Society, September 2009

President's column

Sue Gardner
Contact Sue Gardner via the Society's Leicester office,
or e-mail: [email protected]

I hope that you managed to have a holiday this summer and that you have recharged your batteries ready for the autumn. This is usually a busy time of year for most people, with a new academic year starting and work deadlines reset after the welcome disruptions of July and August.

I save up some good books to read during the holidays and I also saved a few months of Research Digest e-mails from the Society. These are really useful and interesting summaries of recently published papers, and both the blog and fortnightly e-mail are completely free. The blog has risen to number 21 in the influential 'Wikio' ratings of worldwide science blogs, based on the number and strength of incoming links, as it continues to bring the Society and the discipline to a large and international audience. You can subscribe at the Research Digest blog, where you can also click through to the useful Twitter and Facebook presences. Please help us to spread the word about this quality research resource.

The importance of research to all our activities is obvious to us but the Research Board is hoping to make this clear to others. The Board, under its Chair Professor Judi Ellis, is preparing a booklet to identify key areas of psychological research that have had a significant impact on society. If you are interested in making a contribution please contact Dr Lisa Morrison Coulthard at [email protected]. 

Also in my holiday reading were some of the recent documents produced by the Society. For example, The Role of Psychology in End of Life Care is an excellent report produced under the auspices of the Professional Practice Board, chaired by Dr Carole Allan. This report highlights three areas: Contemporary Issues, Information about Legislation and Policy and Clinical Practice. The document provides a framework for psychologists working with those who are dying, their families and those who are bereaved. This deserves to be widely read and will hopefully influence psychologists and others in this area of work.

The influence of psychology across Europe was interesting to see at a recent meeting in Oslo of the General Assembly of the European Federation of Psychologists Associations (see conference reports on p.744). There are over a quarter of a million psychologists in Europe and the General Assembly, currently held every two years, brings their representatives together. The meeting took place over a weekend and provided a fascinating glimpse of life as a psychologist across the continent. Some of the organisations are well developed and advanced and some are fairly new or at an earlier stage of development. Professor Ann Colley (the Society's Chief Executive), Professor Pam Maras (Honorary General Secretary) and I represented the UK organisation and contributed on your behalf. Dr Liz Campbell, our Vice President, was voted in as the next General Secretary and will, I'm sure, keep us in touch with developments. It was interesting to talk to other psychologists about the interests of their members and to realise how much we all have in common.

Finally, the consultation exercise about member networks has nearly been completed and the Board of Trustees will be looking at the comments and suggestions you have made to strengthen our organisation for the future. We are also discussing future services for members as well as ways of improving the services we currently provide. We will keep you informed of developments both on the website and in the pages of this publication. That will keep us all busy this autumn.

Learning centre
To have your CPD event approved by the Society and for a catalogue of forthcoming opportunities, see BPS Learn or call 0116 252 9512.

To advertise your event in The Psychologist, e-mail [email protected] or call +44 116 252 9552.

A diary of non-approved events can be found at BPS Events.

Research Board Lifetime Achievement Award
Annette Karmiloff-Smith and Uta Frith

To acknowledge and applaud outstanding contributions to psychological knowledge throughout an individual's career, the Society has introduced a new award – the Research Board Lifetime Achievement Award. To mark the honour's inaugural year, in 2009 it has been jointly awarded to two outstanding members of the Society, recognising their distinctive and exemplary contributions.

Professor Annette Karmiloff-Smith of Birkbeck, University of London, and Professor Uta Frith of University College London will both receive commemorative certificates and £1000 towards further research.

Professor Karmiloff-Smith CBE CPsychol was nominated by the head of psychology at Birkbeck, Professor Mike Oaksford, who said: 'Karmiloff-Smith's achievements are an extraordinary example to students and colleagues throughout the world. What makes her stand apart from others, and which represents the hallmark of her career, is that she has contributed to major theoretical and experimental paradigm shifts in several different areas.'

While studying genetic and experimental psychology at Geneva University in 1974, Annette was widely recognised for her article published in Cognition: 'If you want to get ahead, get a theory', which continues to be cited and influence research 35 years on. This paper launched the start of an outstanding research career into the understanding of normal cognitive development and atypical development in genetic disorders.

When told of the award, Annette said: 'I am delighted and very honoured, although "lifetime achievement" makes it sound as if it's the end of my research career. For me, it's a great opportunity for yet another beginning!'

The joint winner of the 2009 Research Board Lifetime Achievement Award is Honorary Fellow of the Society and Chartered Psychologist Professor Uta Frith. An internationally recognised expert on developmental disorders, Professor Frith is best known for her work on autism, on which she has produced many seminal papers, including the 1985 study in which she, along with two of her then colleagues Simon Baron-Cohen and Alan Leslie, proposed and tested the hypothesis that a principal feature of autism is the failure to develop theory of mind. 

Professor Margaret Snowling and Professor Dorothy Bishop say in their nomination, 'The paper reporting this result has become a citation classic'; and in his supporting letter, Professor Stanislas Dehaene of College de France adds, 'She is one of the pioneers of social neuroscience; it took a real pioneering spirit to engage in this direction before anyone else would.'

'I was surprised and delighted to receive the Society's new award,' Professor Frith told The Psychologist. 'I was delighted on behalf of all the women who make psychology such a thriving discipline and on behalf of all the researchers in developmental cognitive neuroscience.'

New curator of psychology

The Society is delighted to announce that Philip Davis Loring has taken up the new post of BPS Curator of Psychology at the Science Museum, London. The post was created as a key component of the new arrangements for the Society's History of Psychology Centre, which are now based on major collaborations with high-profile and respected organisations.

Over the next five years, Philip will be researching the Museum's psychology and other collections and will have access to the Society's archives. He will be expected to use the Museum's artefacts to illustrate historical developments in psychology, such as the emergence of laboratory-based psychology at the end of the 19th century and its many transformations since then. But he'll also be working alongside curators of other disciplines to ensure that psychology is represented in the wider story of the making of the modern world. Philip will also be exploring the possibility of linking up with other European museums online.

Philip, who recently completed a doctorate in the History of Science at Harvard University, said: 'Psychology has a valid place in a story of the history of modern science. Psychology is an incredibly accessible science, one that extends into the public sphere. At present, our exhibit in the museum consists of three display cases which celebrated the centennial of the Society. I'm looking forward to identifying more items from the archives and developing exhibits that visitors can learn from and be inspired by.'

The five-year sponsorship agreement with the Science Museum also provides for a major psychology exhibition to run for from four to six months, as well as for a series of public engagement events at the Dana Centre.

Peter Dillon-Hooper, Manager of the History of Psychology Centre said: 'The Society is supporting this project as a marvellous opportunity for bringing psychology to the public. The Science Museum enjoys over two and a half million visitors a year, and has a significant web presence. We are now part of that, with the BPS Curator of Psychology acting as the champion for the discipline within the museum.'

We hope to keep you updated regularly with the new curator's ongoing work at the Science Museum, the development of future exhibits and upcoming events.