Branch Forum 2020
A successful Branch Forum was held on 21 August 2020, the first with myself, Jenny Pollock, the new Branches Representative on Council. Also attending was Wendy Larner, President of Royal Society Te Apārangi, Andrew Cleland, Chief Executive, and other members of Royal Society Te Apārangi staff plus one or more representative from each Branch.
Wendy Larner discussed the three priorities of her presidency, which are:
- Addressing issues of equity and diversity (in all its forms)
- Strengthening relationships between Te Apārangi and Te Āo Māori, raising the profile of Mātauranga Māori.
- Early Career research issues as highlighted in the discussion paper recently released by ECR Forum.
Wendy stated that Royal Society Te Apārangi is now more diverse and brings a holistic viewpoint to Society activities.
Each Branch representative introduced themselves and commented on their activities. Overall, the representatives and their committees are doing a good job, especially in this trying time.
Interesting initiatives were:
- partnering with other organisations to run events;
- bringing in a local expert to comment on the topic of a talk given by a speaker presenting by Zoom;
- involvement with science fairs;
- offering Mātauranga Māori prizes for students and incorporating te reo when possible;
- fund raising for initiatives such as Dark Sky regions or parks;
- donating money to help students with travel, summer programmes and scholarships.
An update was given by Tarah Nikora (Director - Communications and Outreach) on the Society's public programme and the many changes being made to the programme because of the Covid-19 disruptions, with some events moving to a digital format or a regional format.
Myself and James Henry (Chief Operating Officer) discussed ways the Society could assist Branches with compliance and operational issues, including financial reporting, reporting requirements for different entities (incorporated societies, charities and trusts) and IRD obligations etc.
This information will be collated and made available to the Branches, Constituent Organisations and whoever else would find that information useful.
There was also some discussion on the benefits of moving to more informal committee meeting decision-making. The Society's Chief Executive, Andrew Cleland, gave the Branches some practical examples of this. Andrew also suggested that key office holders should document their processes early in their committee role, in order to pass on important information to the next person.
A consistent and reliable way of storing Branch information was also discussed.
Acceptable behaviour at meetings and hui were discussed and the Branches were directed to resources on the Society's website.
Dacia Herbulock from the Science Media Centre discussed managing media enquiries and said that the Science Media Centre had a number of resources that could help the Branches, including a practical desk guide that will be posted to Branches.
In general business, Andrew encouraged the Branches to offer talks in the humanities as well as science and technology. This led to a conversation about what kinds of talks our members like to attend, and it was suggested that lectures could be had with interesting interdisciplinary links in them.
The Forum was busy but interesting and gave plenty of food for thought. I look forward to the next one.
Jenny Pollock
Branch Representative on Council