(IOP)A year of growthfile_56505

A year of growth 2011 Annual Report The Annual Report of the Institute of Physics 2011 1Th e A n n u A l R e p o R T o f T h e I n s T I T u T e o f p h y s I c s 2011 Introduction 3 Report of the trustees for the year ended 31 December 2011 4 Achievements and performance during the year 6 Research 6 Application 7 Education 8 Scientific Communications 10 Advocacy and Awareness 11 Membership 12 Capability 13 Objectives for 2012 15 Activities in Scotland 16 Financial review 17 Summarised accounts 19 Administrative details 22 Contents 3Th e A n n u A l R e p o R T o f T h e I n s T I T u T e o f p h y s I c s 2011 Introduction Looking back on 2011, the Institute has had another good year. To begin with, we have influenced two significant changes in government policy in England. The first was the introduction of separate quotas for trainee teachers of physics, chemistry and biology, rather than combining them all under the umbrella of “science”. The second, following lobbying from IOP, was the creation of a new PGCE course of teaching physics with maths. The government also recognised the Institute’s work in supporting non-specialist teachers by extending the funding of the Stimulating Physics Network to March 2014, as well as adding a further £0.5 m to the project. The volume of journal papers increased by 3% on 2010 to 27,000 articles, coming to around 260,000 pages of research. Media releases on journal articles increased by 50%. A new series of topical research meetings kicked off in June with an event on graphene attracting 120 participants. A series of reports highlighting the use of physics in non-physics industries was launched with a publication on the computer-games industry. Members are at the heart of the Institute, and by the end of 2011 total membership had increased to 45,000 people – an increase of 12% compared with the end of 2010. All of the Institute’s successes during 2011 came under the supervision of its chief executive, Bob Kirby-Harris, who stood down for medical reasons in January 2012 before his retirement in June. On behalf of the Institute’s staff and its members I would like to thank Bob for all his work with IOP. And on behalf of Council, I would like to thank members who have contributed to the Institute’s many activities through branches, groups and other programmes, as well as IOP staff, who have all continued to provide excellent service both to the Institute and to physics. Prof. Stuart Palmer FREng CPhys FInstP Honorary secretary, Institute of Physics Introduction – a message from IOP’s honorary secretary Report of the trustees for the year ended 31 December 2011 Th e A n n u A l R e p o R T o f T h e I n s T I T u T e o f p h y s I c s 20114 Structure, governance and management Organisation The trustees of the Institute of Physics are the mem- bers of the Council. They are elected and appointed in accordance with the Royal Charter and Bylaws. The president serves a two-year term plus the year immediately preceding as president-elect and a year following as past-president. The honorary treasurer and honorary secretary serve a four-year term, renewable for one further four-year term. All other elected members of Council serve a single four-year term. Council is supported by a wide range of boards and committees, reflecting the size and complexity of the Institute. By delegating a significant proportion of the business of the Institute, Council is better able to ensure that the required time and attention are applied to overseeing that business. In addition, by widening the membership of boards and committees beyond Council members, greater representation can be achieved in the consideration of the Institute’s business. Furthermore, boards and committees are able to obtain, where neces- sary, specialist advice within or beyond the membership of the Institute. The key roles of Council, boards/committees and the executive can be summarised as follows. ●● Council – develops, approves and monitors overall strategy and resource allocation. ●● Boards – develop, approve and monitor strategy in areas of activity. ●● Committees of Council – fulfil governance requirements and/or approve and monitor Institute-wide activity. ●● Executive – implements and reports on strategy. The main boards of the Institute are Business and Innovation, Education, Finance and Investment, Mem- bership and Qualifications, and Science. The main com- mittees are Audit and Risk, Awards, Diversity, External Engagement, Group Co-ordination, Honorary Fellows, International Development, Nations and Branches, Nom- inations, and Remuneration. Formal induction is given to all new trustees. In addi- tion, all officers and vice-presidents attend a series of meetings with relevant Institute staff and advisers as part of the induction process. Risk management The Institute maintains a register of significant risks and maintains systems to control and manage them. This is reviewed by an Audit and Risk Committee, which reports to Council on a regular basis. The Audit and Risk Committee has appointed PKF to carry out the internal audit function on behalf of the com- mittee. Its reports are reviewed at the first available com- mittee meeting and acted on appropriately. Management and staffing The day-to-day management of the Institute and its activities are delegated to the chief executive, sup- ported by six directors, responsible for communication and external relations, education and science, finance, human resources and corporate services, information technology, and membership and business. Publishing is delegated to the managing director of IOP Publish- ing Ltd who is not a director of the Institute. The chief executive leads a staff of 130 people. Council’s responsibilities Under the Royal Charter and Bylaws of the Institute of Physics, Council is required to prepare financial state- ments for each financial year, which show a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the group and the Institute at the end of the year and of the financial activities of the group during the year then ended. In preparing those financial statements, Council is required to: ●● select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently; ●● make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent; ●● state whether applicable accounting standards and statements of recommended practice have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements; ●● prepare the