To
Trustees' Annual Report for the period
Period start date Period end date 01 01 2023 31 12 2023
From
Section A Reference and administration details
ASSOCIATION OF BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERS, MEDICAL Charity name ENGINEERS, AND BIOENGINEERS Other names charity is known by BioMedEng Association Registered charity number (if any) 1191005
Charity's principal address Department of Bioengineering, Imperial College London, Bessemer Building, London Postcode SW7 2AZ
Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity
| 1 2 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 |
Trustee name | Office (if any) | Dates acted if not for whole year |
Name of person (or body) entitled to appoint trustee (ifany) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prof Alicia El Haj | Universityof Birmingham | |||
| Prof AnthonyBull | Imperial College London | |||
| Prof Hazel Screen | Queen MaryUniversityof London | |||
| Prof Vanessa Diaz | University College London | 13.10.23 – 31.12.23 |
||
| Names of the trustees for the charity, if any, (for example, any custodian trustees) |
Name Dates acted if not for whole year
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| Names and addresses of advisers (Optional information) Type of adviser Name Address |
Names and addresses of advisers (Optional information) Type of adviser Name Address |
Names and addresses of advisers (Optional information) Type of adviser Name Address |
|---|---|---|
Name of chief executive or names of senior staff members
Dr Gifty Tetteh – Head of Operations
Section B Structure, governance and management
Description of the charity’s trusts
Charitable Incorporated Organisation Constitution Type of governing document (eg. trust deed, constitution) Association Model Constitution How the charity is constituted
- (eg. trust, association, company)
Charity trustees are appointed by a resolution of the members at the Trustee selection methods annual general meeting. (eg. appointed by, elected by) Co-opted Trustees can also be appointed at any time by current trustees.
Additional governance issues (Optional information)
You may choose to include additional information, where relevant, about:
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policies and procedures adopted for the induction and training of trustees;
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the charity’s organisational structure and any wider network with which the charity works;
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relationship with any related parties;
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trustees’ consideration of major risks and the system and procedures to manage them.
The BioMedEng Association Trustees’ Board comprises of the four Trustees (Profs Anthony Bull, Alicia El Haj, Hazel Screen and Vanessa Diaz), the current Chair of Council (Prof Martin Knight, who will become a Co-opted Trustee at the end of the current Chair of Council role) and the Head of Operations (Dr Gifty Tetteh).
The Trustees’ Board is supported by the formal members of the Association, including the Chairs of the Working Groups (Education, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, Early Career Researchers, Industry and Sponsorship, and Communications and Website) and the BioMedEng Council.
In addition to the formal members, the Association has established a wider affiliate membership provision. As detailed in our previous reports, the affiliate memberships are open to practising engineers, clinicians, students, and anyone who is interested in Biomedical Engineering, Medical Engineering and Bioengineering.
We welcome applications from UK and International members from Industry, Academic Institutions and Research Centres, Clinical Establishments and Hospitals, Governmental and Non-Governmental Organisations, amongst others.
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Section C Objectives and activities
Summary of the objects of the charity set out in its governing document
To advance education for the public benefit in biomedical engineering, medical engineering, and bioengineering, in particular but not exclusively by:
- organising and holding scientific meetings and conferences; 2. and promoting the study and practice of biomedical engineering, medical engineering and bioengineering.
The BioMedEng Association is a professional body for engineers, clinicians, researchers, and students working within Biomedical Engineering, Medical Engineering and Bioengineering disciplines.
BioMedEng23 Conference - The 2023 conference took place on 1415th September 2023 at the Swansea Arena in the Swansea Marina.
The conference was hosted by Dr Raoul van Loon (Chair) and Dr Hari Arora (Co-Chair) from Swansea University’s Biomedical Department on behalf of the BioMedEng Association.
