Minutes of SRN EC Meeting

Monday 18.5.2020 at 10 pm GMT/UTC (via Skype)

Circulation list: Carmen Sofia Brenes (CSB), Rose Ferrell (RF), Alexandra Ksenofontova (AK), Rafael Leal (RL), Margaret McVeigh (MM), Paolo Russo (PR), Rosanne Welch (RW)

Agenda

1. Apologies for absence

AK, MM

2. Minutes of previous EC Meeting for approval

Some minor phrasing/wording and a few typos amended.

Minutes Approved.

Action: PR to send final draft to RL for upload to website

3. Contingency Plan for SRN EC elections in light of COVID-19 (Cont’d from April meeting)

a. Proposal for special Call to Membership (CTM) to outline/consult on the following:

• i. No AGM in 2020
  ii. No EC elections in 2020
  iii. Current EC members’ appointment extended by one year (next 3 up for election in September 2021 when usual rota will resume)
  iv. EC to issue Plan for 2020-21
  v. Next AGM (incl. 2-year Activities Report and Election of new EC) in September 2021 in Oxford

ACTION: PR to draft the CTM text to send to Membership. Will circulate to EC members later this week for approval, aiming to sending it out to Members next week.

This is in accordance to the SRN Constitution, which recommends appropriate consultation of Membership before making significant decisions. The CTM will include the main points of discussion from the April and May 2020 EC meetings and outline the legal framework of the SRN, the Articles of the SRN Constitution that apply to the current situation and any further guidance.

The CTM will outline two options:

1. (recommended by the EC) Postpone AGM and EC elections by one year and mandate of current EC extended accordingly. But constitution requires consulting members before making decision.
2. No AGM in 2020 but virtual elections held in September 2020.

The CTM must explain that Option 2 is not devoid of risks (e.g. secrecy of vote, polling apps, etc.). On RF’s suggestion, the deadline for expressing preferences will be by mid-June, so as to be able to ratify the result by the June meeting of the EC (the last one before the Summer recess). CSB suggests that if members should be able to propose ‘other ways’ provided they give reasoning
for it. If so, the EC will consider their feasibility before final ratification. RF thanks PR for the in-depth research conducted into the matter at hand.

PR advises to use all available outlets to inform members of CTM and related deadline for expressing preference between two options – i.e. mailing list, Facebook page, Newsletter, Website, Twitter. With regards to the extension of the mandate of the current members of the EC, RF asks: should Option 1 go through, what if current members need/choose to step down. The SRN Constitution specify clearly that a minimum of 5 members if needed; therefore, so as long as no more than one current member decides to leave, there is no need the replacing them. In case, two or more did, the plan is to go back to the Membership for an interim election (protocol TBD by the EC).

CSB notifies the EC of her decision to step down from her role in September 2020.

b. Update on COVID-19 emergency and potential timeline back to normality

Unfortunately, the situation is still unfolding and there is too much uncertainty at the moment for a realistic forecast.

ACTION: EC to assess again in September 2020 meeting.

c. Drafting Call for Expressions of Interest in ECR post for 2020-21 (June posting, and deadline for submission)

The Call for EoI’s in the role of ECR will go out in late June, after the last EC meeting. The role will be filled/renewed in September 2020, at the first EC meeting of the new academic year.

ACTION: EC to finalize and issue Call for ECR at/after the June 2020 meeting.

4. Newsletter (MM, RW)

ACTION: MM and RW will put out a call for more news to be included in the June 2020 issue. Suggestion/plan to add a section analysing how the CTM was received. Another suggestion for a section titled “What I’m Watching/What I’m Teaching?” in these difficult times, and how SRN colleagues can share/help each other with example of good practice. RF suggests drafting and posting a Call for diversity in membership to follow up on and keep building on the major strategy about inclusivity initiated by the EC this last year.

