Advancement of the Professions Committee

Members

• Ian Battersby - Lead for Inclusive Leadership 
• Mrs Angharad Belcher - RCVS Director of the Advancement of the Professions
• Ms Amanda Boag FRVCS - Chair of Board of Trustees, RCVS Knowledge (Observer)
• Mr John Mark Castle - RCVS Lay Council member
• Dr Niall Connell FRCVS - Chair of RCVS Fellowship Board
• Miss Lauren Hargrave - VN Vision representative 
• Prof Matthew D Jones - Lead for Environment & Sustainability
• Dr Zara Kennedy - Chair of the Advancement of the Professions Committee, Chair of Mind Matters Initiative
• Ms Lizzie Lockett - RCVS CEO & Vet Futures Project Board
• Prof Tim Parkin - Lead for Global Development 
• Bethan Pinhey RVN - VN Council member 
• Dr Lara Wilson MRCVS - RCVS Council member

Contact

Terms of reference

The Advancement of the Professions Committee will oversee work that is non-statutory in nature and contributes broadly to the advancement of the veterinary and/or veterinary nursing professions.

Such activity includes, but is not limited to, leadership, innovation, mental health (Mind Matters), the Fellowship, international strategy, Vet Futures, VN Futures, diversity and inclusion, sustainability and other workstreams to be defined by Council.

This will exclude work that is non-statutory but sufficiently covered by existing standing committees, such as postgraduate education.

The Committee shall comprise the chairs of relevant working parties or taskforces, or appropriate Council member champions, together with up to four other members of Council (chair, lay member, veterinary surgeon, veterinary nurse), together with relevant members of the Senior Team. Other Committee members may be co-opted if necessary. RCVS Knowledge, an independent charity, will contribute by means of its Chair of Trustees, who will be an invited observer. Although they each have responsibility for individual projects or areas of work, Committee members will review and input across all areas, with collective responsibility.

The Committee shall:

1. Take regular reports from the leads on these areas of work and consider the ongoing effectiveness of the work against agreed strategy, timing and resourcing, making recommendations for changes, where appropriate. Consider any additional budgetary impact of these workstreams, which would then be escalated via the Financial Controls process;
2. Ensure that potential synergies between the various projects and initiatives reporting into the Committee are identified and exploited, and that opportunities for working collaboratively to maximise the impact of workstreams is explore