Chief Executive July Update
The first day of July each year is significant for the Society. It is the day on which our Council composition changes, and there are significant changes this year. Our President enters the third and last year of her term, and the President-elect is elected, giving them a year in which to prepare for their three-year leadership role. It is also the time when we re-set our operational goals in line with a newly approved budget. Those goals remain guided by the commitment we made in 2017 to fully embrace all knowledge systems and research methodologies relevant in Aotearoa New Zealand.
The areas of emphasis for the upcoming year will include a specific initiative to accelerate the admission of Māori into our Fellowship. The election for the first time of a Crown Research Institute researcher as our President-elect aligns with our longer term commitment to better recognise other under-represented groups. There will also be significant attention paid to research workforce issues, and in particular the career prospects for early career researchers (those researchers still within ten years of completing their highest tertiary qualification). And of course, widening of our engagement with communities interested in research, scholarship and innovation remains important.
At a more practical level, the service activities we undertake for the Government, such as allocating and distributing research funds will continue on as much as a business as normal basis as possible. Our events programme, including Research Honours Aotearoa, will be re-envisioned for this upcoming year, but by and large we want to serve our members and stakeholders as normally as we can. The start of July is also the end of one financial year and the commencement of another. Fortunately, the impacts of Covid-19 on the Society finances have been quite minor. We will maintain all Membership and Fellowship subscriptions at their present levels for the upcoming year.
Lastly, you may see over the coming weeks that the Society will be seeking a replacement for myself – I have informed the Council I will step down at the end of this calendar year as your chief executive. Until then, it is still full on!