5. Website

a. Update on ongoing history(ies) of SRN (RF, CSB, RL)

RF shared a spreadsheet on Google drive to collected information/history about the SRN conferences. This is already getting populated with facts and data – PR and Ian Macdonald have added substantial info. Suggestion/discussion re: RW and/or CSB to figure out how to approach past conference organizers to collect their info/experiences as well. CSB suggests short oral interviews – 5 questions, same for all – which can then be transcribed and slightly edited (if needed).

RW notes this would help create a sort of oral history that can then be posted on the website or bitesize on Facebook. Suggestion to set up a YouTube Channel to post/share this type of content. RL points out this would also allow us to stream the interviews live. PR also thought of implementing new initiatives in a similar way as a proposal in next year’s Action Plan. Given that the AGM is not going to be had this year, RF suggests EC members could record short videos to report on  achievement of last year and to lay out our vision for next year/rest of mandate.

ACTION: EC to discuss this further in next meeting (either June 2020 or September 2020). PR to include in proposals for Action Plan 2020-21 (to be finalized by September 2020)

ACTION: RF and CSB to start contacting other conference organizers for interviews.

b. Ideas for revamping website over Summer/Autumn (All)

PR praises RL for much good work put in updating the website so far. The EC will need to start considering (soon) how to ensure the website stays on once the agreement
with Leeds University hosting it is over – i.e. Summer 2021.

ACTION: PR to contact host contact at Leeds University to check their intention for the future. In case Leeds University won’t host the SRN website any further, the EC will need to consider an
alternative. RL and PR observe WordPress is probably the easiest solution to use but the EC will need to look into costs.

ACTION: EC to discuss as ongoing “urgent” item in 2020-21 academic year. When the above is sorted would be a good time to think about revamping the website design.

6. Social Media (AK, All)

Item postponed to next month.

7. Membership update?

RF reports subscription of 63 new Members since the Porto conference last September, against only 6 leavers. Which brings the total Membership up to 604! RF reports one issue with JISCMail not admitting one request to which the help desk has not responded.

ACTION: RF to try and add member manually.

RF observes that the new, simplified protocol for subscribing to the SRN is working very well, with 100% of new members now filling out the personal information form. RF also reports a broader range of countries now coming in, with most new joiners coming from Asia and South America, which can be taken as a clear sign that the push towards inclusivity of under-represented regions is starting to work.

RW observes that new peer-reviewers of the journal’s special issue are also joining thanks to RF’s
efforts.

ACTION: RF to include all stats about membership in Annual Report (during Summer 2020). PR thanks and praises RF for her work as Membership officer.

8. Any other business

RW suggestion to swap years of the Annual Conferences between Vienna and Missouri is not applicable. Therefore, the schedule for the forthcoming three years remains as is. PR suggest for EC next year to develop long-term strategy to elicit bids for conferences to be held in Asia and Africa in next call for conferences (due out in 2022-23).

Date of next meeting (last before Summer break): Monday 22 June (TBC), 10 pm UTC/GMT (consider DST)

The meeting ends at 11:10 pm.

Minutes of SRN EC Meeting

Monday 20.4.2020 at 10 pm GMT/UTC (via Skype)

Circulation list: Carmen Sofia Brenes (CSB), Rose Ferrell (RF), Alexandra Ksenofontova (AK), Rafael Leal (RL), Margaret McVeigh (MM), Paolo Russo (PR), Rosanne Welch (RW)

Agenda

1. Apologies for absence

All present. RL joins at 10.30.

2. Minutes of previous EC Meeting for approval (All)

Minutes Approved. PR to send final draft to RL for upload to website.

3. Contingency Plan for SRN EC elections in light of COVID-19 (All)

a. AGM

b. Alternative options or postponement to 2021

PR initiate discussion amongst the Executive Council (EC), which will be work in progress with a view to reach a decision by the May meeting so as to notify SRN membership in due course.
According to the SRN Constitution, elections of new EC members requires secret ballot which can only be ensured at the AGM.

