As another year draws to a close, on behalf of TOPRA I hope that you, your family, and colleagues are well and will have the opportunity to relax over the festive period.
As I look back over the past 12 months, it is clear that while the impact of the pandemic is finally starting to lessen, no one is quite ready to declare this period of crisis at an end. Despite this, a new rhythm and familiarity has returned to the manner in which we would like to conduct our business lives in the physical world.
At TOPRA, we have retained some of the gains made from the forced decentralisation of the workplace by implementing a mixed hybrid pattern of office and work-from-home days each week. Central to this is an ‘all-hands-on-deck’ policy on Wednesdays, whereby each staff member comes in to our London office and has the opportunity to interact with everyone across the organisation.
I for one have appreciated being able to learn and network in-person again. I am delighted that so many of the key events in our calendar have been supported by our sponsors and partners as well as enjoyed by our guests and delegates. This is a trend that many of you have requested to continue into the new year. Our short video below shares some of the highlights of these events and our work over the last year.
We held two Regulatory Careers Live events in-person this year (in Brussels and at the University of Hertfordshire respectively) and feedback was very positive from both exhibitors and attendees. Meanwhile, taking place in Vienna in October, this year’s Symposium was the first to be in-person since we hosted it in Dublin back in 2019. This also proved to be a fantastic example of how gratifying and rewarding face-to-face events can be. I want to personally thank everybody who contributed to making it such a valuable event. We are now preparing for the Symposium 2023 in Lisbon, to be held on 23-25 October, and are very excited to be working on it with Infarmed, Portugal’s national regulatory affairs agency.
This year’s ceremony for the TOPRA Awards for Regulatory Excellence took place in November at One Great George Street in London. It was wonderful to see so many friends of TOPRA again to have the opportunity to celebrate the profession and the achievements of our winners. I want to pass on a huge thanks to our partners and sponsors for continuing to champion this annual celebration of regulatory affairs, and of course those who nominated their colleagues and peers so their achievements could be recognised.
Our new focus on Engagement resulted in the fulfilment of our strategy to become a digital-first organisation with our journal, Regulatory Rapporteur, now beingpublished online on a best-in-class platform. This is the fruition of a six-year project from its initial board discussions to its final delivery. We will take advantage of the new opportunities this technology brings to deliver additional value to members such as audio and video content over the coming months. We have also seen phenomenal, and sustained, growth and engagement among social media followers across all the platforms where we deploy content.
Having talked about developing an office intern programme for some time, this year we finally ‘walked-the-walk’ and engaged our first intern to support Regulatory Rapporteur’s digital transformation. It has worked out so well that the intern’s role has since evolved into a new permanent position within the Engagement department. We are planning more internships in the future with a view to supporting the next generation of membership professionals alongside that of regulatory affairs professionals.
In TOPRA Education, there has been wide-ranging success for our apprenticeship programme, with truly amazing feedback from students and employers. This year saw our first three course completers, two of whom passed with Distinction. Our delivery of the apprentices’ education, and more general support, to this initial cohort of students has been an immense source of pride for both me, and for the Professional Development team at TOPRA.
Our Global support this year also saw our first group of applicants benefit from the TOPRA Educational Bursaries scheme with eight recipients. Seven received £1,500 under the Foundation stream for Introductory/CRED courses, while one was awarded £1,000 under the Pathfinder stream for expenses to attend an Essentials course. Coincidentally, all this year’s applicants came from African nations (Botswana, Egypt, Ethiopia, Tanzania and Zimbabwe) but bursaries are open to any new professional in low- and middle-income countries as defined by the World Bank.
In summary, we have had a busy but rewarding year that has set the scene for a very exciting 2023. Among the many things we are looking forward to is helping regulatory affairs professionals of all levels to extend their knowledge and expertise, not only through our wide-ranging programme of in-person training courses, but also with our eLearning offering. We will be enhancing and extending this to ensure that it is even more effective and convenient. Meanwhile we are preparing to launch digital badges and credentials for membership. These will be available shortly and will enable our members to demonstrate their status and commitment to the profession.
So to round this off, I want to reinforce and reiterate my gratitude for the contribution from our wonderful team of staff, volunteers and members that continue to give their valuable time, in the face of increasing work pressures, to add value daily to the community and network of experts and professionals that we serve.
I wish you all a very happy Christmas and festive season, and I look forward to working with you in a prosperous 2023.