Important changes to the Microbiology Society’s governing body
23 July 2024
As President of the Microbiology Society, I have written to all our members to explain important changes to the to the Microbiology Society’s governing body.
These are being introduced to ensure that the Society can draw on a sufficiently wide range of expertise for its future decision-making as the environment in which it operates changes dramatically.
As members of the Society, we all deeply value its work and everything it provides to us. For many of us, the Society is a welcoming ‘home from home’ beyond our institution or employer. It is a conduit between all of us as its expert members and the community.
In 2025 the Microbiology Society will celebrate its 80th anniversary. As a not-for-profit publisher and a membership charity, subject to environmental challenges, we need to ensure the Society can continue to invest in the global microbiology community and amplify the voices of all of its members.
To achieve this, your governing Council has agreed that a complete review of its structure is needed, that Council’s membership is too large, and that it needs external expertise beyond that available in the professional microbiology community. These changes will ensure the Society continues to thrive in the modern world.
Summary of changes
During a process of discussion and review and with expert legal guidance, the principal broad decisions taken by Council are to:
- Establish a new, smaller, more streamlined Board of Trustees that will include the Officers and elected members and with provision for the inclusion of a minority of non-member trustees with external expertise and;
- Establish a powerful advisory body that essentially mirrors Council in its current form, a new ‘Advisory Council’ to really lead the Society’s important programmes, freed from the formal legal burden of being Directors and Trustees.
To achieve this change as a UK charity, the Society must seek input from the Charity Commission. Once this is formalised, it will be put to the membership and we will provide a further update on the changes, including how the new groups will be set up and managed and how they will continue to work with the rest of the Society’s governance structure.
Get in touch
We welcome – and encourage – your feedback and your questions on points requiring further clarification. Please get in touch by emailing [email protected].
Professor Gurdyal Besra FRS
Microbiology Society President