The EC considers the feasibility of a “virtual AGM” for elections only. First of all, the elections are not meant to happen as a stand-alone event (i.e. not tied to an AGM). Moreover, a virtual AGM would prove very difficult to set up given that members are scattered all over the world in different time zones and would require some form of membership authentication before anyone could be admitted to vote. Similar issues would arise as well if using online polling tools/apps – these would possibly guarantee secrecy of ballot, but would need a separate system to check eligibility and would not comply with the required presence of impartial scrutineers. The SRN Constitution allows “postal” votes for those who wish to express their votes but cannot attend the AGM; but not as a replacement for the elections per se.

MM and AK point out that, from a strictly legal point of view, a virtual AGM does not equate to an in-person AGM; the same is true for “postal” and “email”. Unfortunately, the SRN Constitution does not include any special arrangements in case of extraordinary circumstances such as the current COVID-19 crisis; at the same time, there is no precedent to base a decision on. This vulnus can be addressed by amending the Constitution but any changes need approval by two thirds of members at an AGM; and therefore, while the SRN might consider adding alternative arrangements in case of any future unforeseen circumstances similar to the current one, this can only be done at the 2021 conference at the soonest, and at the moment these are not viable.

Given the above, it will be down to the EC to make a decision, bearing in mind that the Constitution also states that decisions made by the EC must benefit all members. The most sensible option at the moment seems to issue a Call to Members with a proposal to extend the mandate of the current EC by one extra year (one off, until 2021), including the three members who are due to step down this year (i.e. Carmen Sofia Brenes, Paolo Russo and Margaret McVeigh – pending individual availability) as well as the other three members due to step down in 2021 (i.e. their mandate will extend until September 2022) so as to ensure that the new members elected in 2021 are supported by the extant members with more experience of the roles and duties. This would ensure continuity for all the initiatives developed by the EC these past few months, whose visions and future plans (which were due to be reported at the SRN2020 Oxford conference) can be duly actualized. The EC would keep expanding membership, especially by promoting the SRN in underrepresented regions; revamp the website; draft proposed changes to the Constitution to be put to Membership in 2021.

ACTION – PR and All to draft Call to Membership for EC approval in May meeting before sending out to Membership. Point raised by AK, to which PR confirms that the Early Career Representative (ECR) is an exception to the above as it is not voted in by members but rather chosen and co-opted by the EC.

ACTION – EC to put out Call for Nomination for new ECR by June meeting (min. 60 days before deadline). Nominations to be collected over the Summer; decision to be made by EC in September.

4. Newsletter and social media updates (MM, RW, AK)

a. Updates on skipped March issue of newsletter and Facebook posts

b. Planning June issue of newsletter

PR and AK have planned the move of March news items to the Facebook page. MM wonders whether this would make the newsletter redundant but the general consensus is that the newsletter and Facebook complement each other rather than overlap.

In general, with regards to news items, we should keep using Facebook to tease members to read the full items in the newsletter. Moreover, even though some content will have been released on Facebook in April and May, nothing prevents us from including it in the June Newsletter for reference anyway. It is also noted that the Newsletter is then archived on the website and remains always accessible, not just at the time of the issue’s original release.

On the other hand, the Facebook address can also be a useful port of call for new members, especially from underrepresented regions who can find and connect with colleagues who have similar research interests.

The EC notes that – without the usual lead-up to annual conference – the Facebook page might not be as lively in the upcoming Summer months. MM suggests using it to share stories of transferring teaching online (and more) that most colleagues will be experiencing at this time.

RF congratulates AK on her excellent work on the Facebook page! AK thanks everyone for sourcing content for the Facebook posts.

5. Future conference dates (RW, All)

RW raises some uncertainty over the 2023 slotting of the Missouri conference due to the now much later date further into the future and her contractual position with Stephens College. She therefore wonders whether she could swap with the Vienna conference in 2022. The EC cannot make such a decision and advises RW to contact the Vienna organizer (Claus Tieber) directly. Should he agree on the swap, the EC would second the new plan.

