair and Exec Sec to pursue appointment of Professor Jean Woodall as Honorary Vice President. Ongoing and new Action Point 7
Action Point 14- Claire Valentin & Aileen Lawless to develop a proposal for an edited book on T&L in the ‘Studies in HRD’ Routledge monograph series. No progress reported. New action for Exec Sec to contact Claire and Aileen to check their intentions. Ongoing and new Action Point 8
Action Point 15-Committee Chairs to confirm their membership and inform Jim Stewart. Members are encouraged to express interest in joining committees to Vice Chairs. Paul Tosey and Nicholas Clarke to email Exec Sec. Ongoing and new Action Point 9
Action Point 16-Jan Myers to report on progress with establishing a joint UFHRD/IFTDO journal. Reports submitted by Jan were welcomed and discussed by members. Exec Sec reported contact with Bob Morton of IFTDO who has expressed strong support and commitment from IFTDO to joint sponsorship. Bob also suggested the possibility of CIPD involvement in the journal. Ruth Stuart stated that a similar thought had occurred to her on reading Jan’s reports. Ruth agreed to investigate CIPD interest. Mark Loon expressed interest in and willingness to support Jan in the role of Associate Editor or similar title. The Chair and other members raised a number of questions which will need to be addressed in finalising a proposal to a publisher. It was agreed that the Chair, Exec Sec and Vice Chair Research would become more active in supporting Jan. In the interim, Exec Sec will let Jan know of the discussion. Exec Sec to brief Jan-new Action Point 10. Chair to liaise with Jan on the proposal-new Action Point 11. Ruth Stuart to establish CIPD interest and involvement in the proposal-new Action Point 12.
6 Substantive Items
Conferences/Expanding Forum Membership
Ronan Carbery was thanked for his written report on progress with the 2015 conference. Members welcomed the news of over 260 submissions and the sponsorship attracted from the Irish Institute of Training and Development.Ronan was congratulated on both of these achievements.
The Chair proposed consideration of her paper on expanding Forum membership before discussing the 2016 conference since the two were closely linked. This was accepted. The Chair proceeded to present her ideas, beginning with suggestions for promoting Forum membership. These were welcomed and new Action Points agreed.
Action Point 13-Xiaoxian Zhu to send Exec Sec her identified benefits used to support her case for Teesside renewing membership of the Forum
Action Point 14-Programmes Committee to set up a working group to establish benefits and identify and promote Forum membership to departments engaged in HRD but not in membership. Use of an invitation card as used by Dave McGuire for the 2014 conference was suggested for this action.
Action Point 15-Forum Executive, Vice Chairs and members of Forum committees to utilise leaflets to promote Forum membership at conferences and other events. Other/all members invited to do the same. The Exec Sec will supply leaflets.
Action Point 16- Forum Executive, Vice Chairs and members of Forum committees to display their Forum role and Forum website in their email footer/subscription
Action Point 17-Chair and Exec Sec to establish contact with lapsed members and promote re-joining the Forum
The Chair then presented ideas on developing the conference to promote wider engagement with the Forum and increasing membership. These included adopting standing streams; stream leaders to promote development of communities of scholars with a shared interest to i) ensure quality papers are secured, ii) standing streams have viable numbers at each conference and iii) promote increased membership of the Forum; incorporate a call for stream proposals in conference design and planning. Linda Alker was then invited to respond to these ideas and report on progress with planning for the 2016 conference. Linda reported a number of encouraging developments which were welcomed by members. These included setting up an internal MMU project team to manage conference organisation with great enthusiasm from MMU colleagues; securing the services of a specialist as conference website coordinator; investigating venue for the conference dinner; preparation of a presentation to promote the conference at AHRD Americas conference and at UFHRD/AHRD 2015 conference. Linda also reported a meeting held with the Exec Sec and Sue Shaw to discuss various ideas. As a result of this and internal meetings, MMU were very happy to accept the Chair’s suggestion of standing streams, and the list of streams contained in her paper. MMU though are unable to accept the suggestion of a call for stream proposals. Some progress has also been made as a result of these meetings with establishing a conference organising committee and Linda suggested a further meeting with UFHRD Chair and Exec Sec to finalise this and other items such as identifying/securing stream leaders. The Chair thanked Linda for her response and report, which were also welcomed and accepted by members. Further discussion ensued on processes for submitting and reviewing abstracts. It was agreed that clear guidance in calls for papers on the format and content of abstracts would be useful, and that stream leaders should be responsible for arranging and managing reviews of abstracts. Review processes should also utilise two independent and blind reviews. This process should be made clear in the calls for papers. Linda accepted these suggestions to be applied in the 2016 conference.
Action Point 18-Exec Sec and Linda Alker to arrange a meeting of MMU colleagues and Forum officers to progress arrangements for 2016 conference
Categories and Cost of Membership
The Chair invited the Exec Sec to present this item. He suggested that since the item wold require significant decisions on fees charged to members it would be better to discuss the item with a higher number and proportion of members present. This was agreed. The Chair and Exec Sec will review the agenda and time available for the AGM to decide whether there will be time for the item at that meeting. Otherwise, the item will revert to the agenda of the October meeting.
