We’re looking for curious, thoughtful people to join our Board.
Here at Iriss we want to create the conditions for social work and social care support to flourish. We help the people who support others to make real change through research, improvement and innovation. We do this because we know that great social work and social care can make all the difference in people’s lives.
But we don’t do this alone. We have a Board that helps us by:
- Keeping us (and me in particular!) accountable, checking we are doing our work well, and that Iriss is effectively run and a good place to work.
- Helping us review and learn from our work. As a charity with innovation at its heart we try out new ideas and approaches, some work and some don’t. It’s critical to have people to help us sort through our learning.
- Setting our direction. Like other charities Iriss operates in an uncertain environment. Our Board helps us set our course and balance the need to be flexible to changes.
Why join a Board?
We asked one of our Board members to tell us about their experience.
“Iriss is a small organisation that makes a disproportionate impact on the world of social work and social care. It matters to me that it is trusted by practitioners and policy makers alike.
Although Iriss was always known as a credible source of ideas and evidence, it’s been pleasing to see it re-affirming its place in recent years. This was especially evident for me at last year’s conference. Despite (or maybe because of) years of challenges, social workers, civil servants, researchers and others are actively looking to Iriss to help make sense of the complex and ever-evolving fields they work in.
Even from the relative distance of the board, I’ve felt close to our audiences and partners. The connectedness and creativity that come from this are, in my view, what keeps Iriss (and its governance) relevant and fresh.
I’m proud to have been able to contribute on the board. It’s all about supporting an organisation and culture where the impressive Iriss team (committed researchers, creative designers, enthusiastic facilitators and others) can shine.
If you’re thinking of joining us, expect board meetings that are both focused and that allow in-depth exploration of emerging topics. They run to time and tasks don’t tend to fall off the bottom of agendas. I’d particularly recommend joining one of the sub-committees. These bring you closer to the people and topics Iriss works with. The things that matter most.” Graeme Reekie - Iriss Board Member
Whether you’re experienced, just starting out or even planning a future career as a charity CEO being on the Iriss Board will give you:
- The opportunity to work with a great group of talented and thoughtful people
- Space to focus on innovation, ideas and learning
- Experience in helping an organisation perform well and navigate change and challenge effectively
- A lens into how SME charities work
What we are looking for
We are looking for people with experience of using, or working in social work and social care support, but that’s not critical, if you have experience from elsewhere we’d like to hear from you.
You don’t need to be in a super senior role, or have been working for a long time. We’re interested in hearing from people who are curious, strategic and above all share our ambition that social work and social care support can and should do better for people.
So if you’re interested in helping us make the system better, read more and apply!
