A guest blog post by ruth

March 20, 2024

3 min read

The Stempra AGM took place online again in 2024 to allow for as wide attendance as possible. We celebrated our events over the past year and thanked committee members and co-chair Fiona who were stepping down. Attendees were also given a sneak preview of the soon to be launched new Stempra website…

Meeting Minutes 20.3.24

Attendees

29 attendees including 8 committee members

Minutes

Co-chair Fiona Dennehy opened the meeting and welcomed members. We celebrated milestones from the past year including a fantastic press officers training day hosted by Wellcome and funded by EurekAlert.

Special thanks was made to EurekAlert for the ongoing professional development support.

Web Editor Freya Gadsten-Bolton provided a demo of the new Stempra website, including new features and the membership section coming soon. Members commented that it looks good and very professional

Co-chair Shane Canning covered plans for the year ahead including reflections and improvements to events like the press officer training day where we could improve diversity of speakers and topics covered.

Plans for next year:

  • Guides funded by EurekAlert will be created this year. We consulted the membership on topics and the first guide will be on licensing.
  • Events will continue to alternate between in person and online and more regional events are planned for the year ahead.
  • We are looking into paying for professional training sessions and and we will go to the membership for ideas.

Accounts update

  • Treasurer Hannah Taylor-Lewis announced she is moving from the role of Treasurer to a non-portfolio role on the committee.
  • We received about £16,000 in income and spent about £9000, leaving a £7000 surplus
  • There are two minor errors in the accounts including two payments without receipts and one error where some members were charged the wrong membership fee as their direct debits had not been updated since the price increase.
  • Thanks were given to auditors Kerry Noble and Ruth Francis. Kerry has agreed to be an auditor again next year but as Ruth is standing for chair, we will seek another auditor.
  • The membership raised no issues with the accounts.

The membership provided ideas for how to spend the surplus in the budget.

  • Rhona Crawford suggested more in person regional events, for example, Stempra in Scotland, North East, North West, etc.
  • Shamim Quadir seconded this idea of extending to the wider network beyond London
  • Ruth Francis suggested extending the offer of travel grants for more events and training.

Nominees for the committee were introduced and given the opportunity to say why they were standing for a position.

  • An anonymous vote was held and members were also given the chance to raise any concerns about unopposed positions.
  • There was no opposition from the membership
  • We welcomed Shane Canning and Ruth Francis as Co-chairs, Ed Day as Treasurer, Paula Geanau as Social Media Coordinator, and Ines Crespo as Events Coordinator.

We announced Alice Henchley as the winner of this year’s award which was welcomed by the membership with may well-deserved congratulations.

Shane Canning closed the event and thanked our wonderful outgoing committee members, Jess Devonport, Angs Kolator Baldwin, Jonathan Cooke, and co-chair Fiona Dennehy. The membership echoed this thanks and appreciation.