Western Australian Institute for Educational Research President's Report 2016 Susan Beltman

Tonight I complete my fifth year as President of WAIER. I would like to give a brief overview of our major achievements for 2016 and begin by thanking every member for their contribution to promoting educational research in Western Australia through the activities of WAIER.

In 2016 we welcomed Deborah Black as a new member of the committee. For various reasons we have unfortunately (for us) lost a few committee members, including Deborah, mostly due to their busy lives and professional and personal commitments - certainly not because they did not enjoy being part of WAIER! I believe this list includes Pauline Roberts, Leanne Fried, Saul Karnovsky and Liz Criddle. Leanne has worked hard with Michelle's help to organise the research seminars in an increasingly populated and busy professional learning market. Saul and Pauline have been particularly active and enthusiastic participants since joining the committee and we will miss them. Liz was an important connection to teachers in schools and her input will be missed too. Fortunately though tonight we welcome Paul Gardner as a new committee member and look forward to working with you in the future.

As President I have been fortunate to have had the support of Eva Dobozy as Vice President. Anne Coffey continued in her role as secretary, with able assistance from Angela Evangelinou-Yiannakis, and Anne's former work as Forum Coordinator was acknowledged through her receiving the 2016 WAIER PTCWA Professional Service Award. Greg Hine has continued as treasurer and managed all the payments and financial details with his usual charm and professionalism.

Thanks to Brad Gobby, Rosana Stout and others who have contributed to the website and to our publicity officer, Paula Mildenhall, who monitors the Facebook page. Clare McBeath and Roger Atkinson have continued their excellent, long-standing work regarding the journal IIER as well as cheerfully supporting all of WAIER's other activities. Rita, Angela, and Anne are Associate Editors who do copy editing and reviewing so thanks to them for that and to others who have been occasional reviewers.

A special thanks to Ronnie Gardner for so efficiently taking on the important role of coordinating the Annual Research Forum which is our premier event for the year. Thanks to Anne for managing the on-site organisation. A successful panel was ably organised and run by Saul who also looked after sponsors, Roger and Clare again managed the submissions and produced the program, Michelle coordinated the raffle, Sonja Kuzich organised the framed certificates, and Brad added the relevant information to the website. Of course Greg made sure participants paid and bills were settled and Rita with help from Leanne and Sonja, organised the all-important awards. I know Caroline and Chris Glass calmly assisted in many ways before and during the event as did others but if I missed your specific contribution my apologies.

Finally I want to thank Sonja for her leadership on the research grant working party and Greg, Anne and Pauline for their contribution. Hopefully this will continue to develop over the next few years.

I have had the privilege of being part of the WAIER committee under the leadership of several presidents. The gentle Gary Partington, the passionate Phil Paioff, the industrious Ian Gaynor and the calm Chis Hackett. All have led WAIER to develop in different areas, as did the presidents before them, and I am proud to continue the tradition. Without active, capable committee members to support the leaders, however, WAIER would not be the thriving organisation it still is today.

So once again thank you to all of you for your commitment and contribution to WAIER and I look forward to working with you all again in 2017.

Thank you.

A/Prof Susan Beltman
WAIER President
November 2016