2021-12-31-accounts - The European Society For Neurochemistry

This text was generated using OCR and may contain errors. Check the original PDF to see the document submitted to the regulator.

The European Society for Neurochemistry

Charity number 1098662

Annual Report and Financial Statements

for the year ended 31 December 2021

The European Society for Neurochemistry

Annual Report and Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2021

Contents	Page
Trustees' report	2 to 6
Examiner's report	7
Receipts and payments account	8
Statement of assets and liabilities	9
Notes to the accounts	10 to 11

Prepared by West Yorkshire Community Accountancy Service CIO

The European Society for Neurochemistry

Trustees' report for the year ended 31 December 2021

Reference and administrative details of the charity, its trustees and advisors

The trustees during the financial year and up to and including the date the report was approved were: Name Position Marcus Rattray Company Secretary Ago Rinken Johannes Hirrlinger President Natalia Nalivaeva Anthony Turner

Charity number 1098662 Registered in England and Wales Registered and principal address Bankers Uiniversity of Bradford Co-operative Bank plc Sparkasse Nienburg Richmond Road P.O. box 101 Goetheplatz 4 Bradford 1 Balloon Street 31582 Nienburg BD7 1DP Manchester Germany M60 4EP

Independent examiner E J Beverley FCCA West Yorkshire Community Accountancy Service CIO Stringer House 34 Lupton Street Leeds LS10 2QW

Structure, governance and management

The charity is governed by a constitution adopted on 3 June 2003 and amended 25 May 2021.

Method of recruitment and appointment of trustees

The trustees of the charity are appointed by the members by postal or electronic ballot.

The European Society for Neurochemistry

Trustees' report (continued) for the year ended 31 December 2021

Objectives and activities

The charity's objects

The advancement of the science of Neurochemistry for the public benefit.

According to the Society’s constitution, the Society shall endeavor to:

i Aim to promote the development of Neurochemistry in Europe and to facilitate exchange of ideas and interests amongst its members. [Europe is defined as including those countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea.]
ii Foster the interaction between clinical and basic Neurochemistry.
iii It should be open to all who are interested in Neurochemistry and allied subjects. No one should be excluded from membership of the Society or from attendance at its meetings on grounds of race, religion or nationality.
iv It should seek to be represented on the appropriate advisory and consultative bodies that might impinge upon Neurochemistry, and should seek close relationships with related professional bodies of disciplines interested in Neurobiology.
v Promote general scientific meetings for the discussion and dissemination of research findings in Neurochemistry
vi Arrange and provide for exhibitions, lectures, and training courses.
vii Publish leaflets, pamphlets, journals and books upon the science of Neurochemistry.
viii Collect, tabulate and distribute information on all matters relating to Neurochemistry.
ix Promote, organise and support research relating to Neurochemistry.
x Raise funds and invite and receive contributions from any person or organisation by way of subscription or donation, provided that the Society shall not undertake any trading activities in raising funds for the said objectives.

The charity's main activities

The activities of The European Society for Neurochemistry (ESN) in 2021 were strongly affected by the COVID19 pandemic. Specifically, the main scientific conference organized biannually by ESN, which was planned for May 2021 in St. Petersburg, Russia, had to be postponed to 2022. However, for the organization of this conference, payments were necessary already in 2021.

Therefore, in the reporting year 2021, the main activities of the Society were the following:

1st ESN virtual young scientist conference

This conference was held on May 25-26, 2021, in an online format. It was organized by the Young Scientist Steering Committee (YSSC) of ESN. It comprised two plenary lectures by outstanding scientists, several symposia with scientific presentations by early career scientists, as well as a poster session with short oral presentations also by early career scientists. Poster awards were awarded to the best presentations. 143 scientists from 26 countries attended this conference, 28 of them gave a talk and 45 presented a poster. 6 poster prizes were awarded during the conference. Following this meeting, a Special Issue in the scientific journal “Journal of Molecular Neuroscience” was established, which was published as Volume 72, Issue 7 in July 2022, thereby promoting the work of the contributing members of ESN

The European Society for Neurochemistry

Trustees' report (continued) for the year ended 31 December 2021

Objectives and activities

The charity's main activities (continued)

