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PSA TRUSTEE REFLECTIONS: Amelia Hadfield and Roula Nezi, University of Surrey
The PSA is seeking two new trustees to join the Executive Committee, particularly welcoming nominations from women academics.
This is a reflective conversation between Amelia Hadfield, Head of Politics, and Roula Nezi, Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) in Political Science, from the University of Surrey about their time as PSA trustees.
AMELIA: Roula, you and I have both been PSA Trustees for nearly three years now. As we near the end of our appointed time, I’d like to reflect on the rationale behind our decision to stand as a PSA Trustee, and some of the experiences that this has afforded us. For me, I was keen to undertake a set-term, sitting simultaneously on the executive committee of a leading academic association within my discipline of Politics, as well as having the opportunity to act as a Trustee. To my mind, Trusteeship implies a level of individual responsibility within a wider overall collective, essentially one of custodian, but also a representative. Within the PSA, executive members undertake duties within a ‘portfolio’, which I rather liked, because it gathers together a range of activities within a given area. For obvious reasons, I was naturally attracted to the International portfolio. PSA trustees also have responsibilities for scrutinising the governance and finances of the organisation, in tandem with their executive committee counterparts, and PSA officers.
ROULA: In my concluding months as a PSA trustee, I had the chance to reflect on the valuable lessons learned over the past three years. A key focus of mine during this period has been to encourage increased involvement from women and young scholars in PSA activities and supporting them to engage with trustee roles and the broader spectrum of PSA initiatives.
AMELIA: What where some of the challenges that faced you as a PSA Trustee?
ROULA: My election as PSA Trustee came only a year after entering UK Higher Education and it coincide with the turbulent period of the pandemic. It took several months until I finally met my colleagues in person at the annual conference in York. But while the pandemic challenged us all, for me it was also the period when I was trying to understand what the role of PSA trustee takes, and this only become possible with the support of the other trustees who build a supportive environment allowing me to take the initiate, find confidence, and have enough in the tank to do justice to my role. As a PSA trustee I was lucky enough to work with colleagues from a wide range of academic institutions and with people from every stage of their career and most importantly to understand the diverse challenges we all face. PSA’s strong leadership taught me how to address and navigate all unforeseen challenges and within the past three years I learned how important the role is and how many opportunities it offers to shape the future of our discipline.
AMELIA: I agree. I’ve particularly enjoyed the ability to meet counterparts from across UK Schools and Departments of Politics, all of whom are dedicated to promoting, advocating and supporting the incredible work of academics as pedagogues, researchers, activists, trainers advocates and critical thinkers. I enjoy the range of universities, skills and interests represented on the executive, the different approaches to Trusteeship, and the varying perspectives on the core business of the PSA itself.
ROULA: As a trustee I devoted most of my time on developing and supporting the Diverse Voices scheme, a new initiative supporting black and minority ethnic scholars currently undertaking PhD study or doing research in politics and international relations. It has been a great pleasure to work with each one of the scholars - have learned so much from them!
AMELIA: You’ve done first-rate work in establishing and sustaining the Diverse Voices group: it was much-needed within the structures of PSA, and its perspectives and intra-group expertise really needs to be actively drawn upon now and in the future by current and incoming Trustees, in my view. I’ve enjoyed working on the International portfolio; this is quite a wide-ranging area of assessing the emerging overall international approach for PSA itself, based on specific approaches to preferred international counterpart groups by its Specialist Groups, and the representative of PSA itself on key international groups including ASPA and IPSA. The latter are key forums by which the UK-specific value-added of PSA can be recognised by its global associations, encouraging other groups in other countries to take note of PSA work, conferences, events and activities, and indeed engage in them collaboratively. Ongoing work is pretty considerable, and that is to identify from across the Specialist Groups who their current and ideal partners would be: whether disciplinary, activity-specific, geographically determined, or otherwise. That in turn then needs to inform the critical mass of PSA as a whole, in terms of its perception of itself, relative to its sister groups, internationally.
ROULA AND AMELIA: Final thoughts? As we transition from our roles as PSA Trustees, we wish to express our gratitude to our colleagues, PSA’s staff team, and the Diverse Voices and International portfolio scholars. Roula will continue to contribute actively to PSA’s EDI group, and Amelia to support all things international, and we both leave with a profound appreciation for the support and strengths that PSA has to offer.