All members welcome! There is time to join if you are not yet a member.
The date for this year’s Annual General Meeting is Saturday 17th September, and the location is confirmed at LSHTM (see below).
This year’s Annual General Meeting will take place on Saturday 17th September, 11-12.45 in the Rose Room, LSHTM. The formal proceedings of the AGM – including elections to the Board of Trustees and voting on Motions – will take place in the morning. This will be followed in the afternoon by workshops from 13.30 – 16.30 focusing on the activities of Medact’s Arms & Militarisation group and Refugee Solidarity group. The former will be introduced by Andrew Feinstein, internationally acclaimed author of The Shadow World: Inside the Global Arms Trade; and the latter by Rohan Talbot of Medical Aid for Palestinians, who will discuss their new campaign calling for equal access to aid and protection for Palestinian refugees from Syria.
All Medact members are welcome to attend.
The AGM is the business meeting of Medact and serves three main functions:
- A chance for members to receive an update and ask questions about the last year of Medact’s work and our future plans;
- Elections to the Board of Trustees;
- Voting on motions, e.g. Amendments to the constitution.
The AGM is also a good chance to meet Board members and office staff. All AGM papers (motions and nominations) will be available on-line on this dedicated page. In the past we have sent all papers in the post, but having everything on-line saves us both time and money.
WORKSHOPS (13.30 – 16.30):
The meeting will be followed by workshops, starting with one led by Medact’s Arms & Militarisation group, followed by a workshop led by Medact’s Refugee Solidarity group. Please see below for further details. Come and hear about their exciting work and future plans. All members are welcome!
Health and the International Arms Trade
Delivered by the Medact Arms and Militarisation Group, and introduced by Andrew Feinstein, author of ‘the Shadow World: Inside the Global Arms Trade.’
The Medact Arms and Militarisation group are a new group of Medact members who are developing projects and campaigns that harness the voice of the health community to combat the militarisation of society and illuminate and campaign against the devastating impacts of the international arms trade on health and health systems across the world. This workshop will explore militarisation and the arms trade as drivers of global ill-health. It will also discuss the specific relationship between health workers, arms, militarisation and violent conflict. The arms control group will present their current campaign against the UK’s sale of arms to Saudi Arabia, and discuss upcoming events and new projects into health workers’ conscientious objection to military taxation and to the militarisation of health education, campaigns against the bombing of hospitals and healthcare facilities in war zones, and research into the damage done to Syria’s health systems.
Access to Healthcare Rights in the UK
Delivered by the Medact Refugee Solidarity Group on behalf of Doctors of the World, and introduced by Rohan Talbot from Medical Aid for Palestinians
The Medact Refugee Solidarity group are a new group of Medact members who are working to raise awareness and mobilise the health community to advocate for the rights of forced migrants. Their work stretches across education, advocacy and direct action. At this workshop they will be launching their new Education project in which they will be delivering training from Doctors of the World on access to healthcare rights in universities and workplaces across the UK. They are looking to form a collective of healthcare students and professionals who can deliver this training. No previous experience is required, you simply need to attend a training session – and they will be delivering the first of these in this workshop! At the workshop, you will hear more about the group and their other areas of work. They will then give an overview of the asylum process and immigration statuses, before exploring entitlement to healthcare in the UK, barriers to accessing this healthcare, how to identify victims of trafficking and modern day slavery, and why defending access to healthcare is important. Read more about the groups here.
Date/Time:
Saturday 17th September, from 11:00 until 12:45 (followed by workshops in the afternoon from 13.30 – 16.30. Lunch is not provided but there are many food outlets nearby.)
Location:
The Rose Room – London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (map: https://www.lshtm.ac.uk/aboutus/contact/keppel_st_lower_ground_floor_map.pdf )
Resolutions proposed for Medact Annual General Meeting 17 September 2016
- The AGM agrees to remove Richard Maule as Auditor with effect from 17 September 2016.
- The AGM agrees to appoint Judith Brookfield of Brookfield Accountants, London SW2, as Independent Examiner with effect from 17 September 2016.
- The AGM agrees that approval of the 2015/16 accounts is delegated to the Board of Trustees.
- The AGM agrees that the fixing of the remuneration of the Independent Examiner is delegated to the Board of Trustees.
- The AGM resolves by Special Resolution that the amendments contained in Resolution 6 from the AGM in 2014 be deleted.
(as of 13 September 2016)
Proposed new Trustees
Alice Bell is head of communications at the climate charity, 10:10, with responsibility for media strategy, supporter engagement, profile raising and outreach. Alice previously worked as an academic and writer specialising in the politics of science, technology and medicine. She has degrees in history of science, sociology of education, and science communication. She’s also lectured in science communication at Imperial and set up an interdisciplinary undergraduate course on climate change for the college. She was Head of Public Engagement at Sussex’s Science Policy Research Unit and has taught at UCL and City University’s Journalism School. As a journalist, she’s written for a range of publications including the Guardian, Open Democracy, the Observer, the Times, Times Higher, Research Fortnight, Al Jazeera, China Dialogue, Red Pepper and the Wellcome Trust’s Mosaic magazine. As a student she worked part-time at the Science Museum and, if you ask nicely, will tell you how to set fire to bubbles.
Judy El-Bushra has long-standing experience in development and peacebuilding NGOs, mainly focused on East and Central Africa and the Horn of Africa. Through this work she gained experience in project design and management, training, research and evaluation, as well as grant-related fundraising and strategic and organisational management. Thematically her main interest is in gender and peacebuilding, a subject in which she has been researching, publishing and advising for the last 20 or so years. She was a founder member of the Ammerdown Group of peacebuilding specialists working on a new approach to UK security policy.
Jo Howard is a Solicitor in the Public and Regulatory Law team at Bates Wells Braithwaite, the leading charity law firm in the UK. BWB has led on various legal reforms that have impacted on the whole charitable sector, for example the rewriting of guidance on political campaigning for charities. During her training at BWB, Jo worked with clients ranging from household-name charities to start-ups and advised on a range of matters including governance, membership issues, data protection and charity administration. In her new role, Jo will advise on a range of public and regulatory law matters, such as judicial review, public inquiries and health and social care. Jo has a particular focus on information law, education and healthcare. Jo has previously served as a Trustee of The Squad Club in Merton.
Paul Cotterill trained as a nurse, before specialising in ophthalmics. After work in London and Switzerland he spent several years in Bangladesh, India and Tanzania, primarily with aid agency Concern Worldwide. Returning to the UK in the late 1990s, Paul became involved in urban regeneration and community development work. He lives in Lancashire. He has been a trustee to several charities, including the Lankelly Chase Foundation and has had governance roles in primary and higher education. He is currently Chair of Governors at a secondary school in Skelmersdale, Lancashire. He has also been a magistrate and a Non-Executive Director in the NHS. He still fancies himself as a decent left arm swing bowler, despite being very clearly over the hill. Don’t ever get him on his favourite author, Franz Kafka, or he’ll bore you to tears.
If you wish to submit a motion, or would like to stand for election to the Board, please contact the office by telephone on 0207 324 4739 or email [email protected].