ESN/International Society of Neurochemistry (ISN) Neurochemistry School, Athens, Greece

The first ESN/ISN Neurochemistry School took place in Athens, Greece, September 19-25, 2021. It was organized by ESN Council member Dimitra Mangoura and her team. The topic was “From Neurodegeneration to Neural Carcinogenesis: Mechanisms and Common Biologies”. 26 young scientists (including 19 PhD students, 4 postdocs, and 1 instructor) took part in the School. They were from the following countries: Greece, 8; Italy, 7; Portugal, 2; Slovakia, 2; and 1 each from France, Germany, Israel, Latvia, Russia, Serbia, and Spain. Participants were selected from applications by a committee, which included members of the Local Organizers and the ESN Council. ESN funded the school, including travel, accommodation and meals for the participants. During the school, lectures of senior scientist provided insights in current scientific concepts, insights in new research results and state-of-the-art technologies. Furthermore, the participants could choose from numerous lab courses and in lab courses, and learn new techniques hands-on in the laboratory. A very positive evaluation showed that the participants greatly appreciated these opportunities to learn new things and to make contacts both to senior scientist as well as other early career researchers.

Neurochemistry initiative

ESN has a long-standing funding scheme entitled “Neurochemistry Initiative”. This funding scheme aims at supporting scientific events related to Neurochemistry. Following a call, application can be sent to ESN, which are evaluated by the ESN Council, which decide on the funding.

In this scheme, one application was funded in 2021 with 1,000 €. This was a thematic school entitled ‘Ion Channels and Neuronal Excitability’, held in Kotor (Montenegro), in July 2021. The School was organized within the biannual series of Schools in Biophysics “Radoslav K. Andjus”, founded by the Biophysics Society of Serbia. It was organized by the Faculty of Biology University of Belgrade within the NENS School PhD program on Neurobiology. 27 students from Serbia, N. Macedonia, Romania, Hungary, Turkey, Italy, Greece, Germany and Russia attended the school. There were 13 lectures by experts from France, Hungary, N. Macedonia, Italy, Serbia, UK and USA. Lectures were intertwined with time dedicated to discussion; furthermore, participants presented posters during the School.

The membership of ESN on 31 December 2021 was 267. Membership is from 44 countries. During the year, members received regular email bulletins from the council about the opportunities available to apply for awards, and had access to information from the ESN via the public website.

Public benefit statement

In setting our objectives and planning our activities our Trustees have given serious consideration to the Charity Commission’s general guidance on public benefit.

Achievements and performance

The main achievements of ESN in 2021 are related to scientific education and scientific exchange meetings. The focus on education of students and early career scientists that contribute to the development of them as individuals to develop independent scientific lines of research and their scientific careers. This individual development is expected to have a wider public benefit through the production of new knowledge in neurochemistry that contributes to society as a whole, including but not limited to, a better understanding of neurological and psychiatric illnesses and their treatment.

The European Society for Neurochemistry

Trustees' report (continued) for the year ended 31 December 2021

Objectives and activities

Achievements and performance (continued)

The main achievements of the Charity in 2021 are related to the main events funded:

At the 1st ESN virtual young scientist conference, (25-26 May, 2021) early career researchers were provided with the opportunity to present their scientific work, to gain experience in presenting their findings, to connect with other scientists and to promote their scientific careers. This was especially important on the background of the pandemic, which prevented early career researcher from attending “real” conferences, which are an essential part of a scientists’ work. 143 scientists from 26 countries attended this conference, 28 of them gave a talk and 45 presented a poster. 6 poster prizes were awarded during the conference.

The ESN/ISN Neurochemistry School, Athens, Greece, (19-25 September, 2021) ESN contributed to educate early career researchers. Given the selection process for participation, highly-promising scientist benefitted from this experience. They will transfer this new knowledge back to their laboratories throughout Europe, thereby amplifying the impact of the school. 26 early career scientists from 11 countries took part in the School.

