From the President

Well, that’s it. We’ve moved! The Society’s headquarters are now at Charles Darwin House (CDH) in Bloomsbury, London. You will find the address and other contact details on the website.  This is a more central location for our activities and allows us better to engage with opinion-formers, with policy-makers and with our sister societies, particularly those which are in the same premises – the Biochemical Society, the Society for Experimental Biology, the British Ecological Society and the Society of Biology. We look forward to attracting other societies and enlarging the ‘Biology Hub’ at CDH over the coming years.

Members can be reassured that we will not lose our individuality as a learned society following this move, but we will be able to make more efficient use of shared resources. Many of the issues we face are also faced by the other learned societies, and working together we can be more effective. A central London location is convenient for small meetings, but we will not become London-centric. It is important that our Focused Meetings, as well as our Annual Conference, occur around the UK and Ireland – and that depends on members nominating suitable locations as well as topics for our meetings.

You will have noticed that our external image has also undergone a change. Our new logo has a more modern and upbeat appearance, as befits a forward-looking learned society. I hope that the majority will see the new branding as a positive advance. We also summarise the results of the Membership Survey in this issue. It is pleasing that the large majority of members is satisfied with their membership, and, unsurprisingly, that the networking opportunities are an important benefit to many. The responses to the survey will be taken into account in the future development of the Society. As always, I am keen to hear from members on their ideas for the Society.

We are delighted to publish a discussion with Pooja Aggarwal of Nature Publishing Group, who was a member of our Equality and Diversity Working Group. This group developed the Society’s Equality and Diversity Policy Statement, which is available online. I occasionally serve on a panel to accredit institutions and individual departments with Athena SWAN Bronze, Silver or Gold awards and I am sometimes amazed at the issues of gender equality that some of our colleagues face. As a membership organisation, the Society will do everything it can to promote equality and diversity in all its activities.

This edition is about microbial ‘superheroes’. Some micro-organisms show remarkable properties – which can only be found among higher organisms in the pages of superhero comics! In this issue, we have shape-shifting microbes as well as the less bizarre, but equally impressive, qualities of salt tolerance and radiation resistance. However, real superheroes of microbiology are also found among our staff, our members and potential members. Our staff has implemented the many changes the Society has undergone, our members deliver many of our conference and outreach activities, and our potential members have been very successful in the iGEM competition.

Finally, I would like to acknowledge the excellent work of Dr Simon Festing as Chief Executive since June 2011. Simon’s drive and vision, working through SGM Council, have positioned the Society to deal with the many external changes we face. Simon leaves us this month to return to more policy-oriented work and we are well into the process of appointing his replacement, which will be announced as soon as possible.

NIGEL L. BROWN

President
[email protected]