## **The Deep-Sea Biology Society** **Accounts for the year ended 31 December 2024** **Registered Charity Number 1173699** ## **The Deep-Sea Biology Society Content of the Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2024** |Page|| |---|---| |Report of the Trustees|1 to 7| |Independent Examiner's Report|8| |Receipts and Payments Accounts|9 to 10| ## Trustees Annual Report Covering the period 1 Jan 2024 - 31 December 2024 ## Section A Reference and administration details **Charity Name:** Deep-Sea Biology Society **Also known as:** DSBS or DSB Soc **Registered charity number:** 1173699 **Principal address:** 49 Station Rd, Polegate, East Sussex, BN26 6EA, UK ## **Trustees:** |**Name**
~~ee~~|**Office**
~~ee~~|**Date Appointed***
~~ee~~
~~ee~~|**Appointing body**
~~ee~~
~~eee~~| |---|---|---|---| |Michelle Taylor
~~ee~~|President
~~ee~~|October 2021
~~ee~~
~~ee~~|DSBS Members
~~eee~~| |Neus Campanyà-
Llovet
~~ee~~
~~rs~~|Treasurer
~~ee~~
~~ee~~|October 2021
~~ee~~
~~ee ee~~|DSBS Members
~~ee~~| |Julia Sigwart
~~ee~~
~~rs~~
~~rs~~|Awards
~~ee ~~
~~ee~~
~~ee ee~~|October 2021
~~ee~~
~~ee ee~~
~~ee~~|DSBS Members
~~ee~~| |Alexis Weinnig
~~rs~~
~~rs~~|Secretary
~~ee ~~
~~ee ee~~|October 2021
~~ee ee~~
~~ee~~|DSBS Members
~~ee~~| |Erin Easton
~~rs~~
~~ee~~|Membership
~~ee ee~~
~~ee~~|October 2021
~~ee~~
~~ee~~|DSBS Members| |Franck
Lejzerowicz
~~ee~~|Communications
~~ee~~|March 2022
~~ee~~|DSBS Members| |Janet Ferguson
~~ee~~
~~a~~
~~a~~|Media
~~ee ~~|January 2024
~~ee~~
~~ee~~|DSBS Members
~~ee~~| |Julia Johnstone
~~a ee~~
~~a~~|Development
~~ee~~
~~ee~~|April 2024
~~ee~~
~~ee~~
~~ee~~|DSBS Members
~~ee~~
~~ee~~| |Pierre Methou
~~a~~|Early Career
~~ee~~|October 2021
~~ee~~
~~ee~~|DSBS Members
~~ee~~| |Alycia Jane Smith
~~ee~~|Diversity
~~ee~~
~~ee~~|October 2021
~~ee~~
~~eee~~|DSBS Members
~~eee~~| |Sofia Graça
Aranha Carvalho
Ramos
~~ee~~
~~es~~|Non-executive
~~ee~~
~~es~~|October 2021
~~eee~~
~~ee~~|DSBS Members
~~eee~~| |Katharine Bigham
~~ee~~
~~es~~
~~a~~|Student affairs
~~ee ~~
~~es~~
~~ee~~|October 2021
~~eee~~
~~ee~~
~~ee ee~~|DSBS Members
~~eee~~
~~ee~~| |Sheena Talma
~~es~~
~~a~~|Non-executive
~~es ~~
~~ee~~|October 2021
~~ee~~
~~ee ee~~|DSBS Members
~~ee~~| *Note: The appointment date is set to the date of charity registration. The appointments to the unregistered society occurred by membership vote prior to the official registration. DSBS Trustees Annual Report 2024 1 ## **Previous Trustees:** The Development trustee, Erik Cordes, appointed in 2021 left in 2024. ## **Names & Address of advisors:** Argents Chartered Accountants, 15 Palace St, Norwich, Norfolk, NR3 1RT, UK. ## Section B - Structure, governance, management ## **Type of governing document:** Constitution ## **How the charity is constituted:** CIO - Association **Trustee selection method:** Election by members on 3-year cycle coincident with the Deep-Sea Biology Symposium. ## **Additional governance issues:** ## _Trustees meetings_ Trustees manage society business by means of regular meetings conducted via video calling. These meetings are minuted by the Secretary. The trustees held five meetings in 2024 and the Annual General Meeting. In an effort to include all trustees, who are located in a variety of countries, we are continuing to implement a dual-meeting strategy, where the meeting is repeated on the same or consecutive days during different time periods to allow trustees from different time zones to participate. The trustees have a dedicated website on the Slack platform to send private messages to all trustees concerning society business. ## _Risks_ A major risk to the society is a reduction of income due to a drop in membership numbers. We try to mitigate this risk by providing members with incentives to maintain memberships, these include: ability to apply for grants and awards, provide discounts to scientific conferences, regular seminar series and keeping members updated about the society’s activities. ## _Networks_ The society continues its relationship with DOSI – Deep Ocean Stewardship Initiative for scientific investigation of deep-sea ecosystems - which has a remit to communicate deep-sea information to the community. We are continuing to assist DOSI with the production of the Deep-Sea