Groups
The purpose of the groups is to provide a forum for networking, progressing particular areas of common professional interest, supporting professional development and to socialise with like-minded people, whether they are members of IfSE or not.
Recognising that not all members are able to make the main showpiece events each year, but may still wish to be active participants in the various live issues that IfSE addresses, IfSE actively encourages members to form Groups where it is felt that a sufficient number of members (and potential members) are interested in progressing a particular Systems Engineering subject matter or are located within a reasonably well defined geographical area (e.g. Bristol and the surrounding area).
The aims of the Groups are:
- To provide a forum for existing IfSE members to network in a less formal environment;
- To address common areas of interest in either subsets of Systems Engineering or areas of application of Systems Engineering;
- To promote and improve the practice of Systems Engineering;
- To foster connections with other professional bodies within the same regional area and thereby promote cross fertilisation of knowledge and experience across sectors and community disciplines; and
- To promote awareness of IfSE and encourage membership.
Local Group events are often the first point of contact that some attendees have with IfSE, and it is a testament to their growing success that many attendees join IfSE as a result of going to local group events. These events are usually held in the evening after normal working hours, although some groups choose to run daytime events where these are felt to be more viable.
For a list of IfSE Local Groups, see the left-hand side menu.
There are other forms of Groups that are supported by IfSE, principally Interest and Working Groups. The former have an interest in a particular area of Systems Engineering (or its application) and a programme of activity such as to collate, share and analyse information. In the case of the Working Groups this interest has crystallised into the active production of professional Systems Engineering material in conjunction with the IfSE Technical Director.
Should you be interested in starting up a new group, then to learn more about the running of Groups please read the following document:
Setting up a Group
If you would like to set up a Group, follow these guidelines:
- Decide whether you are considering the group to be a Working Group or an Interest Group.
- Write to the Secretariat outlining the ideas underpinning the proposed Group. It will then be raised with the IfSE Council for approval.
- Issue an Expressions-of-Interest email for the Group to the IfSE membership. This email should announce the general idea behind the Group and ask for expressions of interest.
- The email can be sent out by using the help of the Secretariat. Once you have an idea of the number of people interested, schedule and call a kick-off meeting (again using the Secretariat). You will usually be expected to arrange the venue (using the contacts who have expressed interest).
- At the kick-off meeting, for Working Groups, try to establish what tangible outputs the group should endeavour to produce (Working Groups should not be mere talking shops). For Interest Groups, agree a broad programme of activity. Once these objectives are reasonably well-established, write yourselves some Terms of Reference. These do not have to be cast in stone and can always be revised further downstream.
- Create an IfSE website presence with the help of the Secretariat. The page should explain what the Group is doing, what it has produced (in the case of Interest Groups, what its events programme looks like), who the main point of contact is and what people should do if they wish to join the Group.
- On the request of the President-Elect, produce summaries of Group activities so that the IfSE Council can be kept informed of the group's activities.
- If the Group ever feels it has achieved its mission, do not be afraid to wind the Group up - but please leave it in a good final state!