The conference was opened by MP Tonia Antoniazzi and included an exciting programme of 4 plenary sessions, 130 oral presentations over 4 parallel sessions, 100 poster presentations, 7 workshops, an EDI session and an ECR session. In addition, the conference hosted the BioMedEng Summary of the main Association AGM and the BioMedEng Council meeting. activities undertaken for the public benefit in relation to The conference was kindly supported by 3 Platinum Sponsors and 6 these objects (include within Gold Sponsors. The Swansea Arena brought everyone together through this section the statutory the large concourse spaces that integrated the poster sessions with the declaration that trustees have industrial exhibitors and coffee/lunch breaks. had regard to the guidance issued by the Charity This ensured optimal networking between the participants, sponsors, and Commission on public further attendees. Networking was further promoted through the benefit) conference dinner with 160 tickets sold. Music band “The Flames”
This ensured optimal networking between the participants, sponsors, and further attendees. Networking was further promoted through the conference dinner with 160 tickets sold. Music band “The Flames” finished the dinner evening in style bringing the community even closer together.
In total BioMedEng23 welcomed 334 attendees from over 45 Universities (8 international) and various industrial and clinical organisations.
The plenary talks were delivered by a diverse range of leading speakers including:
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Prof Rachel Errington, Cardiff University, Cancer Biology/Microscopy
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Prof Alicia El Haj, University of Birmingham, Regenerative Medicine
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Prof Tony Cass, Imperial College London, Biosensors
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Prof Sarah Stock, University of Edinburgh, Director of In Utero Programme
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The conference workshops included technical advances such as image processing, virtual reality and chatGPT, but also covered standards & regulation, clinical user-centred research approaches, and EDI. The workshops ran in parallel with the oral sessions to offer more interactive and hands-on opportunities to the attendees for a wider professional development.
The following workshops were run at the conference:
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Understanding cell structure and mechanisms through Image Analysis
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An introduction to Standards in Healthcare
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Equality Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Workshop
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Virtual Reality (VR) – Play and Learn!
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Rehab Engineering in the NHS: User-centred approach to delivering patient specific solutions
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Revolutionising Research Methods: ChatGPT and the New Era of Digital Assistants
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Innovate UK EDGE: Empowering your business innovation to grow and scale.
As with previous conferences, delegate attendance was open to both BioMedEng members and non-members. To increase the Association’s membership, registered members were offered a discount on conference registration rates and non-members were encouraged to join the Association to qualify for the members rates. Industrial sponsors were also offered a range of exhibition packages to showcase their products and services to delegates.
There were nine sponsors including Thermofisher Scientific, Corryn Biotechnologies, Ansys UK, ProColl, BSI, LaVision UK, the Biomedical Steering Group, Royal Academy of Engineering and an EPSRC IAA grant.
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The conference dinner was held at the same venue for about 160 delegates who purchased additional tickets for the dinner. The evening started with a pre-dinner drinks and canapes session. During the dinner the Pro-Vice-Chancellor of Research at Swansea University, Helen Griffiths welcomed delegates to the University and event. The BioMedEng Association also presented the 2023 Innovation Award to Dr Karin Hing at the dinner. There was also a performance by the musical cover band “The Flames” to encourage further community building.
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The organizers also hosted a social event on the evening before the conference started in gastro-pub called Chuckaboo in Swansea’s city centre. Over 100 attendees joined this event to network and connect with colleagues, register for the conference, and collect their name badges and conference programmes, prior to the start of the conference.
Similar to BioMedEng22, Dr Gifty Tetteh, Head of Operations of the Association, met with the 2023 organizers at regular intervals to support with abstract submission, delegate registrations, website and conference administration, amongst others. They also met after the conference to finalise the accounts, understand the benefits and challenges of the Swansea University-BioMedEng partnership, how arrangements can be improved going forward, and transfer funds from the Association to Swansea in line with the conference expenses and proceeds split arrangements. More information about the BioMedEng23 conference is available at https://biomedeng.org/biomedeng23
Additional details of objectives and activities (Optional information)
You may choose to include further statements, where relevant, about:
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policy on grantmaking;
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policy programme related investment;
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contribution made by volunteers.