Life Newsletter. Two issues were produced in 2024; one in February, and another in September. The society is now contributing to the EU-funded REDRESS project (Restoration of deep-sea habitats to rebuild European Seas, https://doi.org/10.3030/101135492) helping with the dissemination of its products throughout its full duration (four years). DSBS Trustees Annual Report 2024 2 ## Section C - Objectives and Activities ## **Summary of the objectives of the charity set out in its governing document:** We are a scientific society that exists to enable the exchange of information on deep-sea biology to all those who are interested. Our vision is to advance knowledge and awareness of deep-sea ecosystems by promoting and disseminating deep-sea research to both scientific and public audiences, to foster the next generation of deep-sea biologists and to promote demographic diversity in the study of deep-sea biology. ## **Summary of the main activities undertaken for the public benefit in relation to these objectives (include within this section the statutory declaration that trustees have had regard to the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit):** The trustees have had regard to the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit. The society enables the exchange of information on deep-sea biology through its membership program and the organisation and sponsorship of scientific meetings. Specifically, the society directly supports the triennial international Deep-Sea Biology Symposium, and by supporting the triennial International Symposium on Chemosynthesis-Based Ecosystems and triennial International Symposium on Deep-Sea Corals. These are the pre-eminent conferences in their respective fields, which reach out to academic, public, industry and government stakeholders. The society issues grants and awards. These include travel awards to support the society's mission of fostering the next generation of deep-sea biologists (e.g. through student awards) and to promote demographic diversity by enabling researchers from developing countries to attend symposia. The society also provides annual prizes recognising excellence in research. The society provides a public forum for discussion and information related to deep-sea biology through the website (http://dsbsoc.org), twitter feed (@DSBSoc), Instagram feed (@dsbsoc) slack forum (http://dsbsoc.slack.com), seminar series and emails. These services also provide information and articles on upcoming and recent events in the world of Deep-Sea Biology, as well as news on job and studentship announcements. The society’s student forum provides access and assistance to students, while our mentoring program connects senior and junior researchers and students to offer career advice, help and support. ## **Additional details of objectives and activities:** ## _Policy on grantmaking_ Grants and awards are distributed by the society according to our principles. A group of trustees independently score applicants based on scientific merit and other criteria specific to the award. DSBS Trustees Annual Report 2024 3 Applicants are ranked based on the combined scores. The top-ranking applicant(s) are selected for the award, after approval at a meeting of the trustees. ## _Contribution of volunteers_ The society is fortunate to receive hard work and assistance from its trustees, who all contribute their time and efforts on a purely voluntary basis. The society has also received voluntary support from several members of the deep-sea community. ## Section D Achievements and performance ## **Summary of the main achievements of the charity during the year** ## _Members_ Active members on January 1 2024 were 370, we ended with 426; gain of 56 (15.14%). Membership remains a long-term source of funding for the society. ## _Administration_ The society continues to manage memberships through the Wild Apricot platform. We continue to remain compliant with the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR). As DSBS 17[th] is planned for January 2025, our Annual General Meeting was conducted online on 26[th] of September 2024. ## _Awards_ We have used our income from membership, grants and event sponsorship to continue our commitment to