Summary of Q&A for potential new trustees – 25th of October 2024

Information about the Social Research Association (SRA)

The aim of the Social Research Association (SRA) is to promote excellence in research. It is a membership organisation with around 16,000 members working in government, academia, the voluntary sector and research agencies. The SRA carries out a range of activities such as providing training, an annual conference and webinars and publishes a regular newsletter, blogs and a magazine. The SRA has branches in different parts of the UK and is keen for researchers from all backgrounds and stages of their career to be involved. In addition, The SRA provides advice on guidance on ethics and other research matters to the wider social research community. If you want to find out more about the SRA, please visit our website .

?Does the SRA apply for external funding?

The SRA does occasionally apply for external funding, often in collaboration with other partners, but generates most of its income through training, membership and other activities.

?What are the strategic priorities/ future challenges?

The strategic priorities for the coming years are to increase and create a better sense of community among our membership, including having a greater regional presence, to diversify our income streams and to better represent social researchers and their work. All of this is within the wider aims of being an inclusive and welcoming organisation that provides high quality training, events, information and guidance to its members and the social research community.

?What does the role of the trustee involve?

Trustees are responsible for the charity being run effectively in line with its legal and charitable aims and obligations. Being a trustee therefore requires a good understanding of the charity’s aims, the ability to understand accounts and influence strategic decisions as well as being able to support staff in carrying out business as usual. We would not expect any one trustee to have experience in all these areas but look to cover them across the 14 trustees. If you want to read more about being a trustee for the SRA, do read Dan’s blog . He is standing down after six years and has written up his reflections.

?What roles do trustees take within the board?

There are a number of areas that need to be covered by a trustee such as HR and ?governance and we have trustees in working groups linked to key activities such as training, membership, events and ethics guidance as well as other strategic priorities such as regional presence and EDI. The number of trustees involved in any one topic differs depending on the interest of the trustees and the relative importance of a topic.? Some trustees hold more than one role but that is not an expectation. Furthermore, trustees can and do change roles over the course of their time as a trustee of the SRA.?

What is the time commitment required?

The amount of time required varies across the year and the number of roles taken within the board. It is likely to be around half a day a month bringing together the regular board meetings, other events such as the conference and the Annual General Meeting and the roles within the board, which are likely to include meetings.

There may be time when a trustee is not able to commit much or any time to their role for a variety of reasons. This is very understandable given that this is a volunteer role and the trustee board will be happy to accommodate any reductions of involvement.

?What is the interaction between the trustees and staff?

The CEO and operations manager attend and present at the board meetings and work closely with board members on a range of topics. Staff are involved in the working groups in their areas of responsibility, e.g. training, and produce regular updates for the board.

?What transferable skills is the SRA looking for?

A whole range of transferable skills are useful for being a trustee, such as team work, attention to details, strategic thinking and communication. We are looking for applicants across the different stages of their career and fully support professional development as part of being a trustee. As part of this process, each new trustee will be buddied up with one of the existing trustees.

?What is the application process?

The application process consists of the following stages:

1)????? Application

The deadlines for this is the 17th of November 2024 and application is via an online form.

2)????? Sifting and shortlisting

This will take place in the last two weeks of November.

3)????? Interviews

The interviews will take place early December. We will send out the questions in advance of the interview.

4)????? Election at the Annual General Meeting

The AGM takes place on the 29th of January. The new trustees will be formally appointed thereafter and invited to join the next trustee meeting in March.