https://doi.org/10.36866/pn.109.12

The purpose of these short updates is to keep you informed about the work of our Committees. The following summaries detail the meetings of the past few months.

Council Committee

The main points of business at the September Council meetings included an update from the Property Strategy Working Group, Chaired by President-elect Bridget Lumb. At this meeting, Sue Cleverdon from Cleverdon Associates presented the Phase 2 Report, which was divided into external and internal repairs. The external repairs which are required to preserve the building, a critical asset, include several significant areas of spend such as the replacement of the roof above the fourth floor, the second floor flat roof area and the ill-fitting and incomplete windows across the frontage. The internal works required to optimise income from the building would result in The Society occupying the Basement, Ground Floor and First Floor. This would leave the Second, Third and Fourth Floors, which could be used to generate rental income from tenants. The building work is scheduled to start in the New Year and should be completed by the end of April, with the external and internal works being completed simultaneously.

A proposal was tabled for the development of a new website. Council agreed that in order to support the new Vision of Physiology Flourishing, it was essential that The Society developed a modern, dynamic website where discoverable, shareable and interactive content could be published to showcase physiology. The project would be led by an internal Web Project Working Group. A Trustee Focus Group will feedback on the navigation and design. It was also noted that Physiology News articles were attractive to a general audience and ought to be showcased on the website as a searchable format – possibly a microsite.

Risk management was also on the agenda. The Board reviewed and signed off the Risk Policy which had been drafted in accordance with the Institute of Risk Management publication Risk management for charities, Getting started: a supplementary guide and The Good Trustee Guide by Anne Moynihan and reflected the approach to risk management to be as much about taking risk for innovation and opportunity as much as safeguarding.

The ‘risk register’ was put under the spotlight, and the Trustees reviewed any risks where the residual risk score was red (high), or where the difference between the target risk score and the residual risk score was six or above, and considered the most appropriate action.

A skills audit framework was also approved, and a gap analysis is underway to help inform the most suitable requirements for the recruitment of The Society’s first External Trustee.

Membership & Grants Committee

The Membership & Grants Committee met in October for the second of their biannual meetings.

The agenda included a review of membership and travel grant (including lab visits) uptake and reporting, Society Rep activities, the departmental seminar scheme and 2018 plans. The committee dedicated time to consider (i.) the ’member journey’ from undergraduate through to retirement, identifying new activities that may enhance engagement of specific membership categories and ensure membership progression, and (ii.) how best to engage A-level students and promote ‘physiology’ to these future undergraduates. An action plan resulting from this will be developed in collaboration with the Education and Outreach Committee.

Membership numbers were, as always, a focus, and it was noted that there had been a slight decline in the number of Full Members. This is being investigated as some of it may be linked to Members who have not yet logged into the new Member’s portal (www.physoc.org/user). In terms of Equality and Diversity, The Society is still asking its members to complete this confidential information form on their personal portal page. This will provide anonymised background data on how open and inclusive The Society is, and allow us to benchmark improvements going forward. Society members are encouraged to contact Jen Brammer (jbrammer@physoc.org or +44(0)27 7269 5721), Membership Engagement Manager, directly if they have had any difficulties logging in or renewing their membership.

The committee was pleased with the success of the new Fellow membership category and how members were able to demonstrate the many ways they engage with and contribute to The Society. The most recent group of members elected to Fellow membership can be found on page 10.

Affiliate Working Group

The group met for the third time this year, at Hodgkin Huxley House (H3) in London.

We discussed the forthcoming Future Physiology meeting (www.physoc.org/futurephysiology/) taking place in Leeds this December. Along with Society staff, the group have helped organise this early career focused meeting. There was a lively discussion about the social activities; it’s set to be an exciting event with three course dinner and DJ until the early hours. The working group hopes to see many of you in Leeds.

We also discussed the bespoke Affiliate newsletter, and how we can ensure the content is relevant and engaging.

Finally, the group discussed ideas and initiatives for 2018; it was a great discussion with lots of ideas to investigate.

If you have any ideas or suggestions for ways the group should be supporting Affiliate Members and early career researchers, please get in touch. You can provide ideas by getting in touch with Jen Brammer, Membership Engagement Manager, jbrammer@physoc.org

Policy & Communications Committee

Policy & Communicationss Committee met in September. Discussion covered the planning of policy projects and their interaction with the forthcoming Society strategy. The Committee received the case studies covered in our latest booklet on Brexit, and reflected upon the recent launch of the report on worldwide physiology with IUPS. Reports were received from the Physiology News editorial board and the in vivo Sub-Committee.