prizes and awards. Awards are granted in two categories: participation (conference travel) and research awards. These each have a single annual deadline. We evaluate applications based on the fit to the criteria in the application form, and with an effort to ensure balanced support of gender and geographical diversity of the recipients. A full list of award recipients is available on our website. ## _Conference Award recipients 2024:_ - Oenone Scott (University of Essex, UK): 17th Deep Sea Biology Symposium - Pedro Augusto da Silva Peres (Florida International University, USA): 17th Deep Sea Biology Symposium - Lucy Goodwin (University of Liverpool, USA): 17th Deep Sea Biology Symposium - Heloisa De Cia Caixeta (Oceanographic Institute of the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil): 17th Deep Sea Biology Symposium - Erika Belen Gress (James Cook University, Australia): 17th Deep Sea Biology Symposium - Jaime-Leigh Lue Chin (The University of the West Indies, St Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago): 17th Deep Sea Biology Symposium DSBS Trustees Annual Report 2024 4 - Brenda Lizbeth Esteban Vazquez (Department of Biological Sciences and Centre for Deep Sea Research, University of Bergen, Norway): 17th Deep Sea Biology Symposium - Luke McCartin (Lehigh University, USA): 17th Deep Sea Biology Symposium ## _Research Award recipients 2023:_ - Simone Brito de Jesus (Federal University of São Paulo): _Internship at the Museum of Natural History in Sweden, on the taxonomic diversity, phylogenetic patterns, and molecular characteristics of deep-sea nematodes._ - Johanna Weston (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution): _Research Cruise on RV Polarstern PS143/1, (07.06.2024 – 09.07.2024) to Fram Strait and East Greenland Shelf (Chief scientist: Frank Wenzhöfer)._ ## _Mentoring & Student support_ We continue to support students and Early Career Researchers through our dedicated student webpage, facebook group _,_ and Slack channels. In addition, we also have the society's mentoring program which began in 2018 with three groups totalling 20 people. The mentoring network expanded over the years but recently decreased with now in 2024, 7 groups totalling 43 people with no group in Asia/Pacific anymore. Their meetings cover topics such as work-life balance, science outreach and proposal writing. The society has also initiated a webinar series to compensate for the absence of conferences in 2022, with four webinars providing an opportunity for early career researchers to showcase their most recent works. This was pursued in 2024 with two additional webinar gathering one early career and one phD student speakers in March 2024 and one early career and one phD student speakers in April 2024. ## _Communications & Media_ The website remains key to inform the public about deep-sea biology, and the membership about our activities, incl. revisited Students & ECRs pages (https://dsbsoc.org/students-ecrs) for Next-Generation and Life After PhD contribution, Grant & Awards pages that can now be filled directly from the website, and past Conferences now proposing individual pages and their history. The Deep-Sea Resources page has been expanded with links to 2 new Deep-Sea Life issues, that the Communication Office continues to co-edit with DOSI, but links to discontinued Mendeley collections have been removed (a bibliographic effort will be re-initiated). The Communications Office created a group of DSBSoc Artists, 24 of which have already contributed with artworks displayed on the website (https://dsbsoc.org/artists), for a total of 50 Expressions of Interest. Meetings aiming at bridging arts with deep-sea sciences by fostering collaborations and interaction have been held and were popular. To disseminate arts and other news, newly appointed Media Officer Janet Ferguson-Roberts joined the Communications Office to accompany transition from a pauperized Slack to future communication channels (Discord) and co-manage a team of 4 Society members relaying public and publishing original content on social media platforms, incl. X (7,969 followers; +3.10% in 2023), Instagram (1,204 followers), and new presence on BlueSky (378 followers), and Mastodon (124 