Hello! Amber has not had time to put together many blog posts since she took over as SRP president, and Tessa approached the Chair of Communications Committee and myself as Director of Engagement about what else we could do. I suggested I should take it over as Communications sits in my directorate and I can still give our SRP members a view on what goes on within SRP.

So here I am writing my first blog post…..

My name is Jennifer and I am the Director of Engagement for SRP. I am one of the four directors who oversee the SRP committees and sit on SRP Council. My directorate leads on interactions and communication both within and external to SRP. It’s a big job and after about 6 months in role I am starting to find my feet and understand what I have taken on.

We (SRP) have entered a period of significant change to make the SRP into a modern professional chartered society. The setup of the directorates and changes to how Council run have been carried out to enable SRP to better deliver its Charter obligations to deliver public benefit as well as benefit to our own members.

SRP Council meets 4 times a year in London and we are now in the final weeks prior to Council meeting which is busy with Directorate board meetings, action updates and short reports to Council all being due. I also to have make sure all the travel arrangements are in place to get to London from Cumbria. It’s a long way but the journey isn’t too onerous, an hour and quarter in the car to the train station then 3.5 hours on the train. I normally travel after work the day before Council (an evening of peace away from the kids) and stay overnight, then get the train back after the meeting. It is 2 long days but it works for me as I get to have tea with the kids before leaving home and see them when they get up the day after Council.

Council business can be as varied as dealing with the contracts we need with our suppliers (such as for website and IT support), deciding how to progress with a consultation or approving a new SRP procedure.

One item of business for December is a review of the strategic action plan which has broken down the strategic plan into doable tasks which are then aligned to a committee or directorate for delivery. We are also looking at the appropriate measures (key performance indicators in business speak) to enable us to show the progress we are making against the objectives set out in the strategic plan. It is basically an SRP to do list of stuff which pushes towards being the SRP we want to be. I am excited to see where we are with it, Engagement directorate have two big pieces of the plan, ensuring SRP is highly respected by Government and community in the UK and internationally and to deliver a strong and effective outreach programme. I want to use this Blog to share our work with you. I am interested in your feedback on this blog and any ideas of things you want to find out more about. You can get in touch with me using the contact details below.

And while I am asking for help - I have been trying to come up with a snappy, witty, SRP inspired name for this blog and failing miserably. I have successfully named two children, numerous cars and technical papers, more toys than I can remember but those were easy compared to this. I do tend to go for the obvious (Pink Ted for a pink teddy, my 4-year-old’s favourite – Dosimetry review for a review of dosimetry) but just calling it ‘SRP Blog’ seems a wasted opportunity.

I have found throughout my life, there are two things to do if you get stuck, get someone to help (or do it for you) or give up. I am fairly sure giving up a new SRP venture after one go isn’t going to be popular so I need to ask for some help from you lot.

Therefore the challenge is, during those days between Christmas and New Year where everyone forgets what day it actually is, chocolate has become a meal substitute and you can’t turn on the telly without seeing a repeat, use your grey matter to come up with an inspiring, witty, cheeky, name for my blog. The winner will receive an SRP goodie bag as well as my eternal gratitude and the infamy of naming this blog. There are no terms and conditions as this is merely a request for help.

Thank you for reading right to the end of the blog – I seem to have waffled on for a bit, but the intention is to share some of the lighter side of SRP business and be open and honest about the inner workings of SRP.

Merry Christmas!

Jennifer Humphries
Director of Engagement
Twitter: @jenkhumphries
Email: engagement@srp-uk.org