Bridget Lumb, President, The Physiological Society

https://doi.org/10.36866/pn.118.6

As I write this, we are living in an unprecedented period with the COVID-19 global pandemic having a profound effect on every aspect of how we live and work. Scientists across the world are having to adapt quickly and I have heard many inspiring stories about the way people are dealing with this crisis.

It is more important than ever to come together as a scientific community as we work to tackle this pandemic. The Society quickly formed a COVID-19 advisory panel and launched our “Questions from the Frontline” initiative, which seeks to provide physiological insight to clinicians dealing with patients. We have made research articles in our scientific journals that are relevant to COVID-19 freely accessible and we will continue to do this over the coming weeks and months.

The Society is also adapting our activities and resources so that we can continue to support our Members during this challenging time. We have launched our online COVID-19 hub on our website which contains a growing range of resources to assist Members, including

• Teaching materials to assist with transitioning online
• Professional development webinars to enhance your career
• Mental health training
• Grants to support science communication
• Advice to help you submit papers to journals
• Advice on returning to lab work while maintaining social distancing

This list continues to be added to, so please do visit the COVID-19 hub and let us know if there are resources you would find useful.

I am pleased that by quickly adapting to working from home during the lockdown, The Society’s staff have been able to continue to provide day-to-day Member services, with phone calls and emails answered as normal.

The pandemic has unfortunately necessitated the cancellation of our face to face 2020 events, including Europhysiology in Berlin, which was going to feature our annual conference. The Europhysiology Organising Committee unanimously agreed that, although the situation is currently improving, holding a large international conference in early September is unrealistic.

Our Europhysiology series of conferences was established to bring physiologists from across Europe together to celebrate science and we still plan to hold our next conference in Copenhagen, Denmark in September 2022 and we look forward to seeing you there.

Despite the current restrictions, we are determined to continue providing physiologists with opportunities to hear the latest science and for professional development. Therefore, we are seeking to move as many of our events as possible online, as well as rescheduling others.

Our conference Future Physiology in July will be run as an entirely virtual event between 6-10 July comprising talks, workshops and ePoster sessions for delegates to engage with remotely. This innovative way of connecting physiologists from around the globe will provide an opportunity for early career researchers (ECRs) to share new research, gain practical skills, and network with peers. This year’s conference is called Physiology in a Changing Climate: The Interdependence between Physiology, Behaviour and the Environment. The conference will be tailor-made to give ECRs the experience and enthusiasm to take the next steps in their career.

As the pandemic progresses we will continue to monitor and review our programme of activities to ensure we are doing our very best to support the physiology community at this time and I would encourage you to regularly check our website for updates on events planned for later in the year. I looking forward, more than ever, to next year’s annual conference in Birmingham!

As I approach the last few months of my Presidency, it seems a good time to reflect on the last couple of years. During this time we have held a fantastic main meeting in Aberdeen, hosted our first public event at the Royal Institution with NASA astronaut Jim Pawelczyk, and launched our first two parliamentary reports in our history.

It’s been a busy and rewarding time for The Society and at the heart of everything we do is our membership. I am proud that we represent the largest network of physiologists in Europe: from early career through to Nobel Prize winners, we embody the full spectrum of our discipline. I am delighted that our membership numbers continue to grow but we must never stand still. We are currently undertaking a membership review to listen to current and prospective Members about how we can make The Society – your society – the best it can be. We want to explore how we can support physiologists in their careers, enhance their networks and continue to be a hub for world-changing science.

One of the real strengths of physiology is the breadth of the discipline, and we are actively working to engage every community. For example, our recent Sport and Exercise Science (SES) report has been warmly received by SES departments across the country. We have recently held policy events in Cardiff and London and we have strengthened our Society Representative network, with each institution’s representative now searchable on our website.

The next few weeks and months will be challenging for everyone as we face this crisis. The Physiological Society will continue to support you as we move through this period.