followers). DSBS Trustees Annual Report 2024 5 ## _Diversity_ This year, several actions were taken to advance the DSBS Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility (EDIA) goals. Membership fee waivers continued to be offered to individuals who required them due to financial hardship or a career break. The society also kept its online EDI training materials current and accessible through the website for members, and maintained engagement in the Discord #diversity channel by continuing to share relevant literature. Society funds were ensured to remain allocated for ongoing DEIA initiatives within the society. In addition, a special session was developed and co-led at the 17th DSBS conference in Hong Kong, which brought together speakers from around the globe to deliver talks on current efforts in the EDIA space and reflection on these. A paper focusing on “Guidelines for ensuring meaningful engagement of early career researchers in scientific collaborations: recommendations from and for marine and polar scientists” was contributed to as a co-author and published in the ICES Journal of Marine Science. Finally, planning began for a DEI town hall at the Ocean Sciences Meeting in February 2026, co-developed in collaboration with the lead team, Challenger EDIA working group, and The Oceanography Society’s JEDI committee. ## Section E Financial review ## **Brief statement of the charity’s policy on reserves** The charity seeks to hold reserves in line with charity commission guidance. We aim to hold funds sufficient to cover a typical year of expenditure. ## **Details of any funds materially in deficit** None applicable. ## **Further financial review details** The charity's principal source of funds are membership fees, which have provided a steady income stream from the time of the society’s formation. In 2024 we spent funds to support the 17th Deep-Sea Biology conference to be held in January 2025. Last year we secured finance as part of a grant consortium called REDRESS (https://redressproject.eu/) so that we can support communications with the deep-sea community about deepsea ecosystem restoration. At present we have no investments. DSBS Trustees Annual Report 2024 6 ## Section F Other optional information No additional information is provided. ## Section G Declaration **The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees** Signature: Full Name: Pierre Methou Position: Treasurer Trustee Date: 08/10/2025 DSBS Trustees Annual Report 2024 7 ## **Independent Examiner's Report to the Trustees of The Deep Sea Biology Society** ## **Independent examiner's report to the trustees of The Deep Sea Biology Society** I report to the charity trustees on my examination of the accounts of The Deep Sea Biology Society (the Trust) for the year ended 31 December 2024. ## **Responsibilities and basis of report** As the charity trustees of the Trust 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 Trust's accounts carried out under section 145 of the Act and in carrying out my examination I have followed all 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 Trust as required by section 130 of the Act; or 2. the accounts do not accord with those records; or 3. the accounts do not comply with the applicable requirements concerning the form and content of accounts set out in the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 other than any requirement that the accounts give a true and fair view which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination. 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. ## Mot. Mit ## **Mark Johnstone FCA** Argents Chartered Accountants 15 Palace Street NORWICH Norfolk NR3 1RT Date: 9 October 2025 8 ||**The Deep Sea Biology Society**|**The Deep Sea Biology Society**|**The Deep Sea Biology Society**|||**1173699**|**1173699**|||| |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| ||**Receipts andpayments accounts**
01-Jan-24
31-Dec-24
**To**
**For the period from**
~~ee~~
~~ee~~
~~ee~~|||||||||**CC16a**| |**Section A Receipts and payments**||||||||||| ||**Unrestricted**
