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2022-12-31-accounts

TRUSTEE ANNUAL REPORT

Period: 1 January – 31 December 2022

Charity Number: 1185514

OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES

The Objects

The objects of the Academy are “to improve public health and well-being by supporting research, education and associated activities which advance the knowledge and application of evidence-based nutrition science.”

Charitable Purposes for Public Benefit

As a charity the Academy must have aims that fall within the descriptions of charitable purposes set out in the Charities Act 2006. The charitable purposes of the Academy in pursuit of its objects are:

The Trustees have complied with the duty in s.17 of the Charities Act 2011 to have due regard to the Charity Commission’s published general and relevant sub-sector guidance concerning the operation of the public benefit requirement under that Act. The beneficiaries are considered to be:

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of evidence-based nutritional science. Examples include the Academy publishing position papers that promote and champion nutrition science and make recommendations to inform policy and practice, participating in relevant public consultations, and scientific conferences.

ACHIEVEMENTS AND PERFORMANCE

Introduction and Foundation

The Academy of Nutrition Sciences is a joint initiative between the Association for Nutrition (AfN), the British Dietetic Association (BDA), the British Nutrition Foundation (BNF) and the Nutrition Society, established in October 2019 to: ‘ Improve public health and wellbeing by supporting excellence in research, education and associated activities to advance the knowledge and application of evidence-based nutrition science.’

This object will be furthered, in collaboration with both the founding member organisations and additional new member organisations, through common goals and collective activities. The focus will be in four main areas:

Leadership

The Academy will provide a collective voice to engage with stakeholders in the area of nutrition and dietetics, including government and industry. It will also work with partner organisations to ensure publicly available nutrition and diet advice is evidence-based.

Communication, Education and Training

The Academy will champion nutrition science in evidence-based policy making and as a subject in education at all levels. The Academy will also promote education, training, information and guidance and advocate for greater nutrition education for medical students.

Stakeholder Relationships

The Academy will champion research, knowledge transfer and public engagement in the nutrition field. The Academy will champion the public’s greater awareness of the importance of properly regulated nutritionists and dietitians with suitable qualifications and experience.

Advancing the Research Agenda

The Academy will develop a concordat for funders and universities about what constitutes rigorous and ethically sound research in the nutrition field.

2022 Activities

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Governance and Strategy

Throughout 2022, the third year of activities for the Academy, the trustees met on 6 occasions to transact Academy business.

The strategic plan, following consultation with the member organisations, was completed in 2021. It contains the following:

Vision: To be an authoritative voice advancing and promoting evidencebased nutrition science.

Mission: To champion nutrition science, enhancing its impact on policy and health for public benefit.

Three Strategic Priorities:

  1. Promoting collaboration and partnerships:

(1.1) Promote collaborations between the ANS member organisations.

(1.2) Promote external collaborations by developing and maintaining working relationships with appropriate partners

(1.3) Establish a collaborative model to enable wider membership of the Academy

  1. Influencing science and policy:

(2.1) Influence nutritionally-relevant policies at national and international levels by highlighting issues in nutrition science and encouraging action to address them

(2.2) Promote nutrition science research for the public benefit and actively engage with groups determining nutrition policy

(2.3) Improve the representation of nutrition science on research strategy groups and funding panels, and actively engage in discussions to help shape funding calls

(2.4) Publish position papers that promote and champion evidencebased nutrition science and to make recommendations that inform policy and practice

  1. Developing organisational resilience:

(3.1) Determine operational priorities for action and desired outcomes within the strategic plan

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(3.2) Develop a financial plan to enable stability and growth

(3.3) Extend membership of ANS to societies and organisations which satisfy the membership criteria

(3.4) Encourage extension of Academy activities through task and finish group

(3.5) Develop and implement a communications strategy to raise the profile of the Academy’s work.

Position Papers, Responses to Consultations and other Outputs/Activities

Position Papers

The Academy published its second position paper in November 2022. Titled ‘How and why health claims are authorised’, the paper was published open-access in British Journal of Nutrition and considered the strengths of approaches used in different countries, identified challenges faced in assessing the scientific evidence and made recommendations to overcome these. Two accompanying editorials, entitled ‘Why do health professionals need to know about the nutrition and health claims regulation? Summary of an Academy of Nutrition Sciences Position Paper’ were published on-line (free to access) in December 2022 in Nutrition Bulletin and the Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics. These summarise the Academy’s recommendations and highlight the implications of the Regulation for nutrition and dietetic professionals. In November 2022, the Position Paper was highlighted in a presentation by Trustee Prof McArdle at a conference at the Royal Society of Medicine. In December 2022, Trustee Prof Whelan presented the findings of both of the Academy’s Position Papers at a research meeting organised by the British Dietetic Association and further talks are scheduled for 2023.

