- SCASS arranges annual Public
Conferences on the key issues of the moment. Speakers are chosen to
represent all sides of a question, to explain policies and to answer
questions. Our consistent aim has been to explore how opinions and policy-making
are moving, before final decisions are taken, so that SCASS and its
members can present informed views to the right bodies, with a chance
of making a real difference. Speakers at past conferences have included,
for example, the Chairman and Chief Executive of the major funding bodies
(UGC, HEFCE, British Academy, ESRC): Sir Peter Swinnerton-Dyer, Professor
Graeme Davies, Dr Anthony Kenny, Professor Howard Newby, Professor John
Laver, Professor Ronald Amman, Professor Brian Fender and Lord Dearing.
- The SCASS Steering Committee
meets regularly to review current developments, to receive suggestions,
and to organise action. Representatives are sent to lobby peers, MPs
and Ministers, or to put a case to the Funding Councils or the Department
for Education and Employment. Officers keep in close touch with the
Press to make sure that members' views are widely known. In the run-up
to the periodic Research Assessment Exercises, SCASS provides a forum
for Subject Associations to coordinate their responses, and for 1996
it helped secure an extended timescale and fuller recognition of what
constitutes Arts research.
- ScotSCASS and SCASS Cymru
undertake a similar range of activities in Scotland and Wales respectively..
- A free Newsletter is circulated
to all affiliated bodies to keep members aware of what the Committee
is doing. Occasional reports, surveys and pamphlets provide in-depth
analyses on important issues.
- The Annual General Meeting provides a regular opportunity for members to review the Committee's activities and to formulate new policy directions.
