Philip Wright

https://doi.org/10.36866/pn.93.6

2013 has been yet another busy year for The Society, with the highlights being the successful hosting of the IUPS 2013 Congress in Birmingham and the launch of Physiological Reports. This has also been the year in which we have been settling into Hodgkin Huxley House.

From the feedback I have received, the IUPS Congress was a tremendous success – I and senior members of The Society have received a lot of very positive feedback from attendees from around the world, both for the science and the organisation. Bridget Lumb and David Eisner did a tremendous job in leading the Local Organising Committee and the Scientific Programme Committee respectively, but credit must be given to Nick Boross-Toby and his Events team – Christine Carr, Ruth King and Sarah Bundock. Many other Society staff members helped out, but the Events team under Nick’s leadership ensured the meeting was exceptionally well run.

Of course The Society did underwrite the meeting, but this was recognised by Council early on and appropriate financial plans put in place. It is also worth noting that our charitable objectives clearly indicate we are to support physiology ‘in the UK and abroad’ and the support provided to the IUPS Congress typifies the latter element.

As The Society inherited both The Journal of Physiology and Experimental Physiology (originally the Quarterly Journal of Experimental Physiology) from early distinguished members, the launch of Physiological Reports represents a first: namely the first time we have launched a new journal. Of course this has been done in partnership with our colleagues in the American Physiological Society, a partnership that is continuing to develop on many fronts.

Physiological Reports has, according to the indicators, got off to a good start. We quickly reached the 100 accepted manuscripts. As was widely advertised, this first 100 were processed for free, but with this promotion past, submissions have been maintained for our ‘gold’ open-access journal. A survey of authors has also indicated that the vast majority thought the overall process of submitting was either ‘great’ or ‘good’. The number of people accessing the journal and downloading articles has been very high and well above expectations. All these indicators suggest the journal has made a good start and thanks must go to Sue Wray (Editor in Chief) and Thomas Kleyman (Deputy EiC).

Despite all this activity the Council and Executive Committee have also been developing a new five year forward plan to cover the period from 2014 to 2018, covering the term of our new contract with Wiley. The various Committees have been redefining their objectives, which have now been incorporated into the plan. The Council is reviewing and developing the draft plan and we expect to publish it early in 2014.

It is worth, prior to its publication, just mentioning a few key highlights:

• The Meetings Committee has evolved the structure of the style of meetings we will organise. Our Annual ‘Physiology’ meeting will continue as is, but we shall be holding two ‘Topic Meetings’ a year from September 2014, which mirror the Biomedical Basis of Elite Performance (BBEP) meeting in March 2012, bringing together fundamental science as well as practitioners. The first meeting will focus on obesity (September 2014) with further meetings likely to focus on ageing/degeneration (Spring 2015) and multi-scale imaging (Autumn 2015). In addition we shall be facilitating smaller meetings at local level and in our new premises at HHH. When held at HHH we are exploring how we can webcast these in a more interactive way to members who cannot attend.
• It has been some years since we have held a full review of governance – such a review is recommended every 5 years. Consequently Steering Group has been established by Council under the Chairmanship of Jonathan Ashmore, the President, and involving a number of non-Executive Trustees. An external specialist consultant has also been appointed who will be contributing her expertise from an independent and well experienced perspective.
• On the publications front it is clear we cannot rest on our laurels. We must continue to support David Paterson and Paul McLoughlin, Editors in Chief of JP and EP respectively, to ensure they remain strong. While the full impact of Open Access is still unclear, we also have to address increasing demands to provide access to data and we are working with Wiley to facilitate this where appropriate.
• We need to sustain and grow our membership, especially to support early career physiologists as they progress and retain them in membership. Consequently we are looking at how we improve our membership administration and support for members at different stages in their career. We shall also look to evolve and enhance the role of Society Reps within institutions, providing a defined remit and more direct and flexible financial report.

Overall The Society is in a strong position, both financially and in terms of supporting our activities, but I hope these few highlights of our forward thinking indicate we are not taking things for granted. The Forward Plan for 2014-18 will, as I have already indicated, be published in early 2014. It is not intended to be a straightjacket, but rather a flexible road map and direction of travel.