From the Chief Executive, April 2019

Attending the Society's annual conference last year was one of the first things that I did after taking over as Chief Executive of the BPS, and it was the first opportunity for me to meet some of you.

I was struck by your passion and your expertise, but also by the desire for our conference to offer you something more, and to really fit with the priorities of psychologists, whatever setting they may work in.

It's now almost time to welcome members to Harrogate for this year's conference, and I'm delighted with the speakers that we've been able to attract, and confident that there is something to appeal to every one of our members.

It is only through talking to our members, at events like our annual conference, that we're able to understand what you need from us and how we can deliver it. I hope to see as many of you as possible in Harrogate on 1 May and, if you are there, please come and say hello to me and the BPS team.

We want to give you the lead on deciding what our priorities are, and kicked off this process with the inaugural BPS Senate last year.

Since our member network chairs voted for the psychological wellbeing of children and young people to be our key policy priority this year, we've been working hard to make progress.

I'm delighted that, following approximately 60 applications from some of the most qualified and impressive candidates within our membership, we've now appointed an Expert Reference Group who will help us to deliver the campaign.

This group will help us to achieve real policy change by prioritising the areas where we are going to be able to make the biggest difference, and highlighting the best psychological evidence for us to take to policy makers. We will keep you updated of our progress throughout the year.

As we continue to move towards being a truly member-led organisation, there will be more and more opportunities for you to get involved and help us to make sure that psychological understanding is having a positive impact on the world around us.

Whether it's by joining a group, responding to a consultation or by writing a letter for these pages, you're helping us to achieve that aim.

Sarb Bajwa is Chief Executive of the British Psychological Society.

Contact him at [email protected]