Last month we had the CIB Board meeting in Copenhagen! My thanks and appreciation to Aalborg University and Thorkild Ӕro for hosting us. We have reported previously on the business conducted in this meeting, via our CEO Don Ward. It was great to meet face-to-face for only the second time since I became President in June 2019 and, I must say, it was energising for everyone!
This also gave me an opportunity to assess where we are on the “re-energising strategy” which I set out when becoming President, with three key priorities:
- Establishing a strong and effective CIB member service team
- Clear recognition that the core value of quality, globally collaborative research is at the heart of the CIB
- Renewed focus on building membership.
On the first priority, Don Ward, Michael Behm and Debbie Gray have made a strong and effective team delivering valuable member service as targeted, and recent upgrades to the website, newsletter, marketing collateral and the CIB in Conversation episodes are examples of how we’re better communicating with our members.
On the second priority, the Programme Committee chaired by Kalle Kähkönen and supported by Michael Behm have developed new guidelines for Coordinators which have been welcomed as clear, concise and well balanced. These were approved by the recent Board – which also held another consultative session with Coordinators across the globe. It was also good to hear about the latest new CIB Task Group TG97 – Nature-based Solutions for Climate Resilient Buildings and Communities which has now had its kick-off meeting with Michael Lacasse of National Research Council Canada as its Coordinator.
On the third priority, we all hope that the worst effects of the Covid-19 global pandemic are behind us, both in terms of personal health risk but also with its impact on our core programme of conferences and on our membership. Our response has been to improve the value proposition for existing members and I trust you can see evidence of these improvements described in this newsletter and more generally in our work together.
Finally, the updates from Ron Wakefield of RMIT about the World Building Congress 2022 are very positive, with over 600 abstracts approved (including the winner of Best Abstract), Keynote Speakers being announced, and a separate parallel conference The 9th International Conference on Innovative Production and Construction now also part of the proceedings. Please ensure WBC2022 (27-30 June 2022) is in your diary. Ron and I look forward to welcoming you to Melbourne, Australia next June.
Warm regards, Keith Hampson
