Minutes of the UFHRD General Meeting, October 2014

Minutes of the UFHRD General Meeting, October 2014,

Friday 24th October 2014, Liverpool John Moores University

(All documents from the meeting can be found in the ‘files’ area of )

1. Professor Sharon Mavin, Chair of UFHRD, opened the meeting with thanks to LJMU colleagues for hosting the meeting and also thanked Aileen Lawless and Valerie Anderson for organising and facilitating an excellent workshop on the previous day. New and existing members were welcomed to the meeting.
2. Apologies

Present

Sharon Mavin, Chair and Northumbria University; Jim Stewart, Exec Sec and Coventry University

Bob Hamlin, Hon. Treasurer and Wolverhampton University; Carole Elliott, Durham University

Xiaoxian Zhu, Teesside University; Rick Holden, Webmaster and LJMU; Peter Cureton, LJMU

Mary Martog, Middlesex University; Valerie Anderson, Vice Chair for Research Activities and Portsmouth University; Sue Williams, Gloucestershire University; Lynn Nichol, Worcester University; Sophie Mills, Coventry University; Ruth Stewart, CIPD; Andrew Armitage, Anglia Ruskin University; Mark Loon, Worcester University; Julia Claxton, Leeds Beckett University; Lisa Anderson, Liverpool University; Linda Alker, MMU; Jill Murray, MMU

Apologies Received and Noted

Monica Lee; Trisha Harrison, LJMU; Diane Keeble-Ramsay, Anglia Ruskin; Paul Smith, Sunderland; Aileen Lawless, LJMU; Sue Greener, Brighton; Ruth Sacks, Westminster; Jenni Jones, Wolverhampton; Sunitha Narendran, Kingston; Ronan Carbery, UCC; Rob Poell, UVT; Carolyn Ward; Stephen Gourlay, Kingston; Sally Sambrook, Bangor; Paul Tosey, Surrey; Nicholas Clarke, Southampton; Alison Hollinrake, UCLAN; Claire Valentin, Edinburgh; Rona Beattie, GCAL; Eduardo Tome.

3 Minutes of the Last Meeting

The Chair pointed out that an Action Point on the Joint IFTDO/UFHRD Journal was missing from the final list of the minutes. The minutes were otherwise accepted as an accurate record.

4 Matters Arising

None not on the agenda

5 Action Points

Action Point 1. The Forum Executive are to seek to establish the Forum as a charitable incorporated organisation (CIO).On the agenda. Discharged

Action Point 2. Claire Valentin & Aileen Lawless will develop a proposal for an edited book on T&L in the ‘Studies in HRD’ Routledge monograph series. No report; ongoing

Action Point 3. Evaluation of the honoraria to be discussed at a future meeting of Council.On the agenda. Discharged

Action Point 4. Conference Streams to be discussed at a future meeting of Council.On the agenda. Discharged

Action Point 5. Jim Stewart to research into whether the Forum should publish conference papers, and if so, where.On the agenda. Discharged

Action Point 6. Jim Stewart and Sharon Mavin to review the AHRD MoA with Wendy Ruona On the agenda. Discharged

Action Point 7. New officers need to be appointed for 2015 to replace Rick Holden and Nicholas ClarkeOn the agenda. Discharged

Action Point 8. Committee Chairs to confirm their membership and inform Jim StewartOn the agenda. Discharged

6 Substantive Items

Conferences

A number of items were discussed under this item. Ronan Carbery was thanked for his report on progress with the 2015 conference. The venue has been confirmed as University College Cork following Ronan’s move there from Limerick. Members expressed varying views on the desirability of requesting a second call for papers and/or to move the submission dates. The Exec Sec will ask Ronan to keep the possibility under review as he monitors the number of submissions. The personal invite approach adopted by Edinburgh Napier was commended and Track Chairs for the conference are encouraged to do all they can to attract submissions.

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.

Members thanked David McGuire for his evaluation report of the 2014 conference which made some excellent points. They also welcomed the news that there was a surplus and the use of that to fund a PhD studentship. The Chair welcomed in particular the figures on track popularity as indicated by number of initial submissions and papers presented. The CIPD awarded prize for Outstanding Contribution to HRD was noted as a highly valued part of the conference. David McGuire confirmed that the CIPD Scottish office had committed to the prize for only one year. Members were very hopeful that CIPD nationally would continue with the award and Ruth Stewart agreed to see if this could be achieved.

Action Point 2-Linda Alker and Jill Murray to review arrangements for 2016 conference based on the evaluation of 2014 conference.

