Volunteers Required |
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Volunteers Required |
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The UK Chapter of INCOSE has some great plans for 2003 and beyond. Our membership has soared to 350 and we are rapidly becoming the first point of contact for both individuals and organisations who are interested in Systems Engineering. |
| This success has increased the demands for support and involvement, and this has in turn created many opportunities for those interested in helping us become even more successful. Organising events, publishing Newsletters, planning and maintaining relationships with other organisations all rely on volunteer support . |
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| Why do people volunteer do things for INCOSE? There are as many answers as there are volunteers, but here are just a few: | |
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| Whilst it is sometimes necessary to hold face to face meetings, much of the work that has to be done can take place at your PC or phone. INCOSE as a whole is making significant use of Internet group-working tools, and we are intending to increase their use within the UK Chapter. You could also get together with other members in your locality to tackle a particular issue. The emphasis from now on is to be on activities rather than committee meetings. |
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See
below
for a current list of planned activities. If you think that INCOSE should be doing something else then let us know. We can publicise it to find other like-minded people within INCOSE to join in.
Get started right away by contacting us and telling us your preferred activity: |
Contact:
Pete Lister (UK Chapter President) |
John Mead (UK Chapter Administrator) |
INCOSE UK holds two national events each year, as well as supporting events by otherorganisations. Event planning will exercise both your technical an planning skills. Aninteresting theme has to be worked into an attractive event structure, and then suitablespeakers have to be selected. This is either by invitation or through a call for papers.Papers have to be reviewed and selected, and invited speakers have to be guided on thecontent required. There are also opportunities for management of professional meetingsarrangers and detailed planning.
If you want world class speakers on Systems Engineering on your doorstep, how aboutsetting up or helping with a local group? The concept is that local groups can arrangeevening meetings that attract local members and potential members. We can help you toidentify speakers, your local knowledge can find free or low cost locations to holdmeetings. Local companies are usually willing to help because of the opportunities thatthe local meetings provide for their staff. As INCOSE UK gets larger, local groups willprovide the means to keep in touch with the ‘grass-roots’, and you could betheir representative on the Communications and Membership Committee helping to direct thefuture activities of INCOSE UK.
The INCOSE UK Newsletter is published at least every quarter. It publishes forthcomingmeetings of interest to our members, reports on past meetings and carries short technicalarticles. The Editor has to commission articles, collate all the material, and generate afully edited text file. The text file is then laid out and printed at 3SL. This is anexcellent opportunity for someone to work from home. Full guidance will be given by thecurrent Editor.
We are currently looking at ways to raise funds from corporate sponsors in order toextend the range of activities that INCOSE supports. We need people to determine asuitable approach, and then implement it once it has been agreed by the UK Board. Initialactivities will involve identifying potential corporate sponsors (and the right individualto target our appeal), and then will move to providing liaison between sponsors andINCOSE.
INCOSE is adopting an inclusive approach to forming links with other organisations,such as the engineering institutions. We are already strengthening our links with the IEEand APM, but there are many other organisations that have members who may be interested inSystems Engineering. Identifying potential organisations is fairly easy, but makingapproaches and sustaining contact requires individuals to provide a point of contact withINCOSE. This opportunity may be of interest to those of you who hold membership of one ofthese organisations, and feel that there should be some linkage.
INCOSE UK has always attracted a number of academic members, but it is becomingapparent that we need a more pro-active approach to generate mutually beneficial linkswith all academic institutions that are involved in Systems Engineering. The exact natureof this approach has still to be defined, and this is the first task that needs to bedone. Once an approach has been defined and agreed by the UK Board, then points of contactwill be needed to ensure that liaisons with academia produce results. This will inevitablyrequire bringing people together to exploit common goals.
There are several Technical Committees and many related Working Groups within theINCOSE structure. If you visit www.incose.org you will be able to find the charters andcontact points for all of these – except for the ones that haven’t started yet!The Working Groups have two ‘face-to-face’ meetings per year at theInternational Symposium and the International Workshop. You may find it much easier to getto these events if you are bringing ideas back to your company, but in any case much ofthe work is done via the Internet. There is quite a good European representation on thesegroups, but more volunteers are always welcome. Check out which one supports an interestof yours and make contact with the TC or WG chair. If you want some help with your choicecontact us for some guidance.
There are many other things that INCOSE UK could be doing, but the availability ofideas usually outruns the availability of members to make them happen. If you havesomething that you think INCOSE should be doing, and are willing to get stuck in yourself, let us know. We can publicise your ideas and attract other interested members to help.
Last Updated: 29 May, 2003