6. Any other business

RF proposes to create content on the history of the SRN to put on the website.

The Facebook page can be used to attract contributions/stories from members and conference organizers that can then be collated and uploaded onto the website. All agree this is a good idea and PR notes this should/could be an ongoing task – not just one point in time – with the new website section kept open for any future contribution.

To this purpose, RL has prepared a shared folder in Google Drive that can be further customized and used as a template/work-in-progress document for members to add content. PR has lots of useful information about past conferences that he can share.

CSB offers to help RF with this ongoing project.

Date of next meeting: Monday 18 May, 10 pm UTC/GMT (consider DST)
Confirmed.

Meeting ends at 11.12 pm

Minutes of SRN EC Meeting

Monday 16.3.2020 at 9 pm GMT/UTC (via Skype)

Circulation list: Carmen Sofia Brenes (CSB), Rose Ferrell (RF), Alexandra Ksenofontova (AK),
Rafael Leal (RL), Margaret McVeigh (MM), Paolo Russo (PR), Rosanne Welch (RW)

Agenda

1. Apologies for absence

• MM

2. Minutes of previous EC Meeting for approval

• Minutes Approved. PR to send final draft to RL for upload to website.
• Note: the agenda for the March meeting was modified in order to priorities decision re: SNR2020 in light of the COVID-19 emergency; PR has circulated a memo outlining possible scenarios and implications prior to the meeting (attached here for reference).

3. Contingency Plan for SRN2020 in light of COVID-19, and

4. SRN2020 Oxford Conference update (PR)

• The EC agrees that given the circumstances SRN2020 can no longer be held in September 2020 and therefore postponement options are to be discussed. Given the exceptionality of the situation, there is no precedent to rely on; which means that the decision made by the EC will set such precedent although, hopefully, never to be needed again in the future. AK praises the level of detail outlined in the memo and suggests September 2021 as the best option. RW considers whether the EC should survey the membership about this. CB points out that the EC chooses the locales and dates without asking for a group vote from membership and therefore this too is a decision that pertains the EC.
• The EC agrees that, should the conference be postponed by only a few months (i.e. January 2021), this would impact the Vienna conference negatively. Also, RL notes that if the pandemic is not over by the Summer we would have to postpone again anyway, leading to even more complications. Moreover, Claus Tieber having offered to move Vienna to 2022, and RW and RL agreeing to do the same for their conferences in 2023 and 2024, the EC agrees that postponing by one year to September 2021 is the best option (note: MM was consulted after the meeting and agreed as well). PR thanks CT, RW and RL for their help and availability.
• PR thinks postponing to September 2021 should be feasible in terms of practicalities. Shortlisted delegates will be accepted for 2021 automatically, as long as they are still willing to attend. PR also assures that any PhD students who might become faculty or change their status in the meantime will still access discounted registration fee, although their access to travel and budget arrangements at their institutions may change by next year. PR will have to look into and iron out some financial concerns as a result of postponing – e.g. non-refundable deposit for the booking of the conference dinner, extension of website subscription fee for another year. AK asks for details re: the course of action if postponing by one year, what questions will come from the membership, and what issues need to clear with Oxford-Brookes.
• ACTION: PR will email membership tomorrow with the EC’s decision and will deal internally re: all logistical issues at Oxford Brookes. Registration will be suspended and any payments made reimbursed. Once the September 2021 date can be fully confirmed, PR will set up the registration system and the website again. The information will then be posted on Facebook, on the SRN2020 website and on the SRN official website as well.
• CB points out that since the responsibility for the decision ultimately lies with the EC, should anyone not be happy with it they can speak directly to the EC. RF wonders whether the postponement will cause issues/problems to the organizing committee of SRN2020. PR replies that, since a lot of work had already been put into it, the committee will simply have to pause preparation for now, then resume whenever possible. Anyone whose proposal had been accepted will roll over – those who can’t attend in 2021 will open it up to others and a new CfP can be posted in the Autumn of 2020 if needed. PR informs that, so far about 15 delegates had already registered and 3 already informed they could not come at all due to the pandemic.
• SRN Awards: the prize money being funded by Oxford Brookes and the award ceremony being held during the AGM, the awards will be pushed to 2021 and nominations will cover a two-year time span. PR has liaised with the Jury members who agreed on this change. PR has also tried external funding/sponsors for the prize money but no luck so far.
• ACTION: The newsletter and Facebook page should inform the members that the Awards will skip a year.
• AGM and EC Elections in 2020: the question is raised about whether there can be elections without an in presentia AGM in 2020. Can elections be held online or should the current EC serve for another year ex officio? RL observes that Google just opened a platform for conference: could we use that to call a virtual AGM and hold the elections this way?
• ACTION: to be discussed in the April meeting and that the platform could be tested before making a decision. If, eventually, the current EC members are to serve an additional year, the EC could seek Ian MacDonald’s advice about how to formally action this extension.
• ACTION – PR to double check the SRN statute by the April meeting. Should this be the case, the EC could use the extra year to focus more systematically on the plan to reach out to underrepresented regions (as per RF’s memo).

