Special interest and regional groups

Special interest groups

The new year has brought increased enthusiasm for special interest and regional groups, open to IRM members and non-members alike. Four new special interest groups have now held their inaugural meetings:

- Innovation, Value Creation and Opportunity

- People, Communication, Culture, Decision Making and Motivation

- Operating and Financial Review

- Health Sector

PFI/PPP special interest group

The construction company, Mowlem, hosted the January 2006 meeting of the special interest group dealing with public-private sector projects, which was held in Leeds. The company gave three short seminars on the way it deals with risk through its activities in PFI presentations, and outlined how Mowlem is developing and improving its risk processes for the future.

Regional groups

The North West England Group held a joint meeting with the Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA) to repeat the over-subscribed event that took place in March 2005. The group has also held an informal roundtable at the Highways Agency's Manchester office, where the issues discussed were:

- Identifying and managing partnership risks (outsourcing/joint ventures and public/private partnerships)

- Establishing and quantifying the costs of risk mitigation

- Methods and tools for managing risk and performance together

- Assessing risk management capability.

The South Wales and South West England (SW&SWE) regional group held three meetings in 2005 and plans at least three similar events in 2006. Group members include risk managers, audit providers, risk analysts and financial analysts, a range which reflects the central role risk plays in organisations.

The subjects discussed in 2005 included the risk analysis of major projects, fraud prevention, construction risk management and risk management at an international telecommunications provider.

The Canadian Regional Group, based in Toronto, had a kick off meeting late in 2005, with 50% of the IRM members from Canada turning up. The next meeting is scheduled for March. Membership includes IRM members from every level, from student members (both Certificate and Diploma) through Associates to Fellows, and in the sprit of the IRM, they are all from different backgrounds, from operations to finance.

For more information: www.theirm.org