https://doi.org/10.36866/pn.117.8

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

4 June 2019
The President (Bridget Lumb) reported back on the successful trip to the Federation of Asian and Oceanic Physiological Societies (FAOPS) at which The Society exhibited. The President and Chief Executive (Dariel Burdass) had utilised the opportunity to meet with the President of The Physiological Society of Japan, The President of the Korean Physiological Society, the President of FAOPS and the President of IUPS and fostered a positive relationship and noted the enthusiasm with which The Society’s presence was greeted, as The Journal of Physiology brand was widely recognised.

The Head of Policy & Communications (Andrew Mackenzie) reported that The Society had collaborated with Guild HE on the report “Sport & Exercise Science Education: Impact on the UK Economy”.The official launch had been held at Westminster and hosted by the Shadow Minister for Higher Education, Further Education and Skills – Gordon Marsden. The event had been a great opportunity for networking. The President thanked staff and Mike Tipton for their efforts in creating a quality piece of work.

The Publisher (Sally Howells) reported on the new, engaging video feature from The Journal of Physiology called “Physiology Shorts” which aimed to deliver short, informative research snapshots directly from the authors of research papers. The videos have been well received, both in terms of the number of views and social media engagement.

A specialist legal governance advisor from BDB Pitmans joined the meeting and spoke about the revised Articles of Association and Regulations setting out how The Society could create a clear, modern and legally compliant set of governing documents that reflect best practice as well as enabling The Society to improve transparency, inclusion and agility. The Board approved the revised Articles and Regulations drafted by BDB Pitmans and also agreed that BDB Pitmans should submit the regulated alterations to the Charity Commission.

The Honorary Treasurer (Frank Sengpiel) provided a summary of the key financials reported in the Trustee Annual Report (TAR). The Board approved the 2018 TAR for signature and submission to Companies House and the Charity Commission.

The Chair of the Membership Category and Journey Review Task and Finish Group (Rachel Tribe) gave an interim report on progress to date. The first meeting had focused on reviewing data and looking into the early stages of the membership journey and explored how to encourage longevity and loyalty. Surveys were in development to understand the motivations of non-members who attend Society meetings and to further understand the areas for membership growth. It was noted that the final report would be submitted to Council in December.

The Board discussed the imminent website launch and acknowledged it as a multifaceted platform that would constantly evolve and consequently approved a soft launch of the site. The President thanked the staff website team, the President-Elect, David Patterson and Chairs of the Committees for all their hard work on the website.

18 September 2019
The Board received attendee figures, feedback and communications analytics on our Annual Conference, Physiology 2019 (P19). The Chair of Conferences Committee (Sue Deuchars) commented that not only had the quality of the science been highly regarded, but P19 had also reinstated the strong sense of community that The Society is known for and the welcome received by local Members and the city of Aberdeen had created an energy that had lifted the experience. She noted that the combination of a strong leadership presence in the Trustees, the visibility of the Theme Leads as well as the presence of staff added to the “family feel”.This inclusive atmosphere was particularly important in creating a good first experience for the Undergraduate Members who The Society hopes to nurture throughout their membership journey.

Following an overview from the President on the success of the President’s Lecture, the Chair of Education, Policy and Public Engagement Committee (Sarah Hall) and the Head of Professional Development and Engagement (Chrissy Stokes) reported back on the successful uptake of the schools’ competition and the interactive activities.

Feedback from the event demonstrated that 100% of those who completed the survey enjoyed the event, knew what physiology was compared to before they attended and would attend another event.

The Board recognised the contributions of Jim Pawelczyk as not only had he given the President’s Lecture but he also attended Extreme Physiology where he gave the Public Lecture, chaired a session, interacted with presenters at the poster sessions and judged prizes. During his time in the UK he had also assisted in creating a “careers in physiology” video for the website, and an interview for Physiology News.