5. Any other business

• AK informs that German colleagues including CT are planning to go ahead with a local German event in Hanover in November 2020 (expected attendance: 40 delegates). Anyone who speaks German can think of attending: the CfP will be posted by end of April to see how people react. Two diverging opinions emerged among the organizers: is it the right or wrong time to call for abstracts? And does everyone presume that by November this pandemic will be over?

Date of next meeting: Monday 20 April (TBC), 10 pm UTC/GMT (consider DST)

The meeting ended at 10:05 pm

Minutes of SRN EC Meeting

Monday 27.1.2020 at 9 pm GMT/UTC (via Skype)

Circulation list: Carmen Sofia Brenes (CSB), Rose Ferrell (RF), Alexandra Ksenofontova (AK),
Rafael Leal (RL), Margaret McVeigh (MM), Paolo Russo (PR), Rosanne Welch (RW)

Agenda

1. Apologies for absence

RW and MM.

2. Minutes of previous EC Meeting for approval

• Minutes Approved. PR to send final draft to RL for upload to website.
• Note: the date of the January meeting was postponed to today (27th) from the date scheduled originally (20th) due to availability of most EC members.

3. Membership: quarterly update

• RF reports healthy numbers and steady increase in the number of new members since last September with only a few members having signed off the network. Currently, membership
  stands at around 590.
• RF suggests to establish stronger contacts with other networks in underrepresented regions – e.g. India (where she has a good contact) or Singapore, both English-speaking countries and therefore potentially good places to start with. The EC agrees this is a good idea.
• ACTION – RF to proceed.
• RF also points out that the procedure/protocol to join the SRN seems to be confusing for some people, due to the double-step process (i.e. joining the JISCMail mailing list and filling in the
  registration form separately). RF suggests to simplify instructions on the website as follows: 1) Keep only the link to JISCMail on the website; 2) As soon as a new member joins, RF receives a
  notification anyway; 3) At that point, RF follows up by welcoming the new members and invites them to fill in the form via email, which also makes the process more “personal”. The EC agrees this is a good idea.
• ACTION – PR and RL to update the relevant section on the website.