During the year, work has progressed on a third Position Paper, examining how evidence is used to guide individualised nutrition interventions.

Consultations

In May 2022 the Academy responded to the consultation on ‘The design of the UK’s future research assessment system’. In June 2022 the Academy commented on the ‘Government Food Strategy’ in recognizing that nutrition and sustainability are interrelated and need to be tackled together.

Other outputs

In March 2022, the Academy highlighted important multidisciplinary work being led by the Association for Nutrition, involving the Academy’s member organisations, medical colleges, practitioners and policy makers. An article ‘How can nutrition organisations support the teaching of nutrition to student doctors?’ describes the steps taken in developing an

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updated Undergraduate Curriculum in Nutrition (published in 2021), why such a curriculum is needed in medical training and the challenges associated with its implementation

In August 2022 the Academy and the leading cancer charity, World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) joined forces to respond to a letter from Stanton and colleagues, published in The Lancet, which called for the Global Burden of Disease 2019 (GBD 2019) investigators to reconsider the measurements they were using to draw conclusions about the links between dietary risk factors and diseases, including cancer, and to increase the transparency around the decisions they make when drawing conclusions.

In August 2022 the Academy published two articles: ‘Balancing the global protein economy is more than just switching from animal-based to plantbased foods: from sewage in the USA, protein quality in Malawi to vulnerable older people here in the UK’; ‘Vitamin D: One hundred years on’.

In October 2022 the Academy published an article welcoming the nutrition spotlight mechanism for research funding, following the announcement by BBSRC (the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council). The Academy also highlighted the importance of reciprocal engagement between nutrition scientists and the BBSRC’s peer review process for grant applications, including Panel memberships, to ensure the right balance of skills is available to BBSRC.

In November 2022 the Academy published three articles. The first ‘Funding for human nutrition research – past successes and future opportunities’, highlighted funding of human nutrition research in the UK, through the Diet Research Industry Club (DRINC), led by the Biotechnology and Biosciences Research Council (BBSRC), which has been recognised as a success story. The article also highlighted future opportunities for funding of nutrition research.

A second article ‘Bonfire of EU Laws: FSA chair applauded for highlighting implications for food safety and public health of the Brexit Freedoms Bill’. The Academy supported the approach being taken by the FSA’s Chair, Professor Susan Jebb, to highlight the adverse implications of the current timetable for establishing domestic legislation following Brexit, with sunsetting of any EU regulations and directives not already replaced by new domestic laws by the end of 2023.

The third article, in response to one of the recommendations of the Academy’s first Position Paper, proposed a call to action for development of systematic approaches to assess quality and relevance of mechanistic research in the development of nutrition policy. The Academy welcomed the BBSRC’s new response mode funding Spotlight initiative, which will

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focus on proposals that help to build a stronger understanding of the biological basis underlying effects of nutrition on human health

Finally, in December, the Academy published an article ‘Why do health professionals need to know about the nutrition and health claims regulation?’ This article highlighted the editorials published in support of its position paper ‘How and why health claims are authorised’ mentioned earlier. Also, an interview with Professor Kevin Whelan, a Trustee of the Academy, which describes how the Academy’s interests are being pursued through a series of Position Papers and related activities, appeared on YouTube.

Internal Policy Development

A main focus of the Academy throughout 2022 has been the development of a communications capacity to support its work. A communications committee has been established, with the welcome support of the member organisations.

The Academy trustees have also approved draft criteria for applications for organisations to apply to become members in 2023. A Working Group has been formed to develop formal policies to support the implementation of the widening of member organisations.

FINANCIAL REVIEW

Income and Expenditure

The seed funding provided by the four member organisations in 2020 (total of £20,000) was designed to allow sufficient time for the Academy to develop a member fee structure and annual budget. As such, the trustees approved the introduction of annual membership fees in 2022. A methodology for the calculation of the fees was agreed by trustees and is based on a combination of the operational fiscal requirements of the Academy, and the relative gross income of the member organisations (to establish a membership band system). The Academy subsequently recorded membership income for 2022 of £1,875. In addition, interest was received from the Academy’s bank totalling £16.55. On the expense side administrative costs during 2022 totalled £828, primarily for the introduction of the Academy’s own dedicated email and cloud-based system. The Academy incurred Open Access costs of £2,454 to publish its position paper. The resulting total funds for the Academy on 31 December 2022 were recorded as £15,744 (2021 £17,135).

