Geoscientist Online

Sir, Many Fellows will be as surprised as I am to read that the recruitment advertisement in Geoscientist (Geoscientist 25.3, April 2015, p30) for a new Executive Secretary does not specify that the successful applicant will be a professional geologist; only that ‘He/she will have a strong empathy for the membership, very likely with experience and professional credibility or academic credentials in a related field'.

In 1996 the Governance Committee recommended to Council, and Council concurred, that the post of Executive Secretary should be occupied by a professional geologist. These were the grounds for replacing Richard Bateman with Edmund Nickless.  I was an Officer at the time and know what a traumatic experience this was for the Society. The change marked a ‘seismic shift’, as the profile of the Society metamorphosed from ‘ancient academicals’ to ‘professionalising moderns’¹.

The wisdom of the change has been demonstrated over the last 18 years. Furthermore the Chief Executive Officers of our sister societies, the Institute of Physics, the Royal Society of Chemistry and the Society of Biology, are all members/fellows of their respective bodies, some even PhDs (Biology, Physics) and one even a professor (Physics).

Surely the Geological Society of London would exhibit retrograde metamorphism if it did not appoint a professional geologist to the high profile post of Executive Secretary.

Dick Selley

REFERENCE

1. Herries Davies G L  2007: Whatever is under the Earth. Geological Society of London. Bath. 356pp.

Professor David Manning, President, replied:

We would be delighted to appoint a Chartered Geologist to this role, and look forward to receiving applications from those Chartered Geologists who feel qualified to meet the requirements of the position.