SEB Bulletin October 2006 - News from the SEB Office - Southampton
Over recent months the Southampton SEB Office has been undergoing a lot of change. With one person leaving and two new people arriving, two large conferences and a website update, it is anything but boring.
It is with sadness that we bid goodbye to both Nancy Baines and Mike Lakin. Nancy is leaving to start a new life in York with her husband Phil. Nancy has been not only a fun person to work with but a personal friend and I, and I am sure everyone who has worked with her over the years, wish them both lots of luck in the future.
Mike Lakin finished his contract with the Society as Journals’ Finance Officer in May 2006 and will also be missed, I worked with him for over six years and during that time he was always a calming influence on my more mad-cap schemes.
Nancy has been with the SEB for nearly three years and has worked tirelessly for the benefit of the Society (apart from the three weeks she took off to get married). When Nancy started we had only just settled into our new offices in Southampton after the move from London. We didn't have quite enough furniture and no one knew how to operate the microwave (not that any of us can work it properly now).
Nancy grabbed the bull by the horns, so to speak and got stuck-in to membership administration, the organisation of our Symposia events and administration of the Society. Being a small team (just myself full-time and Mike Lakin part-time on two days per week) it must have been quite a shock for Nancy who had been living in San Diego and working in the Conference Centre after obtaining her PhD from Nottingham. None-the-less, Nancy introduced a number of new membership incentives and a network of Ambassadors to spread the word about the SEB around the world. The first Symposium that Nancy organised was in Capri, I went along in a supervisory capacity (obviously nothing to do with the exotic location) and took a back seat while Nancy excelled at caring for all of the delegates, even so far as adopting one person who was friendless on arrival and making him a 'friend of the SEB' and thus his conference experience a good one.
Since this flying start Nancy has organised the Plant Frontier Symposium in Sheffield (April 2005) and the Eukaryotic Cell Cycle Symposium in Southampton (July 2006) in addition to being an integral part of the team working on the Annual Main Meetings each year.
In 2005 Nancy changed her role within the Society; Kate Steel came on board as our Administrative Assistant and took over membership and Nancy continued organising Symposia but started looking after the finances of the Society with our Treasurer, Martin Watson and Investments Officer, Len Evans. The nice thing is that even though we are sad to see Nancy leave she is doing so on a high note and leaving well ordered finances and happy Symposia Organisers in her wake.
At this stage I would like to welcome our two new members of staff.
Kate has moved into the position of Conference and Society Admin Officer and is now responsible for the organisation of the Symposia, working on other SEB conferences and keeping the Society ticking with all the important behind the scenes stuff that needs doing in order to run a charity and scientific society like the SEB.
Heather Budd has joined the team as Membership and Finance Officer from a background in accounts. She has already found her feet and is looking forward to getting in touch with everyone during renewal time this year. If you have any comments on how the SEB can provide more for members then I know she would love to hear from you -
(h.budd@sebiology.org).
Suzanne Brockhouse has joined us on an 18-month contract as Conference and Editorial Assistant to help Mike Burrell with the expanding publications that the SEB are now supporting and to work with us on our conference team, specifically with reference to the Photosynthesis Congress (PS07) that SEB are organising next year. Suzanne is well equipped to tackle this exciting new position in the Society as she has an intense interest in science communication and has just obtained her PhD from Southampton University. If you are interested in producing a book, have an idea for a journal special issue, or have some feedback on current publications produced by the Society don't hesitate to get in touch with Suzanne (s.brockhouse@sebiology.org).
Chris Trimmer
Senior Executive Officer