Peter Townsend, who died last month, will be sadly missed by all in the Society. Even if you didn’t know him personally you will recognise his classic texts such as ‘The Family Life of Old People’ (1957), and ‘The Last Refuge: A Survey of Residential Institutions for the Aged in England and Wales’ (1962) which continue to have significant impact on the discipline and social sciences in general. His work as a poverty campaigner with his books such as ‘Poverty in the UK’ (1979) established him as one of the key academics of his time.

Many tributes have been paid to the work of Peter and I am very grateful to Alan Walker for coordinating this. There will be an opportunity for members to further remember Peter Townsend and Janet Askham at the annual conference, through writing in our new book of condolence.

In the last edition of GR you will have read that we are developing a 5 year strategy for the Society which spans both my presidency and that of the president-elect Miriam Bernard. This will put BSG on a longer term footing and enable us to develop more medium term plans (for example, to gain sponsorship for a longer period of time and start lobbying activities) rather than short term goals. We hope to be able to distribute the strategy to all members prior to the AGM and the annual conference and we welcome your feedback.

New action groups have been established addressing issues in relation to:

• Sharpening our identity and communicating our mission
• Building capacity through the ERA group
• Lobbying and advising Research Councils and other influential stakeholders
• Producing an impact brochure showcasing UK research
• Securing sponsorship
• Linking with other societies.

In relation to these groups I would like to report on our progress to date.

ERA

One of the most active groups over the last few months has been the ERA group and you will see reports throughout this edition on those activities. I would like to thank Christian Beech, Kelly Fitzgerald and Paul Nash for organising a very successful annual ERA conference in Cardiff. I may be biased but it was very exciting to see senior civil servants staying for the whole two days to listen and comment on the latest research of ERA members. The Deputy Minister for Older People, Gwenda Thomas, and the Older People’s Commissioner for Wales, Ruth Marks, also gave presentations at the conference.

Following on from this the ERA group organised our very first Australia- UK webair link. Helen Bartlett (Pro Vice Chancellor, Monash University, Australia) and I gave presentations on ‘Developing International Collaborations’ to an audience primarily of PhD students on both sides of the world. Six Universities across Australia participated and although the UK contingent gathered in one location, Cardiff (the nearest location for the technology), at least four universities were represented around the table. The audio recording can be found through the web http://www.era.edu.au/Virtual+Seminar+Files

We would like to continue with this seminar series and would welcome any university which has the technology to participate in future events – it’s a great way of supporting our students at Masters and PhD levels.

The ERA group have also drafted a capacity building paper and copies will be made available at the Bristol conference.

Lobbying

Our advisory and lobbying group has been established and I am pleased to report that Miriam Bernard and I are joined by Chris Phillipson, Tony Warnes and Maria Evandrou. We will meet with the ESRC in late July to hear about their new strategic plan and will have an opportunity to discuss various issues in relation to the BSG with ESRC directors.

Wendy Martin and I also attended a lunch given by Paul Wiles, the Chief Social Scientist at the Treasury, as part of our membership of the Academy for the Social Sciences (AcSS). This was a very informative meeting where Paul set out the difficulties ahead for funding in the social sciences and stressed the need for us to lobby both sides of the House to ensure that social sciences doesn’t lose out to the STEM subjects in relation to future funding allocations. Many of you will have seen the letter in the THES regarding the funding situation following the RAE. Developing strong links across disciplines seems to be a way to ensure ageing remains high on the research funders’ agendas and I see a crucial role here for our lobbying group.

On your behalf I also attended the AcSS meeting for Chief Officers where Professor Cary Cooper the new chair of AcSS presented his strategy for the Academy. Please let me know if you would like to see the minutes of either of these meetings.

Impact brochure and sponsorship

We are still seeking sponsorship for our potential impact brochure and similarly sponsorship for a paid administrator. Discussions are continuing with some private companies interested in ageing as well as voluntary sector partners.

Have a great summer. I look forward to seeing you at the BSG annual conference in Bristol in September.

Best wishes

Judith