In this Neurochemistry Initiative scheme, the financial support of the thematic school entitled ‘Ion Channels and Neuronal Excitability’, held in Kotor (Montenegro), in July 2021, allowed the organizers to hold this school, which also educated students and early career scientist. 27 students from 9 countries took part in the School.

In 2021, the actions of ESN were limited due to the circumstances of the COVID19-pandemic, and –specifically- the postponing of the ESN Conference in St Petersburg from 2021 to May 2022. Therefore, funding for this conference, earmarked for 2021 and provided by ISN, has been held over to be used in 2022 for the postponed conference.

The biennial conference is associated with a number of personal awards provided by ESN. The awards could not be awarded in 2021 and the funds received have been held over to be granted 2022 at the ESN Conference (St Petersburg, May 2022). For the St Petersburg meeting planned for 2022, awardees were selected in a competitive manner by the ESN Council.

These awards are:

1) Bachelard Award, which honors a senior scientist in the field of Neurochemistry.
2) Young Scientist Lecture Awards (YSLA) which is awarded to highly-promising early career principal investigators, “rising stars”). The awards cover conference expenses and travel.
3) Young Member Symposium awards (YMS) awarded to early career scientist (PhD students, Postdocs), allowing to attend the conference and present their work in the special Young Member Symposia. Usually, 10 awardees are selected by ESN Council in a competitive manner from the applications; however, also these awards were postponed to 2022 along with the biennial conference. The awards cover conference expenses and travel.

Membership of ESN remains stable, and the membership fee structure has not been changed. Financially, the society remains in a strong position to achieve its planned purposes over the next period – the funding of initiatives for young scientists and symposia and conferences for public benefit. Plans are in development for 2022 and include organization of the meeting in St. Petersburg (May 2022) including awarding 1 Bachelard Award, 2 YSLA and 10 YMS. Furthermore, new calls for the Neurochemistry Initiative are planned. For 2023, organization of the joint ISN/ESN Conference in Porto, Portugal (Aug 2023) has already been started, including the same set of personal awards as listed for 2022. Furthermore, ESN plans for 2023 to have a call for a second ENS/ISN Neurochemistry School as well as for new calls for the Neurochemistry Initiative.

The European Society for Neurochemistry

Trustees' report (continued) for the year ended 31 December 2021

Financial review

The net receipts for the year were £7,674, including net receipts of £13,693 on unrestricted funds and net expenditure of £6,019 on restricted funds.

The Charity is in a very good financial position at 31 December 2021. The main sources of income are stable. Due to the COVID19 pandemic, expenses were limited in 2021.

The main sources of income of the Charity are the following:

1) Members subscriptions. The number of members of ESN has slowly, but steadily increased over the last few years. While there is some fluctuation of members associated with specific events, many members are members of ESN for long times. Therefore the income from member subscriptions is stable.
2) Support from the International Society for Neurochemistry (ISN). ISN is organized for charitable and educational purposes and provides financial support to its sister societies including ESN. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was agreed on by ISN and ESN in November 2018, which is the basis of this financial support. The MoU runs until December 31st 2023, therefore, ISN support to ESN is secured until 2023. Negotiations of ISN and ESN to prolong the MoU have already been started.

The MoU between ISN and ESN specifies an annual support for meetings, with the main ESN meeting being biennial. The MoU specifies that funds obtained from ISN can be rolled over to the next year to have the combined funds from two years to fund the biennial conference. In 2021, this procedure was disturbed by the COVID19 pandemic, preventing spending most of the funds dedicated to finance the ESN biannual Conference planned in St. Petersburg in May 2021, which had to be postponed to 2022.

Reserves policy

The charity's free reserves, excluding fixed assets, at the year end were £105,972.

ESN does not currently have a reserves policy.

Approved by the board of trustees on 6/10/2022

Marcus Rattray (Trustee)

The European Society for Neurochemistry

Independent examiner's report to the trustees of The European Society

for Neurochemistry

I report to the charity trustees on my examination of the accounts of the charity for the year ended 31 December 2021, which are set out on pages 8 to 11.

Responsibilities and basis of report

As the charity trustees you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 ('the Act').

I report in respect of my examination of the charity's accounts as carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act. In carrying out my examination I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act.

