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NURSE EDUCATION TODAY Who, what, where. • • Research Director for Rcn THE NEW RCN Research Unit has now got a Director: Barbara Elizabeth Wade, PhD, BEd, SRN, has been appointed Director of the newly created Daphne Heald Research and Development Unit, whose function is to promote the development of nursing as a research- based profession. Dr Wade is currently based at the Department of Social Administration, London School' of Economics, where she is Research Fellow to the DHSS- funded research projecton different care provision for the elderly. She was formerly Research Fellow for a similar research project in care of the elderly at Birmingham University. Dr Wade takes up her new post in February 1982, and her main responsibility will be to identify potential research areas, seek appropriate funding, and design and implement research projects. The new unit is also expected to contribute a research perspective to debates and discussions on issues of major professional interest, as well as to disseminate research findings. The new Director is particularly anxious to ensure widespread publication of research results so that practising nurses become acquainted with the major developments in their field. Dr Wade is quoted as saying: 'It is an honour to be appointed to what is very much a pioneering post. The Unit is unique in that it is attached to the Rcn and will therefore have a very broad base to work from'. She anticipates that her first task will be to familiarise herself with how the Unit should function, and what needs it should fulfil. She sees it as having a very exciting role to play in the move to make nursing a research-based profession. Call for research papers THE RCN RESEARCH SOCIETY is calling for research papers for presentation at its 23rd Annual Conference, to be held from Friday, March 26 to Sunday, March 28 at St Aidan's College, Durham University. Papers relevant to any aspect of nursing will be corisidered, and should be of about 30 minutes' duration. Abstracts of papers should be submitted, on one sheet of A4 paper, as soon as possible, please, to: Rcn Western Area Office, 8 Gay Street, Bath BAI 2PH (Tel: 0225 316553). Dr Barbara Elizabeth Wade New appointment to the UK Central Council MRS PETA ALLAN, who is currently Vice-Principal of the Institute of Advanced Nursing Education of the Ren, has been appointed Principal Professional Officer for Education and Training of the UK Central Council. She will take up her post in January. In this post Mrs Allan will be involved in all aspects of the work of the Central Council arising from its education, training, and research functions, and will work in close' liaison with the appropriate officers of the National Boards. She will also have an important part to play in developing the Council's relationship with relevant institutions withinthe European Community, and internationally. The Central Council will later on appoint a second Principal Professional Officer, to be involved in its work in the spheres of registration and professional conduct. Mrs Allan trained at Pinderfields Hospital, Wakefield, and at the United Norwich Hospitals. She got her Sister Tutor's Diploma in 1968 and held posts as a nurse teacher at University College Hospital, London, and at the United Cambridge Hospitals. She joined the staff of the Suffolk College of Further and Higher Education in 1973, and from 1975 to 1977 was Principal Lecturer in Nursing Studies there. In 1977 she obtained the Diploma in Further Education at Leeds University, and that same year took up her present post with the Ren. She has recently taken an MA degree from Essex University. More news from the Central Council THE COUNCIL decided at its September meeting that members of the public and of the Press should be admitted to meetings from January 1982. By that time the work of several of its working groups will.be at or nearing consultation stage, so it is considered to be the appropriate moment for the Council's discussions of the recommendations made by these groups to be held in public, since the views of the professions will be taken into account at that stage. The first set of proposals to be issued by a working group-the proposed scheme for elections to the National Boards-has been released to the professional organisations, trade unions, and to the Press. The scheme suggests that for each National Board there should be three categories of candidates: nurses, midwives, and health visitors. Each voter would be able to vote in one category only. The Central Council would advertise the election several months before it was due to take place, and anyone eligible to vote would need to notify the Council. The working group favours the single transferable vote system, by which each voter would be sent a ballot paper listing names of candidates standing for election in one category of one National Board. The voter would place the candidates in order of preference, and return the ballot paper. The group's proposals have been sent to a large number of organisations, with a request for comments to be returned by December 31. The Council will only consider the scheme when comments from the professions have been received. Its proposals, when finalised, will be submitted to the Secretary of State for Social Services for approval. It is expected that the first elections will be held in the spring or early summer of 1983. The working group will now considerany matters relating to the election scheme, and the establishment of the newly constituted bodies. News from the NHS Learning Resources Unit THE GOOD NEWS has reached us that the DHSS has agreed to continue funding the NHS Learning Resources Unit in Sheffield until 1986. The grant has in the past been renewed annually, but this 3