The Board received the M7 Management Accounts and reforecasts and acknowledged the 2020 – 2022 financial planning process. They reviewed the key risks presented to them as part of the biannual risk review undertaken by the Senior Management Team and approved a new Conflicts of Interest Policy in line with governance best practice.

The Board also approved the terms of reference for the Nominations Committee, History and Archives Task Force, In vivo Task Force and the Theme Leads.

Following the launch of the new website, the Head of Policy and Communications presented figures comparing traffic on the new website with the old one. Compared to the same period in 2018, the new website had a 46% increase in users, 50% mobile traffic increase, 127% home page visit increase and a 45% increase in visits to the “What is Physiology” page.

Finance Committee

During a meeting on 11 September 2019, Finance Committee (FC) received and discussed the July 2019 management accounts. They also reviewed The Society’s cash flow management which seeks to maximise bank interest while maintaining sufficient working capital liquidity. FC discussed the latest risk management report and was satisfied with the mitigation plans in place and the recommended course of action for submission to Council. To maintain the requisite level of active Trustees, Charlotte Haigh agreed to join FC. Dean Sewell becomes the new Inclusion and Diversity Champion and Havi Chichger the new Membership Champion.

Education, Public Engagement and Policy Committee

The first meeting of the new Education, Public Engagement and Policy (EPEP) Committee took place on 25 September 2019. The Chair welcomed all participants. The Committee received its Remit and Terms of Reference, along with those of the History and Archives and In Vivo Task Forces, which now report to EPEP. Updates were presented on a number of ongoing projects that fall under the remit of EPEP, including the healthy ageing policy work, careers research project and grants review. The Committee also discussed proposals for strategic projects in 2020 including follow-up work informed by the healthy ageing policy project, further work on the ‘Reward and Recognition’ of Teaching in Higher Education, and various scoping projects considering how The Society might develop its professional development opportunities for early career physiologists in future. Committee members then offered their own ideas for projects that might help The Society achieve its Strategy, which will be developed into proposals for discussion at the next meeting. This meeting finished with an update from the Scientific Editor of Physiology News, which included a discussion on how content can be made more discoverable and accessible for use as a free resource in the future.

Conferences Committee

The recent meeting of the Conferences Committee was held on 17 October and was chaired by Sue Deuchars, University of Leeds, UK. The first action of the Conferences Committee was to decide the recipient of the 2019/2020 GL Brown Prize Lecture.

The committee then considered the proposals submitted for the two pre-symposia hosted by The Physiological Society at Europhysiology 2020. It was noted that we will host symposia on the Themes of Human Environmental and Exercise Physiology and Neuroscience. A proposal was selected for each Theme.

The current programme for Europhysiology 2020 was noted, and outstanding plenary and keynote speakers were discussed. An update was given on Europhysiology 2022, to be held in Copenhagen. Other conferences for 2020 were confirmed as Processing and Modulation of Sensory Signals: From the Periphery to the Cortex to take place in London in June 2020, and a conference on the topic of Regeneration to take place in Edinburgh in December. The current programmes for these conferences were discussed and revisions decided on. A Future Physiology conference will also be held in July 2020. The Committee agreed that Brighton would be a good location for this meeting.

Suggested actions to improve the environmental sustainability of The Society’s meetings were discussed. The Committee received the suggestions positively.

Introduction of an Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) code of conduct, a regular slot for an EDI-focused workshop and pronoun stickers were three recommendations put to the Committee to improve the equality, diversity and inclusion of our conferences. The Committee agreed to the recommendations but questioned if our current code of conduct could be modified to consider EDI rather than creating a new document.

The structure for the 2021 conferences was discussed. The Committee decided that there will be pre-symposia attached to Physiology 2021, a Future Physiology conference, a conference about the biological basis of elite performance, and a conference on a “hot topic”, for which there will be an open call to members.

The Committee reflected on the impact of researchers withholding information when presenting unpublished data. The decision was made that it would negatively impact the value of our conferences and that presenters should be completely transparent so that robust and novel science is always shared.