| AdminHistory | An open meeting attended by 60 people was held on 2 June 1992 at the Royal Society for those interested in the proposal that there should be some form of association for those who deal with press relations in learned societies - with the aim of 'encouraging the free flow of information from individual societies and individual scientists in public in order that science (and scientists) is better understood'. At that time press and public relations activity within science and scientific societies was increasing but staff responsible for this aspect of work were often one man bands working in isolation - it was felt that a group could act as a forum for discussion and sharing experiences, a professional development opportunity and a source of professional advice. The idea was initiated jointly by Stephen White, Director of Information at the British Psychological Society and by Colin Padgett of the Royal Society with the support of Jill Nelson from COPOS (Committee on the Public Understanding of Science) and Peter Cooper, The Royal Society.
After the June 1992 meeting steering group was formed of Stephen White; Luci Daniels, The British Dietetic Association; Jill Nelson, CoPUS; David Hall, Foundation for Science and Technology; John Hersee, Mathematical Association and Colin Padgett with a proposed acronym for the new society was ASPPRO [Association of Scientific Societies Press and Public Relations Officers], described by Stephen White as 'the shortest lived acronym in history' which led to another open meeting on the 30th October 1992 to found the new organisation and agreed on a the constitution and a new name STEMPRA and set up a formal committee. Stephen White became the Chair, Colin Padgett, Secretary, Tim Walker, Treasurer and Dianne Stilwell, Events Coordinator; Linda Capper and Sue Robertson, Newsletter Editors, other members were Bill Bowman, British Pharmaceutical Society; John Hersee; Donald Stirling, The Photogrammetric Society; and Allison Summerfield, Royal Microscopical Society. The new Committee met for the first time on 9 December 1992.
Early events included a visits to the BMA, CIBA, Wellcome, The Guardian and the Royal Society and in January 1993 was a session where journalists explained what is desired from scientific press and PR operatives. The first issue of the newsletter came out in February 1993 and during the British Association Science Festival at the University of Keele September 1993 a meeting was held 'Stempra - One Year One - Where Now?' - there were by that time 77 paid up members from 54 organisations. |