https://doi.org/10.36866/pn.111.10

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

The main points of business at the March Council meeting included a presentation from the Head of Technology and Infrastructure on the General Data Protection Regulation. All organisations are required to be compliant with the incoming legislation by 25 May 2018, otherwise large fines could be faced. It was noted an external auditor had been engaged and had met with key members of staff to review The Society’s data asset registers and understand key data handling processes. Recommendations would be reviewed and implemented to ensure The Society was compliant and Trustees would receive a full update in May.

The Chief Executive highlighted that The Society had submitted evidence to the Brexit Science and Innovation Summit which had been published on the Science and Technology Committee (Commons) website. The Society had then been invited to take part in the Science and Technology Committee’s Brexit Science and Innovation Summit on 22 February.

Trustees approved the Strategy 2018–2022 – a copy of which has been sent to members. It was agreed that the next steps are for the Chief Executive and the senior management team to develop a road map that will set out what steps are needed to achieve the goals and objectives. Going forward, this will inform staff objectives including key deliverables and would be reported to Council on a regular basis so that progress against the strategy could be assessed over time. Another important point of business included an update on the Governance Review. The purpose of the Governance Review is to provide an independent assessment of The Society’s current governance arrangements, taking into account best practice and The Society’s Strategy 2018–2022, and to make recommendations for improvements. Lucy Carter, Director of Wellspring Consulting has been engaged to carry out the review.

Council also approved the appointment of Matt Taylor as The Society’s first External Trustee. Matt will take up his role of Trustee at The Society’s AGM. Matt has a background as a business strategist and has experience in income diversification and sustainability. His undergraduate degree was in Human Sciences, first class, and he went on to undertake an MSc in Medical Anthropology, which demonstrates his personal engagement with physiology. Finally, Council formally prescribed the 2018 Annual General Meeting to be held on Sunday 16 September, 12:45, at QEII Centre in London.

Education & Outreach Committee

The Society’s new Strategy for 2018–2022 formed much of the focus of discussions at the Education and Outreach Committee meeting in April. It was agreed that most of the Committee’s existing initiatives remain relevant in the context of the new strategy, but that a few aspects may need to be refocused. In particular, The Society’s Public Engagement work will be redefined by targeting funding more specifically. Further details about these new grants will be released in 2019.

With a growing strategic focus on careers, the Committee agreed that a research project into how students decide to study physiology at University and the career pathways open to them after graduation will help to inform future activity. While this project is being scoped out, it was agreed that the existing ‘Understanding Life’ booklet should be refreshed so that The Society has an up-to-date careers resource ready for dissemination by Physiology Friday!

There was much discussion surrounding higher education policy, including a potential collaboration with the Institute of Physics, Royal Society of Chemistry and the Royal Society of Biology, on a STEM-wide questionnaire for academics across all career pathways; this work would support The Society’s previous efforts on the reward and recognition of teaching in higher education.

The Committee also received a report on the Physiology MOOC that was held in 2017 and was pleased to note that over 8,000 participants enrolled on the course; it was reported that a second run took place in late spring 2018.

Finance Committee

At their April 2018 meeting, the Finance Committee received the Audit report from Audit Partners Haysmacintyre and approved the draft Trustee Annual Report for recommendation to Council. The Committee agreed some amendments to the Investment Policy Statement which would allow Cazenove Capital Management some further flexibility to maximise returns. The Committee received an update on the financial agreements for Europhysiology 2018 and 2020 and discussed the risk exposure to The Society. The Committee also received an update on the identified key risks facing The Society and the associated mitigation processes and recommended actions; this will be reported to Council.

History & Archives Committee

The History & Archives Committee met on 23 April. It discussed plans to host a public symposium this year on the impact of the First World War on physiology and biomedicine. Appropriate venues, dates and speakers are now being researched. The Committee welcomes anyone with a keen interest in this area to make themselves known to The Society’s staff. It also discussed how best to maintain accurate records for The Society’s archives and, in particular, how to note Honorary Members. As a result, the Committee revisited the important need for a Grey Book. To this end, it received an update regarding the plans for a new Society website. The Committee remains especially keen that the site should provide an accessible platform for The Society’s impressive archives and historical resources.

Meetings Committee

The Meetings Committee agreed on its immediate priorities for 2018–2019 following the publication of The Society’s five-year strategy. Key components include providing a range of scientific meetings that support knowledge exchange and networking and meet the needs of today’s researcher, both members and the wider community, with an appropriate geographical spread. We will ensure excellence in all of the programmes and content we offer by setting rigorous processes for selection.

The recipients of the 2019 Prize Lectures were agreed for Annual Review, GL Brown, Hodgkin-Huxley-Katz, R Jean Banister and Joan Mott. The call for Sharpey-Schafer will reopen as in 2019 this lecture should be given by an established physiologist.
To build on the initiatives already in place to support early career researchers, the committee agreed to hold ‘Future Physiology’ annually from 2020 and also reinstate poster competitions at the annual conference.

Finally it was agreed that satellite meetings be held around Physiology 2019, not only to increase the scope of physiology being presented at the annual conference but also to give members the opportunity to host a one-day meeting. The call for this will open on 1 July 2018.

Membership & Grants Committee

The Membership & Grants Committee met for the first time this year in April. The agenda included a review of the uptake of membership and travel grants (including lab visits), Society Representatives’ activities and the Member Insight Project.

Focusing on The Society’s new strategy, the committee discussed how to optimise membership engagement with The Society and the best approaches for strengthening the future pipeline of physiologists. The new website presents existing opportunities to showcase physiologists and their research as well as develop our community.

Membership numbers and diversity were, as always, a focus, and it was keenly noted that there continues to be an increase in the number of members across all categories.

Following the success of last year, preparation is under way for the second Society Representatives ‘Best Practice’ meeting, and we discussed how we can ensure our Representatives are supported to bring enhanced value to the role.

Policy & Communications Committee

The Policy and Communications Committee met in early May. The Committee received updates on regular work areas, including recent consultations on animal research. Keith Siew was elected to be the Committee’s representative on the International Working Group. Discussions took place on how policy work fits into the wider Society strategy and how it may be possible to influence curricula in training for the medical professions.

Publications Committee

The Publications Committee met in late April 2018. The meeting was chaired by Debbie Baines, who was voted into this position formally at the last Council Meeting. The Editors-in-Chief of The Journal of Physiology, Experimental Physiology and Physiological Reports presented their Editorial Reports, with all journals reported as being in good health following a successful year. Experimental Physiology reported especially strong growth, particularly in submission rates, total cites and social media reach.

The Committee outlined our journals’ commitment to increasing transparency and openness. As a result, we hope to implement an updated statistics policy over the coming months. The Committee also agreed that we should step-up our efforts in targeting submissions from under-represented physiological subjects and geographical areas with advice on best practice for publication in our journals. Furthermore, it was discussed that the journals should keep an eye out for interesting multidisciplinary work involving physiology, to ensure that we continue to publish the most pioneering physiology research. Finally, the Committee confirmed the Publications Strategy 2018–2022.