It is hard to believe that 2024 has gone so fast, but the fact that it is now getting dark in the UK by 4.00 in the afternoon, and we have at least five months of dark mornings and darker evening ahead, means that another year is almost done.
The general feeling seems that the world has got back to business, and pretty well everyone I talk to is reeling under the pressure of overwhelming amounts of work, whether they are in the public or private sectors, or are running their own businesses.
Whatever it is that you are doing, I hope that you are coming to the end of the year in health, strength and positivity, and can look forward to some sort of end of year break before starting it all over again in January.
For the ISRM, this has been a good year, with significant growth and development across many of our activities, and the establishment of new programmes, particularly around Global Urban Resilience and Major City Management.
We have developed an increased presence in North America, where we now have seven US Chapters as well as Canada and Mexico, and will be hosting a 3-day conference in New York from 3rd - 5th December, in partnership with Metropolitan College New York.
Our APAC operations are expanding, where I was in Jakarta for a week last month, and will be back there for two weeks in February, as well as planning a two week visit to Thailand and Singapore in Q2.
Our UK networks are growing nicely, and by the end of the year we will have Chapters in London, Manchester, Liverpool, Scotland and South-West England.
We continue to develop our academic networks, and I have run programmes for Berlin School of Economics and Law, Lviv Polytechnic, Odessa University, Warsaw University, Georgetown University, University of Gloucestershire and Presidents University, Jakarta.
Besides our Level 4 and level 5 accredited training programmes, al, of our programmes are offered for free, and by doing so we attract a global audience of academics, practitioners, policy makers, students and those who are simply interested in the subjects we are exploring.
All of this is done on the basis of our Membership fees, and as it is the end of the year, I would like to invite to you join as an ISRM Member or Fellow (if you have not already done so), and to encourage that, we are offering two free months of membership if you join now.
That will take you through to end December 2025, so there will be no renewal fees until January 2026.
Membership is £100 a year, and if you are a Fellow of a risk or security-related organisation, you can apply for direct entry as F.ISRM, which is £150 a year.
We have over 800 Members and Fellows from around the world, I hope that you will join our community and give us your support.
We hope you have a safe and peaceful run into the end of the year and look for to seeing you on the remaining programmes we will be hosting until then.
