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Research Board (RB)

Martin Conway (Chair, Research Board)

The Research Board is responsible for the promotion, the advancement and the diffusion of a knowledge of psychology pure and applied, and to encourage new developments in psychological science and its applications. Its newly launched webpages provide full details of the areas of activity under its remit, together with additional resources and useful information.

In furtherance of these responsibilities, a number of significant new developments were taken forward by the Board this year. Firstly and most notably, the Board ran the inaugural year of the Undergraduate Research Assistantship scheme. 52 applications were received and 8 were funded, including research on:

• Adult age differences in the perception of emotions
• Investigating regulatory depletion using clinically relevant emotion regulation techniques
• Does producing a congruent gesture facilitate object recognition and naming?
• The development of argument skills
• An analysis of early reading failure in European orthographies
• Characterising working memory functioning in individuals with Williams syndrome
• Judgements of learning as indicators of metacognitive awareness: the role of lexical features
• An investigation of gender stereotyping using ERP measures

An additional Assistantship was also funded under the aegis of the Standing Advisory Committee on the Welfare of Animals in Psychology Vacation Scholarship Award on Surveying public representations of zoo animals' psychological and behavioural capabilities.

The Board is also developing a Virtual Postdoctoral Network to provide support and resources specifically targeted at postdoctoral researchers and new lecturers. This initiative has resulted directly from the Survey of Postdoctoral Researchers and Final Year PhD Students which was published by the Board last year.

At its meeting in June, the Board received a presentation from the Chief Executive of the Economic and Social Research Council (ESCR). Professor Ian Diamond led a discussion with members of the Board regarding the ESRC’s funding of psychology and potential forthcoming opportunities. Of particular significance was the encouragement for the Board to develop a proposal to evaluate the impact of psychological research in the UK, for funding by the ESRC. This proposal is now being taken forward by a sub-set of the Board.

The Board continues to be proactive in providing guidance and support to both the general public, members, and other professionals through the production of evidence-based guidance documents. A number of these initiatives are carried out jointly with the Professional Practice Board allowing for the important link between science and practice to be explicitly acknowledged in the material that is produced. Sincere thanks are due to all of those that have been involved in this crucial work of the Board. Without their input and expertise, it would be impossible to produce well-informed and timely documentation. Of particular significance this year, revised guidelines for Psychologists Working as Expert Witnesses (England and Wales) were published, with additional revised guidance for Scotland to follow in the new year. Guidelines for Ethical Practice in Psychological Research Online were also published early in year. These provide detailed advice for psychologists undertaking internet-mediated research. Both reports are available to download.

Current active Working Parties are producing documentation on Ethical Guidelines for Psychological Research, Memory and the Law, and the Usage of the Penile Plethysmograph. The Working Party on Ethical Guidelines for Psychological Research (joint with the Ethics Committee) is undertaking the rather complex task of revising and amalgamating a number of existing supplementary guidance documents relating to conducting research. These include those relating to human participants and conducting research within the NHS; together with the minimum standards of best practice for ethics approval). The revisions will be based around four principles: respect for the autonomy and dignity of persons; scientific value; social responsibility; and maximising benefit and minimising harm. The Working Party on Memory and the Law is producing a set of guidelines for the courts and other related legal professionals on how memory evidence should be appropriately regarded in court. The Guide will be published in Spring 2008, and it is intended to hold a launch event with relevant and influential parties invited to attend. We have been particularly fortunate to have two active QCs and a barrister serving on this Working Party, which has provided invaluable practical insights into the interpretation and treatment of memory evidence within the courtroom. And finally, the Working Party that is revising guidelines on the Usage of the Penile Plethysmograph is updating and revising guidelines for practitioners utilising this assessment tool.

At the invitation of the ESRC, the Board has convened a sub-group to identify the problems/tensions caused for psychology students and for postgraduate coordinators (or similar) from having various different means of accrediting MSc courses (such as the Society and the main Research Councils). This system means that the Society's accredited MSc's have become a means of preparing students for a practitioner career, whilst the ESRC accredited courses prepare students for a PhD/Research/Academic career - which may be something that the Society and the ESRC needs to think about. Practical suggestions for how this might be appropriately addressed will be proposed. It is envisaged that, following the initial review, further work will be undertaken jointly with the Membership and Qualifications Board.

Following early contacts in the year with the Higher Education Funding Council for England regarding the potential treatment of psychology in future research assessment, the Board will closely be monitoring the development of the new Research Excellence Framework and will respond to the first consultation phase early in 2008. The exact treatment of psychology is unclear at this stage - with the exception of the exclusion of all of the discipline except clinical psychology as a 'scientific discipline'. We anxiously await further developments.

The Board continues to support scientific activities through its numerous grant schemes. Research Seminars were supported on the following topics:

• Arts and Health: Psycho-social perspectives on arts for well-being and social inclusion
• South West Memory Group - Bridging research and practice
• Individual self, relational self and collective self

Postgraduate Study Visits were also supported for visits to:

• University of California, San Diego, USA
• University of Auckland, New Zealand
• Institut National de la Sante et de la Recherche Medicale (INSERM), France
• Trinity College Dublin, Republic of Ireland

Scientific excellence is also recognised at different career stages.

• Presidents Award for Outstanding Contributions to Psychological Knowledge: Professor Susan Gathercole
• Spearman Medal: Dr Chris Chambers
• Award for Outstanding Doctoral Research Contributions: Dr Katie Slocombe
• Book Award: Dr Andy Field for Discovering Statistics Using SPSS

For further details on any of the award or grant schemes, please visit the Research Board Awards, Grants and Lectures webpages.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank most sincerely all members of the Board for their valuable contributions during the year. Particular thanks are also due to Liz Beech and Dr Lisa Morrison Coulthard for their advisory and administrative support; ensuring that the business of the Board and new initiatives are dealt with effectively and efficiently.