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Policy for Holding Reserves

The free reserves are defined as funds that are available for use at the discretion of the Trustees. The Trustees have included in the reserves the cash and bank balances held for the day to day business requirements of the Academy. It is the intention of the Trustees to build a reserve fund sufficient to ensure the Academy can continue to operate, should revenues be reduced, for a minimum period of one year.

Risk Management

The main areas of risk that have been identified by the Trustees are: damage to the Academy’s reputation through adverse publicity; significant loss of member organisations; financial losses through fraud or loss of income. In these cases, preventative measures and financial controls have been agreed and established and the Trustees have implemented procedures for the Secretariat reporting internal control failures immediately to the Trustees, together with details of corrective action being taken.

STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT

Introduction

The governing document is the Constitution as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation, dated 9 May 2019.

How the Academy is Constituted

The Academy’s governing body is the Trustee Board, which has 9 members. Three Trustees undertake the duties of Chair, Honorary Secretary and Honorary Treasurer.

The Trustees exercise all the powers of the Academy, subject to the provisions of the charity laws currently in force and with the assistance and advice of an Operational Support Group and a Secretariat. The Operational Support Group comprises of the CEOs of the 4 founding member organisations. The Secretariat provides administrative services, at no cost, to the Academy. The Secretariat is hosted by the Nutrition Society, one of the founding member organisations. In addition, there are from time-to-time, sub-committees and working groups reporting to the Trustees on specialist areas of the Academy’s activities. With these arrangements in place, the Trustees at all times have a detailed knowledge of the business being transacted by the Academy.

Methods Used to Appoint Trustees

Procedures for election for Trustee posts are in place. When nominations are needed they will be sought, as proscribed in the Constitution, from the

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membership and through advertising on the website to which members’ attention is drawn by personal email alerts. Trustees will be elected by decision of the members at the annual general meeting. The Constitution, containing the appointment of trustees’ procedure, is available on the Academy’s website.

It will be the intention of the Academy to ensure all new Trustees receive an induction pack and guidance from the Trustees. An induction meeting will be held to ensure that the incoming Trustees have the opportunity to question the other officers about policy and actions of the board so that they can take up their duties with clear understanding of the current position of the Academy. In addition, all new trustees will attend within their first 6 months in post an external governance training workshop.

REFERENCE AND ADMINISTRATIVE DETAILS

The name : The Academy of Nutrition Sciences Charity registration number : It is a charity registered with the Charity Commission for England and Wales, number 1185514

Address of the principal office and address of the registered office:

Boyd Orr House, 10 Cambridge Court, 210 Shepherds Bush Road, London W6 7NJ

The Trustees at 31 December 2022

Professor Kevin Whelan Professor Harry McArdle Professor Andrew Salter – Honorary Secretary & Treasurer Dr Frank Thies Dr Fiona McCullough Dr Margaret Ashwell Mrs. Barbara Saunders Professor Judith Buttriss - Chair Professor Christine Williams

Bankers: Charities Aid Foundation (CAF). CAF Bank, 25 Kings Hill Avenue, Kings Hill, West Malling, Kent ME19 4JQ

By Order of the Trustees

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Mark Hollingsworth, Secretary

Approved by the Trustees 27 March 2023.

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Academy of Nutrition Sciences

Balance Sheet

Year Ending: 31 December 2022

CURRENT ASSETS
Bank
Debtors
Creditors - amounts falling due within one year
NET CURRENT ASSETS
ACADEMY FUNDS
Unrestricted Funds
TOTAL FUNDS
Registered Charity Number 1185514		 2022
2021
£
15,744
19,920
-
15,744
19,920
-
2,785
15,744
17,135
15,744
17,135
15,744
17,135

Academy of Nutrition Sciences

Statement of Financial Activities (SOFA)

Year Ending: 31 December 2022

Note
Income from:
Membership
Bank Interest
Total Income
Expenditure on:
Charitable Actvites
Administraton
Total expenditure
Net movement in funds
Fund balance at 31 December 2020
Fund balance at 1 January 2021
Fund balances at 31 December 2022		 2022
2021
£
1,875.00
0
16.55
1,891.55
0
2454.00
0
828.00
411
3,282.00
411
-1,390.45
-411
17,546
17,135.00
17,546
15,744.55
17,135

Academy of Nutrition Sciences

Profit and Loss Account

Year Ending: 31 December 2022

Date
Item
31-Dec-22 Bank fees
31-Dec-22 Interest
31-Dec-22 M'Ship Fees
31-Dec-22 Website/IT
31-Dec-22 Publicatons
31-Dec-22 Net proft/loss		 Income
16.55
1,875.00
1,891.55
(1,390.45)		 Expenditure
81.00
747.00
2,454.00
3,282.00