Dear Member

You should have by now received your email with your voting details for this year’s AGM. One of the motions this year is to change the membership categories in order to make PSI more inclusive. This is based on feedback from the recent PSI Strategy Meeting, where 39 Directors and Committee Members met to strategize and plan for the future.

The feedback was that our industry and roles are changing and that PSI needs to move with these changes. We therefore plan to make PSI more inclusive and open to new members. We want to become more accessible to both professionals and academics with an interest in the analysis of data within pharmaceuticals, healthcare and/or medical research. This could include: statisticians, statistical programmers, epidemiologists, data analysts, academics and teachers. By ‘analysis of data’ we include:  study design, decision making, interpretation and methodological research/development. Future membership will be based on interest and not on qualifications. It is therefore proposed to remove the requirement for members to hold a degree in a statistical discipline.

Furthermore, PSI is receiving between £120,000 and £130,000 of revenue each year through commercial activities (sponsorship, exhibiting and advertising). To put this in to perspective we raised approximately £58,000 in membership fees in 2016. To enable us to keep our sponsors and recruiters abreast of activities and commercial opportunities in the organization, we have created an Agency option for them. These members will not have access to the membership database, and will have limited benefits.

As such, we are recommending that we change our membership categories to the following categories: 

• Full = Professionals and academics with an interest in the analysis of data in pharmaceuticals, healthcare and/or medical research.
• Honorary = A member who has been granted honorary membership by providing an outstanding contribution to the organization. This honour is provided at the discretion of the Board of Directors.
• Agency = Recruiters with an interest in our area.
• Reduced = Members who have retired, are on maternity leave, or based in a low cost region, together with teachers from schools or sixth form colleges. 
• Student = Members in full-time education with an interest in our area

A few other highlights: 

• The majority of current Ordinary and Affiliate Members will be mapped and become Full members.
• We have also extended the “Reduced rate” to include members who are on maternity leave.
• We have re-introduced the Student membership to enable us to reach potential recruits for the future. The CALC Committee believes that there is great untapped potential here. This membership will be offered Free of charge.
• Membership applications will continue to be vetted to ensure that members meet the criteria above are correctly assigned to the right categories.

This AGM resolution is to change our articles accordingly to reflect the new membership categories. We are also pleased to announce that there are no plans to increase the membership fees for 2018. This will remain at £95 for ‘Full’ Members.

The changes have the full support of the PSI Board, and we hope we can rely on your support.

I will also put this post on to LinkedIn so that we can receive your feedback. Please also feel free to send me your questions directly to nigel.howitt@covance.com.

Kind regards

Nigel Howitt
Vice-Chair

On behalf of the PSI Board