Government Social Research
The GSR New Recruits Conference was held in the historic city of Bath at the beginning of February. Fifty new recruits from across GSR attended, including ten Scottish Executive social researchers. The two day conference was held in a central location which provided a pleasant environment to learn more about GSR.
We were welcomed with coffee and pastry along with our conference pack detailing what was in store for us over the coming days. Networking was a key objective for the conference and this certainly started with the first cup of coffee!
The conference was opened by Sue Duncan enthusiastically welcoming us to the world of GSR and congratulating us on our achievement: becoming government social researchers. Sue's relaxed style put us all at ease and set the tone for the conference.
Intermingled among us were Heads of Profession (HoPs) from across GSR, who were in Bath for a HoPs away-day held in the hotel the day before, and included the new Welsh Chief Researcher who was herself a new recruit.
Following Sue's introduction, we were given an insight into the work of the devolved administrations through presentations from the HoPs from the Scottish Executive, the Welsh Assembly Government and the Northern Ireland Assembly. It was interesting for those from the Scottish Executive to see how devolution has worked in Wales and Northern Ireland and to see the breadth and range of activities undertaken by social researchers across GSR.
The HoPs joined the new recruits for lunch before departing, which meant that we were able speak with them in an informal and relaxed setting. We certainly found them all accessible and approachable - not a grey suit in sight!
After lunch we were asked to draw on our own experiences so far in GSR and these varied with some people only having been in post for a matter of months while others had been in for just over a year. We discussed what it is like being in GSR and what we would like to get out of the conference in small groups and wrote our wishes on small sticky post-it notes and ended up with a flip chart covered in yellow with the notes covering everything from having the chance to network to find out more about the role of GSR.
Rebecca Laffineur then gave us an introduction into the GSR Competency Framework, the recruitment protocol and the introduction of Fast Stream. Her presentation was clear and very informative, giving us a great opportunity to grill Rebecca on the finer points of career development in GSR. This was followed by small breakout sessions with real government social researchers, at various stages of their careers, speaking about their personal career experiences. It was really helpful to hear three completely different and interesting career paths through social research and allowed us to see that there are a number of different ways to progress within GSR.
Our working day finished with an interesting presentation by Phil Davies on the training and continuous professional development opportunities available within GSR. It was motivating to hear about the opportunities available and we all felt very enthusiastic about the training available directly through GSRU.
An informal dinner at the hotel restaurant was followed by a private visit to the Roman Bath House, which was close to the hotel. This was a fantastic opportunity to hear about the history of the baths from local historians and the baths looked amazing in the dark - an excellent added extra.
The second day looked at the practical issues related to getting analysis into policy making and working with both policy colleagues and cross analytically with economists and statisticians. Among others, Siobhan Campbell from GSRU gave an excellent presentation on research they have undertaken into a 'Policy Makers' View of Government Research. One of the key messages I took out of her presentation was to keep things simple and that does not mean not having a large robust research report but to make sure that outputs are appropriate for their purpose - (1-3-25!).
It was then our turn to think about the presentations and apply the principals put forward to a practical research example. In small groups we considered how best to tackle the brief presented to us. It would have been useful to have had more time to discuss but all the groups came up with a variety of different ideas of how to proceed with the project. Indeed many of them matched the actual project that Phil had been involved in developing. However with 6 months to plan, his team had had rather longer to consider the options available than our 45 minutes!
A fire alarm at the hotel on day 2
left us out in the cold
Sue, who had been present throughout the conference, summed up the two days and thanked us all for making the journey to Bath .
Overall, the conference was great and very well organised. The two days were full of relevant presentations that were interesting and informative. There were a number of opportunities for networking but it would have been great to have had more breakout sessions. I would definitely recommend the new recruits conference to others across GSR - you'll learn about issues that are essential for carrying out our role as government social researchers.
Fiona Timpson with help and feedback from the other Scottish Executive delegates, Civic Participation Research Team, The Scottish Executive, February 2006