**funds**||**Restricted**
**funds**||**Endowment**
**funds**||**Total funds**|**Total funds**||**Year ended 31**
**December 2023**| ||**to the nearest £**||**to the nearest £**||**to the nearest £**||**to the nearest £**|||**to the nearest £**| |**A1 Receipts**||||||||||| |Grants|||**-**||**-**||**-**|**-**||**-**| |Membership|**14,975**||**-**||**-**||**14**|**14,975**||**14,115**| |Product sales|**500**||**-**||**-**||**500**|**500**||**767**| |Events|||**-**||**-**||**-**|**-**||**-**| |Symposium|**-**||**10,161**||**-**||**10**|**10,161**||**8,808**| |Donations|**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**|**-**||**22**| |Refund|**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**|**-**||**20**| ||||**-**||**-**||**-**|**-**||**-**| |**_Sub total_**_(Gross income for_
_AR)_|_AR)_**15,475**||**10,161**||**-**||**25,636**|**25,636**||**23,732**| |**A2 Asset and investment sales,**
**(see table).**
**Foreign exhange gain**
**56**
**-**
**-**
**56**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**_Sub total_ 56**
**-**
**-**
**56**
**-**
**_Total receipts_**
**15,531**
**10,161**
**-**
**25,692**
**23,732**
~~—————~~||||||||||| |**A3 Payments**||||||||||| |Awards|**7,750**||**-**||**-**||**7**|**7,750**||**10,683**| |Publications|**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**|**-**||**-**| |General Administrative costs|**4,701**||**-**||**-**||**4**|**4,701**||**2,815**| |Promotional costs|**500**||**-**||**-**||**500**|**500**||**500**| |Events|**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**|**-**||**-**| |Bank charges|**36**||**-**||**-**||**36**|**36**||**341**| |Symposium|**-**||**18,991**||**-**||**18**|**18,991**||**22,933**| |Refund|**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**|**-**||**39**| ||||**-**||**-**||**-**|**-**||**-**| |**_Sub total_ **|**12,987**||**18,991**||**-**||**31,978**|**31,978**||**37,311**| |**A4 Asset and investment**
**purchases, (see table)**
**Foreign exhange loss**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**1,604**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**_Sub total_ -**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**1,604**
**_Total payments_**
**12,987**
**18,991**
**-**
**31,978**
**38,915**
~~——————~~||||||||||| |**_Net of receipts/(payments)_**
**A5 Transfers between funds**
**A6 Cash funds last year end**
**_Cash funds this year end_**|**2,544**
**(8,830)**
**0**
**(6,286)**
**(8,830)**
**8,830**
**0**
**0**
**78,008**
**0**
**0**
**78,008**
**71,722**
**0**
**0**
**71,722**
~~=—_—————~~|||||||||**(15,183)**
**-**
**93,191**
**78,008**| |||||||||||9| ## **Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period** |**Categories**
Signed by one or two trustees on
behalf of all the trustees
**B5 Liabilities**
**B3 Investment assets**
**B2 Other monetary assets**
**B4 Assets retained for the**
**charity’s own use**
**B1 Cash funds**|WISE account
Paypal USD account
WISE USD account
PayPal EUR account
WISE EUR account
**Details**
**Details**
**_Total cash funds_**
(agree balances with receipts and payments
account(s))
Bank account
Paypal account
**Details**
**Details**
**Details**
Signature|**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**Restricted**
**funds**
**to nearest £**
**to nearest £**
**49,197**
**-**
**9,781**
**653**
**11,756**
**6**
**-**
**329**
**71,722**
**-**
OK
OK
**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**Restricted**
**funds**
**to nearest £**
**to nearest £**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**Fund to which**
**asset belongs**
**Cost (optional)**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**Fund to which**
**asset belongs**
**Cost (optional)**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**Fund to which**
**liability relates**
**Amount due**
**(optional)**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
Print Name|**Endowment**
**funds**
**to nearest £**| |---|---|---|---| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||| ||||| ||||| ||||| ||||| ||||**-**| ||||OK| ||||**Endowment**
**funds**
**to nearest £**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**Current value**
**(optional)**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**Current value**
**(optional)**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**When due (optional)**| ||||| ||||| ||||| ||||| ||||| ||||| ||||Date of approval| ||||| ||||| 10