| Description | Minutes and papers of British Psychological Society BPS Standing Committee on Communications SCComms.
6 February 1986 BPS Standing Committee on Communications Teleconference Minutes and Papers includes Parliamentary Briefing on Alcohol;
5 April 1986 BPS Standing Committee on Communications Minutes and Papers includes costing for BPS badged ties and sweatshirts; review of who currently carries out communications tasks; marketing of BPS books and publications; 'Reviewing the Machine' review by Stephen White, Director of Information of how to promote psychology and its benefits as well as the work of the Society to influencers; 'Problem Drinking campaign and minutes of Parliamentary Working Group 26 February 1986; report by the Division of Clinical Psychology on Parliamentary Liaison; relationship with British Association [for the Advancement of Science]; proposed 'Friends of Psychology Group'; Benefits of Psychology archive; BPS logo suggestions, exhibition boards on 'Psychology and Society';
19 May 1986 Standing Committee on Communications Minutes and Papers including a proposal to create a Standing Committee to deal with Parliamentary Liaison; 'Benefits of Psychology' archive; encouraging ethnic minority psychologists to become members; creating a database of BPS public spokespeople [Keyword]; implication of proposed Education Bill on training of psychologists;
23 September 1986 Standing Committee on Communications Minutes and Papers including differences between representative and expert committees in the Society; survey of public attitudes to psychology; ; terms of reference and objectives for the Committee; Parliamentary liaison officers for Divisions; Benefits of Psychology archive; promotion of Charter; [Membership] recruitment; public spokespeople; Education Bill; role of the Society Annual Report.
29 October 1986 Standing Committee on Communications Minutes and Papers including Charter Promotion Group inaugural minutes, revamp of The Bulletin; Parliamentary Group campaign on Alcohol; proposal to change Annual Report to a Yearbook format; copy of 'Psychology, Public Affairs and Public Policy A Strategy and Review' (Michael Pallak and Richard Kilburg American Psychologist September 1986);
2 December 1986 Standing Committee on Communications Minutes and Papers including Working Group on Membership Services terms of reference; Promotion of the Charter Group; Psychological Aspects of Alcohol briefings; 'The Whole and the Sum of the Parts' relations between Society and Subsystems; draft preface to the Register of Chartered Psychologists;
See also
BPS/001/11/01/04 BPS Press Committee which reported to the Standing Committee on Communications.
BPS/001/11/04/01 Parliamentary Group
BPS/001/11/04 BPS Lobbying and Public Policy Responses
BPS/001/11/03/03/01 BPS Logos, Design and House Style
BPS/001/11/03/03/03 BPS Keyword Spokespeople |
| AdminHistory | The first report on public relations was in 1946 by T H Pear [see BPS Council Papers 25 May 1946].
The first British Psychological Society Public Relations committee was in 1955 and was a short lived working party. In 1971 Nicholas Georgiades and Professor Arthur Summerfield arranged a press conference at Brown's Hotel to draw attention to the BPS response to Sir John Foster's report on Scientology [See BPS/001/4/01/03/01]. After advice from Mr Christopher Hall, Barbara Castle's Information officer on setting up a press function - a Standing Press Committee was formed in October 1971 under the Chairmanship of Dr Georgiades.
In 1977 Alan Elliot presented a document to the Council entitled 'The Image and The Axe' expounding the view that psychology was seen by others would be a factor in government cuts which were expected. He further proposed that the Society should spend £20,000 for 'PR' activities. A meeting 'BPS 2000' was held in 1978 to [unsuccessfully] draw up a corporate plan but did lead to a report 'The Commercial Model' which recommended marketing and promotion to be a major activity of the Society. The Working Party on Public Relations [BPS/001/01/11/03] of 1983-1984 made suggestions as to an internal and external relations sub-committee and officer. After much debate and worries that calling the Committee the PR Committee would lead to an 'obscene' acronym the Standing Committee on Communications was formed. It was chaired by the Honorary General Secretary - Peter Morris. He was succeeded by J Graham Beaumont in May 1986 and then Ann Colley in 1989.
Stephen White joined the BPS staff as Director of Communications in 1985 and started organising press, communications and pr activities as well as regular media training.
By October 1991 the Press Committee was no longer a standing committee but a subcommittee of the Information Committee which took over from the Standing Committee on Communications that year.
The Information Committee became the Communications Committee/Board in 1998 as part of the Society's strategic plan. This became the Publications and Communications Board in 2000. The Press Committee was renamed the Media and Press Committee in April 2009.
The Society was restructured in 2017 with the creation of three new strategy boards Education and Training, Practice, Research and Public Affairs. |
| Copyright | Subject to the condition of the original, copies may be supplied for private research use only on receipt of a signed undertaking to comply with current copyright legislation. Permission to make any published use of material from the collection must be sought in advance from the Head of the History of Psychology Centre and Archives and, where appropriate, from the copyright owner. Where possible, assistance will be given in identifying copyright owners, but responsibility for ensuring copyright clearance rests with the user of the material |