CPHC, as a membership body, represents most HE computing departments and senior staff in the UK. CPHC has the authority and the mandate to represent the HE computing sector to elected representatives of parliament, the funding councils, the research councils, charitable bodies, public bodies, FE and the Schools sector, and industry in all its forms. To its membership, CPHC offers a comprehensive set of links at local, national and international level with a very wide range of groups.

In this context, CPHC provides representation on behalf of its membership, to address issues of funding, for both teaching and research, professional standards, recruitment issues, and such other topics as the membership wish to have pursued from time to time. To support this activity CPHC consults with its membership through a variety of mechanisms: JISC mailing lists; the CPHC website; regular news updates; and an annual conference where all of the activities of CPHC and the issues for the membership are discussed.

In support of its membership, CPHC also acts to research, collate and disseminate information relating to all aspects of the management of HE computing, teaching and research, and best practices in those areas. Through links with industry, CPHC is able to offer opportunities for national level project development and localised interactions to encourage greater volume and a wider spread of industry/academic interaction.

In collaboration with the Sector Skills Councils, CPHC is also able to influence national and regional initiatives in skills development, industry liaison and promotion of the discipline. CPHC also interacts with a number of other professional, voluntary and public bodies in promoting public engagement with science, and particularly with computer science, and always seeks to be actively engaged in a number of activities in this area.

CPHC will form subgroups to focus on particular issues. The initiation and lifetime of these subgroups will be decided by the main committee and will have the following rules:

1. 1. 1. The chair of any subgroup will be either an elected or co-opted committee member,
      2. There is no limit on members of the CPHC committee taking on roles in subgroups,
      3. Subgroups must provide minutes of meetings to keep the CPHC committee informed of their activities,
      4. Subgroups can have members from outside the CPHC Committee, but the process for identification and recruitment of members must be agreed with the committee to ensure it is representative of their community,
      5. If appropriate, subgroups must normally provide an action plan at the start of the year to the CPHC committee,
      6. Remit and terms of reference of subgroups should be annually reviewed by the main committee at its first meeting after the AGM.

CPHC institutional membership is open to UK universities with degree awarding powers.

The process for joining CPHC as an institutional member is as follows:

1. Apply by completing the CPHC Institutional Membership Application Form. The form asks for the details of the contact completing the form and the HOD/HOS (if different), both of whom will be contacted regarding the outcome of the application.
2. The application is considered by the CPHC Committee at its next meeting or by email.
3. The application will either be approved or further information will be requested from the institution via the Secretariat cphc@bcs.uk.
4. If approved, the Secretariat will write to the institution requesting contact details of the relevant members of staff and email addresses of those eligible members of the Department/School to be added to the JISCMail list. If the institution is approved part-way through the CPHC financial year (which runs from 1 July to 30 June), a pro-rata invoice will be raised based on the academic computing staff FTE.
5. In terms of the annual cycle, the CPHC Secretariat will contact CPHC institutional members in September to collect up-to-date contact details, academic computing staff FTE and request a Purchase Order, following which the invoices are sent out in November to HOD/HOS and finance contacts.

Membership is open to Professors and Heads of Computing Departments (and related disciplines) in UK Universities, or suitably considered representatives of such positions.

There are currently nearly 750 individual members, drawn from relevant schools and departments in over 100 UK universities.

If your department is a member and you satisfy the membership rules below you can join by sending an email to cphc-members-request@jiscmail.ac.uk, and you can leave by sending another email or by clicking on the ‘Unsubscribe’ link at the bottom of the relevant mailing list email.

Joining and leaving using the cphc-members-request@jiscmail.ac.uk address is not automated, so please do not expect a response by return.

Please send your email from your normal academic email address.

The guidelines for eligibility to be on the mailing list and to vote at AGMs are given below.

It assumes subscriptions for Group 1 members have been paid or are about to be paid by the University to whom the potential member belongs.

Group 1 membership (full members, voting members)

For Professors and Heads of Departments/Schools, or suitably considered representatives of such positions, with the following exceptions:

• • Others may be nominated by the Head of Department/School. Such nominations may be approved by the Committee to provide a reasonable balance of membership across the community. Approvals for nominations will normally be from new universities and be managers of people (such as Heads of Division). The Committee will also bear in mind the structure of the School or Department, its size, and the number of sites involved.
  • In some departments, the Head is a rotating post. In such cases, the Head remains on the list only while in this post as Head, and then will be removed from the list unless otherwise qualified to be a member.
  • Visiting professors are not eligible to be CPHC members.
  • Senior academic staff who are not professors, even though they have administrative responsibilities, would not normally qualify as members. It is up to the Head of Department to arrange for emails to be distributed to staff who are not members if this is felt to be appropriate.

Group 2 membership

Those who have been full permanent members in the past and are now either retired or promoted i.e. no longer in post.

The committee will seek information from Heads of Schools or Departments, or whomever they think appropriate, in considering active involvement, including any case put forward by the applicant. Note: Former Heads in rotating posts who are not professors and who have retired or been promoted will not normally remain on the email list.

Please note that when full permanent members retire or are promoted, they need to contact the Chair or the Administration Officer to say that they wish to stay on the list.