Action Point 3-Ruth Stewart to check with CIPD office on the continuing award of their prize at future conferences

Linda Alker presented a written proposal from MMU to host the 2016 conference. Members congratulated MMU colleagues on an excellent proposal and confirmed MMU as the venue for 2016. The conference dates were discussed with varying views being expressed on the relative merits of late May and early June. It was confirmed that the proposed dates are the first week in June to allow the normal week days of Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. The Exec Sec reported that Lisbon was still likely to be the venue for 2017 but Eduardo Tome was awaiting final agreement from the university Rector. That decision is expected by the middle of November. Northumbria University are expected to propose hosting the 2018 conference and Martin McCracken at University of Ulster has expressed interest in 2019.

The number and focus of streams for future conferences was discussed and debated. The Chair pointed out that some of the most successful streams in 2014 do not appear in the 2015 conference programme. It was also noted that the original practice of including UFHRD Executive members on conference organising committees had ceased in recent years. Members debated the value of having standing streams and which if any topics these should include, and also the value of having calls for stream proposals. The Exec Sec pointed out that the latter would need longer lead times for conference organisers. It was agreed that in future conferences beginning with 2016, hosting universities will be required to invite UFHRD Chair, Exec Sec and Vice Chair for Research Activities to be members of the organising committee. MMU agreed to consider a process of ‘standing streams’ and ‘call for stream proposals’.

Action Point 4-Linda Alker and Jill Murray to establish an organising committee with required UFHRD representation and consider the potential-feasibility of standing streams/call for stream proposals

The Exec Sec reported on consultations with editorial teams of the leading HRD journals on the question of publishing articles based on conference papers freely available to the world on the UFHRD website. All of those consulted confirmed that there would be no problem in principle since conference papers would be expected to be developed based on discussions at conference as well as based on journal reviewer feedback. Alternative views were expressed based on the emerging issue of self-plagiarism which is concerning some publishers. The Exec Sec reminded members of previous discussions on having parts of the Forum website password protected as a member benefit, which would also deal with this problem. Despite his view and advice as then Chair, those discussions had established the current policy of a fully open website. The Chair pointed out the practice of BAM which limits access to conference proceedings on their website to BAM members through password protection. Following further discussion, the meeting agreed to trial a system at the 2016 conference of individual authors being given the possibility of ‘opting out’ of having their paper included in proceedings available openly on the Forum website.

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.

Evaluation of Honoraria Scheme

In the absence of Rick Holden, the Chair introduced the report. Rick was thanked for his work which provided an excellent basis for reviewing the scheme. In response to a question, the Exec Sec reminded members that the scheme was initiated by him when he was Vice Chair for Research with the aim of stimulating and supporting research into HRD by academics and to support specialist HRD journals; both as a means of establishing HRD as an academic subject. Members noted the success of the scheme as evidenced by the report. Several suggestions were made and discussed. These included using honoraria to promote collaborative research, providing mentoring for new researchers who are successful with bids to the scheme and initiating a ‘critical friend’ approach. This latter might involve closer monitoring of progress of projects. It was though recognised that payment of funds is dependent on delivery of agreed outcomes. Members agreed to request the Research Activities Committee to consider the report in more detail and to bring recommendations for changes to a future meeting. It was noted that the 2015 call for proposals was now out and so any changes would have effect from 2016.

Action Point 6-Research Activities Committee to review honorarium scheme and report to the AGM in 2015.

Progress on AHRD MoA/Relationship

The Chair reported on her contact with Wendy Ruona. Work was still progressing on a formal MoA. It was noted that this might need to consider how UFHRD gain access to AHRD committee and Board papers; AHRD currently has full access to all Forum meetings and papers but Forum nominated members of the AHRD Board attend only parts of AHRD Board meetings. Some ideas for collaboration had though been discussed. These included jointly producing Practitioner Briefs and a single jointly commissioned and funded research project, similar to the one currently running with IFTDO. Members welcomed these ideas and agreed to adopt them. They agreed to allocate £5,000 from reserves as matched funding from AHRD for a joint honorarium. The Practitioner and Organisations Committee was agreed as appropriate to work with AHRD/Wendy on the idea of Practitioner Briefs. The Forum Chair will progress the research project idea with Wendy with support from Chair of Research Activities Committee and Exe Sec.

Action Point 7-Forum Chair to progress AHRD MoA

Action Point 8-Chair of Practitioner and Organisations Committee to progress ideas on Practitioner Briefs with Wendy Ruona.

