BISA at 50: Reflections and perspectives - From small acorns grow large postgraduate networks!

As part of the BISA at 50 reflections and perspectives article series, founding Postgraduate Network (PGN) Chair James A Malcolm reflects on the set up and beginnings of the Network.

When I was told that the BISA PGN currently has over 600 members, I was taken aback. When the network was launched in 2009, I am not sure any of the founding committee would have envisaged such growth and that the PGN would have such a positive, sustained impact on supporting postgraduate researchers. Nevertheless, given this success and the sector’s love for evidencing impact in all its forms, it would be remiss of me not to grab on to the coat tails of this success and say, I was there at the start!

In 2008, I joined the BISA Executive Committee as the Postgraduate Representative. I would like to claim that I wowed the Association’s membership with my manifesto for positive change and stormed to electoral victory. In truth, I was asked to take on the role by the BISA Chair due to a lack of other candidates. I won a race of one…which, on reflection, wasn’t even a race. For the first twelve months in post, I was struck by the exciting work that BISA was doing. My fellow executive members were passionate about supporting the discipline and keen to support early-career colleagues, yet the means of providing that voice was insufficient. I was increasingly of the view that to make a step change in support for postgraduates we needed to have a mechanism to capture the diverse views of that community, with a more formal structure, underpinned with a budget allocation. The BISA executive agreed and asked me to get to work.

The first task was to determine how the PGN would operate. I knew we needed a committee structure to better reflect the breadth of postgraduate experience, to capture fresh ideas and share the workload. As a constitutional geek, I was rather excited to draft up a PGN governing document outlining the function of the network, establishing committee roles, and the electoral system. The BISA executive kindly allocated the PGN an initial budget. Now, we just had to see if any postgraduates would want to get involved! Fortunately, they did. In the first year of operation the new PGN committee were full of creative ideas to support postgraduates. Two immediately spring to mind. We established the first ‘Meet the editors’ scheme where selected postgraduate members could have their draft journal articles reviewed by leading scholars. We also set up a postgraduate event fund, where BISA postgrads could apply for financial support to set up their own seminars and conferences, giving them project management experience. The PGN had arrived.

Jumping forwards, as the PGN heads into its 17th year of operation, its normalcy as part of the BISA architecture is testament to its enduring strength and importance. While the BISA executive’s consistent support for the PGN has created the space for it to operate, at its heart the PGN has continued to thrive because of the commitment and ideas of its members. From those first PGN committee members who volunteered for a network with little more than a constitutional document to its name, I have seen from afar the way that successive PGN committees have expanded the range of activities delivered, including the excellent BISA PGN conferences. The PGN also continues to play an essential role in representing postgraduate interests, particularly important in these challenging times for the HE sector. As an Association, BISA is undoubtedly stronger for having its postgraduate network. From that small acorn planted in 2009, a mighty oak has grown.

Author

Dr James A Malcolm is Director of Postgraduate Research, Assistant Professor and Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy at Coventry University. James was the founding Chair of the BISA Postgraduate Network. Find out more about him via his University profile.