From the Chief Executive, April 2020

The British Psychological Society's strategic plan is due to be updated over the course of 2020, and I'm looking for your input on developing a vision which will be key to all that we do over the next five years.

We're embracing co-creation and getting members involved in all of our transformation work, including the successful member journey programme that is currently running. The BPS is becoming an organisation that is truly member-led, and it's vital that the plan which informs our work is developed alongside you.

I see there being three key areas to the strategic plan, where we need to agree on the fundamentals of what the BPS is here for, and what we want to achieve. These are values, purpose and vision. 

Values are central to an organisation like ours, and should underpin everything that we're doing. They cover our role as a professional body, in areas such as diversity and inclusion, on which our President David Murphy is leading a taskforce, and being guided by the expertise and the needs of our members.

There are also values that cover our learned society function, around promoting the highest standards of scientific research and making sure that psychological research is evidence-based, transparent and accessible.

Alongside our values, I think that we need to have an open conversation with our members about the core purpose of the BPS across our dual roles.

Too many of you feel that our purpose has been unclear and uncertain. This is your opportunity to tell us what you believe our central purpose should be.

The member journey project is key to this, and our partners from The Social Kinetic have been out talking to members from all areas of psychology and all career stages – we'll be sharing the results over the coming months.

Bringing together values and purpose will help us to create our vision for the BPS through until 2025.

I want the BPS to be the true home of psychology in the UK, but I'd be interested to hear our members' brief vision statements for the future of the BPS. If you've got one, please let me know.

Sarb Bajwa is Chief Executive of the British Psychological Society. 

Contact him at [email protected]