Access to UFHRD Web Resources
The Exec Sec reported communication from Ronan Carbery seeking clarification on posting 2015 conference proceedings on the Forum website and expressing some concern in his editorial role with EJTD with publishing papers on an open website. The Chair and Exec Sec noted that consultation with Emerald had shown that that publisher had no concerns. Nevertheless, members agreed to trial an author preference process in 2015 rather than 2016 if Ronan was able to do so. It was also noted that this item links to expanding Forum membership as a possible member benefit.
Action Point 19-Exec Sec to contact Ronan about an author preference process for the 2015 conference
7 Officer Reports
Vice Chair Research
Valerie Anderson presented a paper prepared by Alison Hollinrake on behalf of the Research Committee detailing recommendations for Research Honoraria funding. These were accepted and agreed. The paper also gives details on progress with recent/current funded projects.
Honorary Treasurer
Bob Hamlin presented his report, previously circulated. He noted a small surplus for the year but pointed out this included income from IFTDO as their share of funding the joint UFHRD/IFTDO research project. The Exec Sec pointed out that the accounts also included an exceptional expense item renewing the Forum’s computer facilities for the incoming Exec Sec. The overall picture was summarised as healthy so long as membership is maintained at 40+ institutional members.
Executive Secretary
Jim Stewart reported the current position with members renewing membership and paying fees. Eleven 2014 members had not paid fees at the date of the meeting. Of these, seven were in touch with the Exec Sec and currently promising/arranging payment. Of the remaining four, one is expected not to renew membership. The overall position is that the number of institutional members is likely to fall by at least three and possibly four or five from the 2014 total. This means that the financial position of the Forum in relation to annual income covering annual operating expenses will require new members to be recruited in 2015.
The Chairs of Programmes Committee and Practitioner Committee had confirmed to the Exec Sec that they had nothing to report. Nicholas Clarke extended his apologies for not organising a leadership event in 2014 as he had in previous years.
8 AOCB
The Chair congratulated Jan Myers on the comparative list of journals produced for her report and commended it to members as a useful resource in supporting publication of research. Subsequent to the meeting, the Chair produced the list as a separate document to send to members with these minutes.
9 Dates of Future Meetings
2015.
3rd, 4th and 5th June 2015 AGM and Conference, UCC
22nd and 23rd October 2015 General Meeting, and Workshop – Westminster Business School
2016.
January 2016 General Meeting and Workshop, Worcester Business School
June 2016 AGM and Conference, MMU
October 2016 General Meeting, and Workshop, Teesside University
2017.
June AGM and Conference, Lisbon?
2018
June AGM and Conference, Liverpool John Moores University or Northumbria University
Action Points
Action Point 1-Ruth Stewart to check with CIPD office on the continuing award of their prize at future conferences
Action Pont 2-Chair of Research Activities and Research Activities Committee to review honorarium scheme and report to the AGM in 2015
Action Point 3-Forum Chair to progress AHRD MoA
Action Point 4-Forum Chair to progress ideas on Practitioner Briefs with Wendy Ruona.
Action Point 5-Forum Chair to progress joint UFHRD/AHRD research project.
Action Point 6-Forum Executive to present a report on pros and cons of charitable status to the AGM.
Action Point 7-President, Chair and Exec Sec to pursue appointment of Professor Jean Woodall as Honorary Vice President
Action Point 8- Claire Valentin & Aileen Lawless to develop a proposal for an edited book on T&L in the ‘Studies in HRD’ Routledge monograph series. Exec Sec to contact Claire and Aileen to check their intentions
Action Point 9- Paul Tosey and Nicholas Clarke to email Exec Sec to confirm their membership
Action Point 10-Exec Sec to brief Jan Myers on discussion at the meeting on the proposed new journal
Action Point 11-Forum Chair to liaise with Jan on the detail and content of draft proposal for a new journal
Action Point 12-Ruth Stuart to establish CIPD interest and involvement in the proposal for a new journal
Action Point 13-Xiaoxian Zhu to send Exec Sec her identified benefits used to support her case for Teesside renewing membership of the Forum
Action Point 14-Programmes Committee to set up a working group to establish benefits and identify and promote Forum membership to departments engaged in HRD but not in membership. Use of an invitation card as used by Dave McGuire for the 2014 conference was suggested for this action.
Action Point 15-Forum Executive, Vice Chairs and members of Forum committees to utilise leaflets to promote Forum membership at conferences and other events. Other/all members invited to do the same. The Exec Sec will supply leaflets.
Action Point 16- Forum Executive, Vice Chairs and members of Forum committees to display their Forum role and Forum website in their email footer/subscription
Action Point 17-Chair and Exec Sec to establish contact with lapsed members and promote re-joining the Forum
Action Point 18-Exec Sec and Linda Alker to arrange a meeting of MMU colleagues and Forum officers to progress arrangements for 2016 conference
Action Point 19-Exec Sec to contact Ronan about an author preference process for the 2015 conference
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