| 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 - they produced press releases and started recruiting spokespeople and setting up a media training courses for them - the first of which was held in June 1972. Early press efforts were concentrated on promoting the conferences and journal articles but later encompassed promoting BPS policy, positions, activities and the profession of psychology.
Stephen White joined the BPS staff as Director of Communications in 1985 and started organising regular media training from 1986 onwards. By October 1991 the Press Committee was no longer a standing committee but a subcommittee of the Information Committee (which itself took over from the Standing Committee on Communications SC COMS 1984-1990). The Information Committee became the Communications Committee/Board in 1998 as part of the Society's strategic plan. This in turn 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 2018 with the creation of three new strategy boards Education and Training, Practice, Research and Public Affairs. |
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