Action Point 9-Forum Chair to progress joint UFHRD/AHRD research project

HR Standards Development

Valerie Anderson presented her paper reporting on progress made by the BSI Committee. Members welcomed the report and thanked Valerie for representing the Forum. Valerie reminded members of the background to this initiative and emphasised the importance of the consultation stage to ensure HRD interest remained live in the project. Members are therefore strongly encouraged to visit the BSI website and respond to the consultation as individuals and/or on behalf of their universities. Valerie agreed to lead a small group to prepare a response on behalf of the Forum. This will be agreed with the Forum Executive before submission. David McGuire, Carole Elliott, Andy Armitage and Mark Loon will join Valerie on the working group to produce the draft response.

Action Point 10-Valerie Anderson to convene the working group to produce a draft response for the BSI consultation

Appointment/Election of Officers 2016

The Exec Sec reported that Rick Holden and Nicholas Clarke both stand down from their Forum roles at the AGM in 2016. Andy Armitage had expressed willingness to replace Nicholas as Vice Chair and Chair of the Practitioner and Organisations Committee and the Exec Sec was pleased to nominate him. The meeting endorsed the nomination and election of Andy Armitage as Vice Chair of the Forum and Chair of the Practitioner and Organisations Committee with effect from the 2015 AGM. Jan Myers had been previously slated to replace Rick and become webmistress. Jan has though recently changed jobs and the Exec Sec was not certain of her current view on taking over. The Chair agreed to contact Jan.

Action Point 11-Forum Chair to contact Jan Myers about managing the Forum website.

7 Officer Reports

Chair

The Chair reported on progress with establishing the Forum as a charity. Law students at Northumbria University working in a law clinic under the supervision of an academic tutor, had agreed to undertake a feasibility study but had indicated they could not take the Forum through the process. The meeting agreed to accept the offer of a feasibility study and then to receive and consider the students’ report.

Action Point 12-Chair and Exec Sec to accept the offer of a feasibility study and report back to the 2015 AGM

Chair of Programme and Qualifications Committee

Paul Tosey requested through the Executive Secretary confirmation of continued funding for the annual Teaching and Learning prize awarded at conference. This was agreed and confirmed by the meeting.

Honorary Treasurer

Bob Hamlin presented his report, previously circulated. He emphasised the need for members to pay their subscriptions as speedily as possible to ensure the Forum did not experience a deficit at the end of the financial year.

Executive Secretary

Jim Stewart reported that he had sent out invoices to 44 organisation members and 20 individual members in membership at the start of 2014. Two universities; Lille in France and Illinois in the USA; have confirmed they will not be renewing membership because of cost and the relative lack of access to benefits. UCC has come into membership and so will replace one of those. One individual member had renewed but raised the exclusion of that category from applying for research honoraria. Some organisation and individual members had already paid for 2015 but a significant majority had not as of the date of the meeting.

8 AOCB

The Chair reported discussions with the Forum President and Exec Sec about filling the position of Honorary Vice President which had never been used since the current constitution was adopted in 2004. Those discussion had led to a proposal to invite Professor Jean Woodall to take up the position. Jean had indicated willingness to consider the invitation and the Forum President and Chair were discussing a brief for the role to offer Jean. The meeting agreed to appointment of Professor Woodall if discussions resulted in a positive outcome.

Action Point 13-President, Chair and Exec Sec to pursue appointment of Professor Jean Woodall as Honorary Vice President

9 Dates of Future Meetings

2015.

Friday 23rd January 2015 General Meeting at Wolverhampton University; NB There will not be a workshop

3rd, 4th and 5th June 2015 AGM and Conference, UCC

October 2015 Council Meeting, and Workshop – Westminster Business School

2016.

January 2016 Council Meeting and Workshop, Worcester Business School

June 2016 AGM and Conference, MMU

October 2016 Council Meeting, and Workshop

2017.

June AGM and Conference, Lisbon?

2018

June AGM and Conference, Liverpool John Moores University or Northumbria University

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 Point 2-Linda Alker and Jill Murray to review arrangements for 2016 conference based on the evaluation of 2014 conference.

Action Point 3-Ruth Stewart to check with CIPD office on the continuing award of their prize at future conferences

Action Point 4-Linda Alker and Jill Murray to establish a conference organising committee with required UFHRD representation and consider the stream proposals.

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.

Action Point 6-Chair of Research Activities and Research Activities Committee to review honorarium scheme and report to the AGM in 2015.

Action Point 7-Forum Chair to progress AHRD MoA

Action Point 8-Chair of Practitioner and Organisations Committee to progress ideas on Practitioner Briefs with Wendy Ruona.

Action Point 9-Forum Chair to progress joint UFHRD/AHRD research project

Action Point 10-Valerie Anderson to convene the working group to produce a draft response for the BSI consultation

Action Point 11-Forum Chair to contact Jan Myers about becoming webmistress.