4. News/update re:

a. SRN2020 Oxford Conference (PR)

• PR reports that the shortlisting process should be completed by the end of this week (31 January) at which point he will notify all delegates via email. Although numbers are not final yet, SRN2020 has received 124 submissions, 112 papers have been shortlisted, with 120+ delegates from 36 countries from all continents (including some new countries: e.g. Paraguay, Arab Emirates, Bangladesh, Georgia, Greece, Estonia, Mexico, South Africa). PR also reports that the keynotes should hopefully be secured and confirmed soon.
• ACTION: PR to send JISCMAIL update to all members re: shortlisted papers before individual notifications are sent out + another update on keynotes as soon as available.
• ACTION: AK to post updates of the above (i.e. shortlisting and keynotes) on FB as soon as available.

b. Newsletter

• This item was postponed to the February meeting.

c. Website

• RL confirms that a plugin has been added to the website which automatizes Newsletter alerts. This is now ready to be tested with the next issue.
• Google Analytics has also been installed and RL has emailed some interesting data about the users of the website in the past few months. He will keep checking every few months, so we can
  have an overview by the end of the academic year.
• ACTION: The SARP section should be nested under Resources, to make room for the upcoming SRN Awards section.
• ACTION: Also under Resources, RL will add a section for “Local Initiatives” as per discussion in the December meeting. In order to start populating it: 1) AK will send one short para re: the German network plus link to website, which can then be used as a (flexible) template; 2) RL will then contact John Finnegan asking him to write a similar paragraph re: his initiatives.

d. Social media

• Facebook page: PR has sent past membership statistics those to AK who posted them.
• AK also shared her posting schedule for the upcoming weeks. The EC commends AK for her excellent work on the SRN Facebook page which shows some really good stats, with interactions
  growing from previous months.
• ACTION (linked to 4a): PR to send AK some stats about SRN2020 once the shortlisting is complete.
• ACTION (for future months’ meetings): when the EC posts the Call for nominations for the next election round, it would be good to include a description of the role of the ECR so as to attract
  interest for next year’s nominees to replace AK. AK can also suggest names of potential ECRs.
• The Twitter account has been revived. The EC acknowledges that it will become more useful when SRN2020 will be approaching and that for now, it can be used to retweet basic info about
  FB postings and similar.

5. SRN Awards (PR, All)

• PR reports he has contacted and liaised with the new Jury members with the suggestion of adding Book chapters from edited volumes as a new award category and to set up a subcommittee who
  could screen submissions to avoid excessive workload for the jurors. All three Jurors welcomed the idea but agreed to include the book chapters in the same category as journal articles. The EC agrees.
• Also, the Jurors don’t think a subcommittee is necessary as they envisage that the book chapters should not add too much work; moreover, they’d prefer to assess the submissions as they are sent in to them, whereas with a subcommittee in place they should wait until the deadline and until the initial screening process is completed. The EC welcomes the suggestion and decides to keep the idea of the subcommitte only as a backup in case the submissions do eventually end up being too many in number, and following consultation with the Jury anyway.
• The Jurors also confirmed that they did not use a specific template or rubric to guide last year’s proceedings. Instead, they designed a spreadsheet used by each jury member to vote the quality of each publication (1-5), then tallied up the votes to determine the winners. They confirm they are happy to do the same this year too.
• The Jurors also agreed that the website should contain clear information and a Call for submissions.
• All Jurors gave expressed permission to provide their contact details for submissions.
• Finally, the Jurors agreed to revise the yearly time frame (and related deadline) for acceptable publications to 1 June/31 May to better accommodate their other commitments.
• ACTION – PR to draft text with info about SRN Awards, categories, submission protocol, jurors’ email and mail addresses, and revised deadline. This will be run by the Jury first, and then sent to RL for upload on the website. Once this is done, AK will publicize the Call on the FB page. This should be done within a couple of weeks.

6. Suggested items for February EC meeting

• a. Diversity and awareness
  b. Address membership in underrepresented regions
  c. Initiatives in specific regions (visibility, liaising, etc.)
  d. Elections: Call for nominations
• Approved.

7. Any other business

• There was no other business.

Date of next meeting: Monday 17 February, 9 pm UTC/GMT
Confirmed.
The meeting ended at 9:48 pm