https://doi.org/10.36866/pn.108.8

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

Council Committee

The main points of business at the May and July Council meetings included an update from the Property Strategy Working Group (PSWG). Chaired by President-elect Bridget Lumb, the working group has been tasked to develop a property strategy to optimise The Society’s property asset, Hodgkin Huxley House (H3), to enable The Society to achieve its charitable purposes: to support and sustain the discipline of physiology through the advancement of science and education and thereby the advancement of health. Property and facilities management consultant, Sue Cleverdon, from Cleverdon Associates Ltd, has been engaged by The Society to provide professional advice to the working group. At the May meeting, Council approved to close the conference hire business at H3 as it wasn’t financially viable. Trustees also agreed, in principle, to approve the recommendation to proceed with the preferred option for the building, which is to consolidate the staff onto the first two floors enabling the upper three floors to be rented out. This option not only increases rentals over five years but makes better use of the available H3 space by increasing flexible use. This is subject to full feasibility analysis, detailed costings, and the building survey outcomes, and a detailed report will be taken to the September meeting of Council.

Governance was also on the Agenda at the May meeting. Council agreed that, as it delivers a new strategy for 2018-2022, it was an opportune time to review its governance. Council agreed to carry out a systematic review of the Governance Practice Framework and identify areas of weakness and causes for concern. Areas for review would then be prioritised to ensure The Society’s governance is robust both now and in the future. The review would focus on four areas:

• key board functions
• improving Board processes
• board effectiveness
• defining governance roles.

An experienced Governance Manager, Rosie Waterton, has been recruited to work with the Board, Chief Executive, and Chief Operating Officer to develop, implement, and improve the governance structure and processes.

The digital communications landscape is rapidly changing, with new platforms and shifts in trends happening regularly. Expectations for where users want to find content relevant to them are shifting too; consequently The Society needs to ensure that the aims and scope of our digital channels align both with our strategic priorities and the expectations of our audiences. To ensure we are in a strong position to continue to develop and improve cross-Society communications, at the July meeting Council approved the recommendation for the creation of a Communications Officer role.

The Communications Officer’s key responsibilities will include:

• Website – create new webpages for staff, write content, and prepare images.
• Social media – ensure our channels are populated with engaging content and coordinated across The Society.
• Digital content – create in-house videos and images.
• Email marketing – manage email distribution process across all teams.

On 19 April 2017, John Wiley & Sons and The Physiological Society announced the renewal of their publishing partnership for a further 10-year term, building on over 13 years of collaboration. The renewed partnership will ensure The Society’s journals, The Journal of Physiology and Experimental Physiology, continue to develop as world leaders of physiological research. At May Council the Trustees Council, agreed to support a number of pilot schemes aimed at broadening The Society journals’ editorial coverage, increasing submissions, and attracting readers.

Finance Committee

We bid farewell to Anne King, the outgoing Treasurer, who stepped down at the 2017 Annual General Meeting (AGM) and has chaired the Committee with diligence, authority, and a dose of good humour.

Frank Sengpiel, already a committee member, starts his four-year term and will chair his first meeting in September. Recent meetings have dealt with the standard business of accounts, audit, and auditor oversight. In addition, lots of time has been spent on reviewing our investments and investment fund managers – a key obligation for charities. We move forward with a new investment policy, now approved by Council, that will continue to safeguard our most important asset as well as hold our fund managers to account. We were very pleased with the signing-off of a new 10-year publication deal with Wiley at improved terms. Finally, we liaise closely with the Property Strategy Working Group to maximise utilisation of Hodgkin Huxley House (H3) for the benefit of The Society.

Policy & Communications Committee

The Policy and Communications Committee (PCC) held a teleconference meeting in the light of the unexpected political changes of the first half of this year. The committee was updated on the political situation and our response to developments including the new occupants of the House of Commons, Select Committee changes, and the progress of Brexit planning. Responses to these issues include targeted political engagement of new and returned parliamentarians, and our policy position statement on international mobility. The committee also started discussion of Policy and Communications plans for the upcoming year, including the possibility of taking the topic of international mobility in science post-Brexit to an event with policy-makers and politicians in the future.

Importantly the discussion confirmed changes to the committee Terms of Reference, and those of the Physiology News Editorial Board, meaning the relationship between PCC and Physiology News is now official. The Policy and Communications Committee will now oversee Physiology News as The Society’s flagship membership communication, with editorial control of Physiology News continuing to rest with the Physiology News Editorial Board.