financial statements on the going-concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charity and the group will continue in operation. Council is required to act in accordance with the Royal Charter and Bylaws of the Institute of Physics within the framework of charity and trust law. It is responsible for keeping proper accounting records that disclose with rea- sonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the group and the Institute and that enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Charities Act 2011 and accord with applicable accounting stand- ards, including the Statements of Recommended Prac- tice 2005 Accounting and Reporting by Charities. It is also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the group Report of the trustees for the year ended 31 December 2011 Report of the trustees for the year ended 31 December 2011 5Th e A n n u A l R e p o R T o f T h e I n s T I T u T e o f p h y s I c s 2011 and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities. Objectives and activities Summary of aims and objectives The Institute of Physics was established in its current form by Royal Charter dated 17 September 1970. The Royal Charter and Bylaws set out the object of the Insti- tute and the framework within which it conducts its affairs. The object of the Institute as stated in the Royal Charter is “to promote the advancement and dissemina- tion of a knowledge of and education in the science of physics, pure and applied.” The Institute has seven goals. They are: Research: To ensure the strongest research base in phys- ics within universities, industry and other institutions – so as to advance science and develop skilled physicists and other scientists and engineers. Application: To ensure the strongest application of knowledge in physics by industry government universi- ties and other institutions, and the most productive links between these sectors – so as to create economic value and resolve major societal challenges. Education: To enable access for all to physics education of the highest quality – so as to develop skilled scientists and engineers, expand personal opportunities, and cre- ate an informed population for the benefit of the econ- omy and society at large. Scientific Communications: To enable access for all involved in the physics community to professional scien- tific communications of the highest quality and provide assurance of their objectivity and rigour – so as to sup- port the exchange of knowledge and facilitate scientific research, application and education. Advocacy and Awareness: To engage with all policy mak- ers and the public developing awareness and under- standing of the central importance of physics – so as to influence decision makers, respond to concerns and shape the agenda. Membership: To engage with physicists from all sectors and all those interested in physics providing relevant services and opportunities to become involved in phys- ics, attracting a larger broader and more diverse mem- bership, and contributing to the development of the profession. Capability: To provide the strongest capability required for the Institute to achieve its strategic goals – including secure and diverse sources of finance, a skilled and moti- vated workforce, effective systems, sound governance and good principles of environmental practice. Public benefit The Institute meets the public benefit test set out in the Charities Act 2011 in the following ways: ●● by the advancement of education in its many activities to support students, teachers, schools and curriculum development, to promote opportunities to benefit from a high-quality physics education, and of continuing development and learning by physicists, and those interested in physics, throughout their careers; ●● by the advancement of science through its role as a learned society, working with universities and scientists, supporting, promoting and publicising research in physics, funding for research, and the applications of research within the wider economy and for the wider benefit of society; ●● by the advancement of community development by supporting branches and subject groups, by involvement in international physics organisations and by the encouragement of volunteering within physics communication and education. The trustees confirm that they have referred to the guidance contained in the Charity Commission’s gen- eral guidance on public benefit when reviewing the char- ity’s aims and objectives. More details of many of the specific activities and achievements are set out in the following section on achievements and performance during the year. Achievements and performance Th e A n n u A l R e p o R T o f T h e I n s T I T u T e o f p h y s I c s 20116 1. In this and the following sections, income and expenditure are attributed to individual goals. Expenditure may exceed income for individual goals. However, for the Institute as a whole, income exceeded expenditure by £2.2 m in 2011 (see summarised accounts, p19). Income and expenditure1 Total incoming resources for this goal were £1093 k, with expenditure of £2072 k to give a net expenditure of £979 k. Performance against 2011 objectives Continue to maintain and enhance physics degree pro- grammes and prepare to expand the programme to encompass masters degrees. As part of the five-year rolling accreditation scheme, 10 universities have been re-accredited and eight universities have had degree programmes recognised. The accreditation require- ments for integrated masters have been revised this year to emphasise and promote the enhanced nature of the degree. The possibility of expanding the accredita- tion scheme to taught masters programmes is currently under discussion. Continue to support group and division activity and expand provision of the Research Student Conference Fund to postdoctoral researchers. The number of meet- ings organised by our members continues to grow: in 2011 our groups and divisions were involved in organis- ing around 100 different events, ranging from evening lectures and seminars to international multi-day confer- ences and specialist workshops. The groups continue to support around another 50 externally organised events, and attendance at these remains high, with audiences of around 30–40 for spe- cialist one-day meetings, and up to 300 or more for the larger conferences. The meetings also reflect the inter- disciplinary nature of physics with many meetings being organised jointly by a