INTERVIEWS, THEATRE & ESRC SEMINAR SERIES

The last few days of the penultimate week of a cold and blustery February were, once again, eventful and marked by two important events that together bore witness to the progress of the Centre for Sustainable Working Life. The first was an Interview Panel for a Researcher position within the Centre and the second was the first Development Meeting for the Centre’s ERSC Seminar Series project on Cancer and Employment: Social Science Perspectives. In between, to relax, Sue and I went to see The Commitments at the Palace Theatre London.

Just after the Xmas and New Year break, the Centre advertised on-line for a new position as a Researcher in Occupational Health Psychology and received over 40 applications from which, after great consideration, a short list of 5 candidates was agreed. I chaired the Short Listing Panel which was also attended by Professor Philip Dewe and Dr Juliet Hassard. The subsequent interviews were held in the College in Gordon Square, Bloomsbury. I chaired the Selection Panel which was also attended by Dr Juliet Hassard and Catherine Griffiths. All 5 candidates did well at interview and the Panel  has been faced with a difficult choice. Its decision will be announced this week (w/k beginning 23rd February).

The day after the Selection Panel, the first Development Meeting of the Centre’s ESRC Seminar Series project was held in the College in Russell Square, Bloomsbury. The Meeting, co-chaired by Professor Tom Cox and Dr Sara MacLennan, was effectively a meeting of the Steering Group which will oversee, reflect on, discuss and develop the Discussion Seminars. The Steering Group is multi-disciplinary across the social and related sciences, and currently numbers some 22 members. 13 attended its first meeting with 2 more joining by teleconference. During the morning session, the meeting reviewed the current planning for the Discussion Seminars, identified and discussed key points of their management. The subsequent afternoon session was a lively discussion of the current landscape for cancer and employment stimulated by 3 short presentations covering the individual perspective (the person diagnosed with cancer) (Dr Sara MacLennan), the organisational perspective (Professor Tom Cox) and the economic and labour market perspectives (remotely by Dr Heather Brown). The meeting provided an excellent start for the Development Seminars both in terms of team building and substantive content.

During the evening between the Interview Panel and the ESRC Seminar Series meeting, Sue and I went to the Palace Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue, London, to see The Commitments ~ a musical based on the book by Roddy Doyle and film by the same name. It was an excellent production and one to be recommended especially for those who love soul and rock and roll in an Irish (Dublin Southside) context. The musical merged seamlessly into a concert of roll and roll favourites which brought the audience to its feet. Purely by chance, we sat next to an Israeli Sports Journalist who had been in the UK to cover a Liverpool match and who was taking some R & R before returning to Tel Aviv: an interesting conversation during the Interlude.
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