Independent examiner's statement

I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believe that in any material respect:

1 accounting records were not kept in respect of the charity as required by section 130 of the Act; or 2 the accounts do not accord with those records.

I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.

E J Beverley FCCA

12/10/2022

West Yorkshire Community Accountancy Service CIO

Stringer House 34 Lupton Street Leeds LS10 2QW

The European Society for Neurochemistry

Receipts and payments account for the year ended 31 December 2021

Notes 2021 Unrestricted funds £ Receipts Grants (2) 21,953 Subscriptions 4,536 Conference fees 602 Total receipts 27,091 Payments Conference costs 12,554 Virtual conference costs 64 Office expenses 67 Membership fees 430 Bank charges 165 Website hosting 118 Total payments 13,398 Net income / (expenditure) 13,693 Exchange difference (3) (2,303) Fund balances brought forward 94,582 Fund balances carried forward (4) 105,972	2021 Restricted funds £ 22,531 - - 22,531 28,550 - - - - - 28,550 (6,019) - - (6,019)	2021 Total funds £ 44,484 4,536 602 49,622 41,104 64 67 430 165 118 41,948 7,674 (2,303) 94,582 99,953	2020 Total funds £ 24,134 5,138 588 29,860 - 337 109 445 - - 891 28,969 - 65,613 94,582

The European Society for Neurochemistry

Statement of assets and liabilities

as at 31 December 2021 2021 Unrestricted £ Cash funds Cash at bank 105,972 Total cash funds 105,972 Amounts owed to the charity Final 20% of grant for Athens conference received July 2022 Prepaid amounts Payment for St Petersberg conference planned for 2022 Liabilities Independent examination	2021 Restricted £ (6,019) (6,019)	2021 Total £ 99,953 99,953 £ 6,019 6,019 £ 11,695 11,695 £ 360 360	2020 Total £ 94,582 94,582

The financial statements were approved by the board of trustees on 6/10/2022

Marcus Rattray (Trustee)

The European Society for Neurochemistry

Notes to the accounts

for the year ended 31 December 2021

1 Accounting policies

Basis of accounting

The trustees have taken advantage of section 133 of the Charities Act 2011 and have prepared the accounts on a receipts and payments basis.

There has been no change to the accounting policies since last year.

The figures reported in previous years had been based on the UK transactions only rather than the total transactions of the charity which include activity based in Europe as well. The comparatives in these accounts have been amended to show the total activity of the charity in 2020.

Taxation

As a charity the organisation benefits from rates relief and is generally exempt from income tax and capital gains tax but not from VAT. Irrecoverable VAT is included in the cost of those items to which it relates.

Fund accounting

Unrestricted funds are available for use at the discretion of the trustees in furtherance of the general objectives of the charity. Restricted funds are subjected to restrictions on their expenditure imposed by the donor or through the terms of an appeal.

Further explanation of the nature and purpose of each fund is included in the notes to the accounts.

The European Society for Neurochemistry

Notes to the accounts continued

for the year ended 31 December 2021

2 Grants and donations The International Society of Neurochemistry (ISN)	2021 Unrestricted funds £ 21,953 21,953	2021 Restricted funds £ 22,531 22,531	2021 Total funds £ 44,484 44,484	2020 Total funds £ 24,134 24,134

3 Exchange difference

The European Society of Neurochemistry has a euro bank account. The transactions through this account have been converted to sterling at the average exchange rate for the year. The exchange difference relates to the difference between the closing bank balance at 31 December 2020 using the average 2020 rate and the opening balance at 1 January 2021 using the average 2021 rate.

4 Restricted funds ISN Fund name ISN	Balance b/f Receipts Payments Transfers Balance c/f £ £ £ £ £ - 22,531 28,550 - (6,019) - 22,531 28,550 - (6,019) Purpose of restriction For the first of a series of ESN-ISN Advanced Schools held in Athens. The deficit on this fund relates to the last 20% of funding which was applied for and received after the year end.

5 Related party transactions

Trustee expenses

No trustee received any expenses during this year or the previous year.

Trustee remuneration and benefits

No trustee received any remuneration or benefit during this or the previous year.