number of groups or with other learned societies. There were 150 applications for the Research Stu- dents Conference Fund (RSCF) in 2011. This increasing demand has led to an increase in the RSCF for 2012. Continue to reward excellence in physics research through medals and prizes. The Institute continues to have a large number of applications for medals and prizes. There were more than 100 nominees in 2011, and 22 awards were made. Continue to organise professional conferences to sup- port research at the frontiers of physics and establish a new series of high-level topical discussion meetings to enhance the Institute’s reputation for scientific leadership. A new conference series entitled “Topical Research Meetings” was established in 2011. These are discussion-style meetings on major and topical themes in physics, including applied physics, astronomy and physics at the interface with other sciences. The inau- gural event was held in June 2011 on graphene and attracted more than 120 participants. Response strategy to the new funding landscape: to ini- tiate a coherent series of policy and statistical reports, workshops, seminars and related activity to support and inform the Institute’s advocacy work in light of the significant changes to the economic and political environment. Evidence, a Thomson Reuters company, was tasked with undertaking a bibliometric analysis on international comparisons of the strength of the UK’s physics research base, comparing the UK’s per- formance in physics to cognate subjects, and against other nations. The volume of research papers produced was used as an indicator of research activity; citation impact (citations per paper), normalised to the world average for the year of publication and the field of study (normalised citation impact), was used as an indicator of research quality. IOP set up a review of the “Health of UK Nuclear Phys- ics” as a pilot for a more general review of UK physics to ensure that IOP can influence, in a strategic way, those who fund UK physics. The review is focused on the aca- demic community in nuclear physics as funded by STFC but will ensure that it describes properly that communi- ty’s interactions and collaborations with the wider group of nuclear “scientists” and the communities/industries that use nuclear information, techniques, methods and knowledge. Achievements and performance during the year Research Our goal: To ensure the strongest research base in physics so as to advance science and develop skills. Achievements and performance 7Th e A n n u A l R e p o R T o f T h e I n s T I T u T e o f p h y s I c s 2011 Income and expenditure Total incoming resources for this goal were £257 k, with expenditure of £685 k to give a net expenditure of £428 k. Performance against 2011 objectives Produce a series of short case studies/highlights of the use of physics in “non-physics” industries to solve problems and add value, for example lasers or optics in shops’ checkouts. The Physics Works series was launched with a report on the place of physics in the computer-games industry. The report, Physics Works: How physics is driving the computer games industry, showed that physicists are at the heart of an industry generating sales of £2 bn a year, in which the UK is a world-leader. It describes the skills required for the industry, and the roles that trained physicists are play- ing in taking forward new developments. The report was used as the basis for discussions to help build contacts between the Institute and the industry. Further reports in the series are planned. The next report, on the role of physics in the retail sector, will be launched in spring 2012. Create a new web-based service to enable contact and knowledge exchange between business and research. Physics Connect is a new online directory of suppliers, researchers, expertise and services. It will enable and support knowledge and information exchange across the physics community by providing easy access to listings of products and people. The project has been delayed by supplier issues but is on track for delivery in 2012. Application Our goal: To ensure the strongest application of knowledge in physics so as to create value and resolve challenges. Achievements and performance Th e A n n u A l R e p o R T o f T h e I n s T I T u T e o f p h y s I c s 20118 Income and expenditure Total incoming resources for this goal were £2491 k, with expenditure of £5041 k to give a net expenditure of £2550 k. Performance against 2011 objectives Continue to support specialist and, particularly, non- specialist teachers to improve their confidence and knowledge base by explicit CPD, enhancing our net- works and by the development of online resources. Our work in supporting non-specialist teachers has been fur- ther recognised by the government’s decision not only to extend the funding of the Stimulating Physics Net- work (SPN), in collaboration with the Science Learning Centres (SLCs), until at least March 2014 but also, in a time of financial austerity, to enhance the funding by an approximate £0.5 m to allow the project to reach more schools and also to offer mentoring to newly qualified teachers. Although the SPN necessarily covers England only, we have obtained limited funding in Wales to sup- port a similar scheme and our Teacher Network covers the whole of the UK and Ireland. Altogether, we carried out approximately 6000 teacher days of CPD in 2011, with an average satisfaction rating of 97%. We have also received smaller amounts of funding to work with the SLCs on their Triple Science project. Much of the work in supporting non-specialist teach- ers is based on our Supporting Physics Teaching resources. The 11–14 material has now been revised and fully converted to a web-based resource and a great deal of material at 14–16 level is also complete. The talkphysics website was introduced and now has more than 5000 registered users and we have increased the numbers of affiliated schools to almost 1700. Maintain and expand our support for physics-based teaching in higher education including the promotion of: greater participation, inclusion and diversity, harmo- nisation with other European countries and curriculum innovation. The Institute’s accreditation of degrees con- tinues to encompass essentially all eligible programmes within the UK. In addition, the recognition scheme for degrees with significant physics content is growing in popularity. The numbers entering higher ed