The Policy Committee met virtually in March 2023 to discuss The Society’s policy aims for 2023. Professor Mike Tipton (University of Portsmouth, UK), as Chair, welcomed members of the Committee.

The main agenda item was the policy work plan for 2023, in line with The Society’s new strategic priority to “play an influential role in shaping funding and public policy”. The Committee agreed that future policy projects must directly reflect the five objectives of The Society.

The Committee received a paper on work of The Society’s in vivo taskforce. The role of the taskforce is to discuss the key issues facing members performing research involving animals. In a separate meeting, chaired by Professor Lucy Donaldson (University of Nottingham), the taskforce met to discuss issues facing the in vivo community including the MRC’s new policy requiring experimental designs and analysis to include both sexes.

The Committee discussed three areas of policy: a policy project focusing on increasing The Society’s engagement with members in the Republic of Ireland, a project looking at the role of future technologies identified by the UK Government and how physiological research can support them, and a third project sitting at the interface between physiology and extreme environments within the context of the climate emergency.

The Committee also received reports on The Society’s other successful policy projects for 2023, including the roundtable on ‘economic inactivity, health and older workers’ and the event in Scotland highlighting the role of Scottish research in meeting the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).