Congratulations go to the Bristol team (and in particular Simon Evans) for organising and hosting the annual conference again. Plenary speakers addressed cutting edge issues for gerontologists to study and debate and the quality of papers and symposium were high. Despite the economic situation attendance was higher than last year and consequently we are optimistic about another surplus enabling us to deliver on our new BSG strategy. The torch now passes to Brunel University hosting the conference in July (6th - 8th) 2010.

This report will be brief as much of the progress over the year was reported at the AGM in the Presidents report which can be accessed online. However, I want to thank again the executive committee for their support and in particular Rachel Hazelwood our new administrator, Wendy Martin our secretary and Debora Price as treasurer for their day to day management of the Society’s business. I would also like to thank those members who stepped down from the committee - Bernadette Bartlam, Randall Smith, Angela Kydd and Ian Sidney, and congratulate and welcome our new members – Alisoun Milne, Sue Venn (secretary elect), Suzanne Moffatt and Mary Pat Sullivan. The first meeting of the executive committee is on October 16th when we will review the roles and responsibilities of new committee members in the context of our new strategy. Future meetings are planned for February and May and any member who wishes to place an item or an issue on the agenda is welcome to contact Rachel Hazelwood.

As regular readers of GR will know we are in the process of reshaping some of our activities to meet our strategic goals. A full report of the new strategy and progress to date was given during the AGM and is available from the BSG website. We welcome comments from all members on the strategy and any support you may feel you can give to the numerous groups working hard to implement it (see appendix of the strategy for further details of the groups).

There are a number of developments to report from the strategy following the annual conference. Each member of BSG will receive in the next few weeks a survey aimed at capturing the breadth of membership interests and activities. As part of this there will be an invitation to contribute to the impact brochure which will be jointly be produced by BSG and Age Concern/Help the Aged. This will highlight examples of our research where there has been societal or economic impact. We plan for the brochure to be ready early in the New Year to be distributed to funders and government bodies.

Our advisory group met at the conference and following this responded to a call for evidence to the House of Lords Science and Technology Committee on the future funding of research. Our response as part of the British Council on Ageing can be viewed on our website [Rachel please inset weblink here]. We would like to invite members to contact us if they are interested in participating in future responses of this nature. We would like to compile a list of members who can respond fairly quickly and regularly to consultation documents and calls for evidence on issues of ageing.

On the international scene we welcomed to the conference Sasha Stumper, our first exchange PhD student with the Australian Early Researchers in Ageing group. Sasha’s feedback on the conference is included in this issue. We hope to develop further funded exchanges and joint web conferences with ERA Australia in the coming months.

We continue as a society to play a role in the IAGG. We will be hosting the European Social Research section (formerly EBSSRS) conference in Swansea next year (July 1-3rd 2010). This will give our international guests the opportunity to travel down the M4 to the BSG Brunel conference immediately after this event.

Some BSG members will be attending the Gerontological Society of America annual conference in Atlanta in November and Kate Davidson, our international officer is organising an ‘event’ for us at the conference. Do contact Kate if you plan to attend the conference. Unfortunately we will not be as visible as we were with an exhibition stand in Paris but we hope to organise one social event for BSG members and friends.

The Academy of the Social Sciences (AcSS) has asked us to open the nominations for Academicians to the membership and so one crucial date is October 30 th when nominations have to be made. Any BSG member who has made a significant contribution to Social Science and its promotion (including research, teaching, professional practice, consultancy and the promotion and dissemination of social science knowledge) can be nominated. If you wish to nominate a member for the status as Academician then please:

1. Provide ‘evidence of the contribution that the Nominee has made and the ways in which this has been distinguished and significant, including impact’.

2. Send your nomination and supporting evidence to Rachel Hazelwood.

We can nominate up to 10 people each year from the BSG so please let us have your suggestions as soon as possible.

With very best wishes,

Judith