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Section D Achievements and performance
3[rd] BioMedEng AGM – The third AGM of the Association took place at Summary of the main BioMedEng23 on 15th September 2023 from 11:15 - 11:50. The AGM achievements of the charity provided an opportunity for both formal and affiliate BioMedEng members during the year to review activities and progress to date, vote for a new Trustee to join the board, propose initiatives, and discuss important updates about the charity, amongst others . The Chair of Trustees, Prof Anthony Bull, AB, welcomed all to the AGM. Prior to reviewing the minutes and actions from the 2[nd] AGM, he informed members about the split arrangements for this year’s Council and AGM meetings. Compared to last year’s combined meeting, the Association held a separate Council meeting prior to the 3[rd] AGM, to review the action items from the last AGM and discuss key strategic Association initiatives prior to the 3[rd] AGM. AB discussed Prof Claudia Mazza’s transition from the BioMedEng Trustees Board, and the Board’s decision to expand the current number of Trustees by admitting one new Trustee this year and another next year. Elections for the first new Trustee was held in this AGM. Trustee Elections: AB presented the two trustee nominations which have been approved by Council for the Trustee elections. Prof Perumal Nithiarasu, Associate Dean of Research, Innovation and Impact at Swansea University and Prof Vanessa Diaz, Professor of Healthcare Engineering at University College London, and past chair of the BioMedEng22 conference stood for Trustee elections. Members voted for their preferred candidate by scanning the QR code on the screen to submit their vote. The results were extremely close, but Prof Diaz had the most votes and joined the BioMedEng Trustees’ Board in October 2023. 2023 BioMedEng Special Awards - The 2023 Innovation Award was presented to Dr Karin Hing from QMUL at yesterday’s conference dinner but Prof Sir Saeed Zahedi, recipient of the 2023 Legacy Prize could not attend the dinner to receive the award. AB presented the award to Prof Sir Saeed Zahedi remotely at the AGM, and he graciously accepted the award and thanked the BioMedEng community. Similar to previous years, the BioMedEng Legacy Prize was awarded to a UK Bioengineer/ Biomedical Engineer/ Medical Engineer whose careerlong research and mentoring has contributed immensely to inspiring and training the next generation of academics, researchers, and students in the discipline. Similarly, the BioMedEng Innovation Prize was awarded to a UK Bioengineer/ Biomedical Engineer /Medical Engineer whose imaginative and ground-breaking work has opened up new fields in the discipline and/or led to new technologies that support medical interventions.
Operational Update - Dr Gifty Tetteh, GT presented the Association’s operational update for 2022 at the 3[rd] AGM. This focussed on the Charity Objects, Committee Changes, Membership Update, Finance and Sustainability, and nominations for the 2024 BioMedEng Special Award. A copy of the presentation has been uploaded to the members area of the Association website.
Committee Changes: Profs David Williams (Loughborough), Declan
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Section D Achievements and erformance p
Bates (Warwick), Malcolm Granat (Salford), Stephen O'Connor (IPEM) and Terry Gourlay (Strathclyde)) completed their tenure as Council members in December 2022.
Profs Alex Casson (Manchester – Website and Comms Working Group Chair), Donal McNally (Nottingham), Rylie Green (Imperial College London) and Zion Tse (QMUL - BioMedEng24 Conference Chair) joined as new Council members for 2023. GT also presented the new nomination criteria for Council members and Trustees to the community. This was used for reviewing nominations for the seven Council positions that expired in December 2023.
Membership Growth: There has been a significant increase in the number of members joining the Association since the 2022 report. The membership update at the 2[nd] AGM in 2022, showed an increase from 490 applications from 64 institutions in Sept 2021, to 734 applications from 96 institutions in Sept 2022.
As of 13th September 2023, the Association had received 1,055 application forms from 131 Institutions with 529 paid memberships comprising of 301 Full Members, 226 PhD and MRes students, and 2 Retired/Emeritus. The remaining applications were for UG and MSc memberships. GT discussed key institutions with more than 10 BioMedEng members and highlighted those that have made significant gains over the last year. A list of the 2022 and 2023 BioMedEng membership breakdown by institutions are included below.
Affiliate Memberships – The Association increased its membership rate for Full Members from £30/year to £50/year following a meeting of Council Members in September 2023 where the charity finances were discussed. The membership fee for Research Student Members (PhD, MPil and MRes) remains at £20/year* and there’s still free annual memberships to verified undergraduate and MSc students.
As detailed in our previous reports, the Association’s membership is open to practising engineers, clinicians, students, and anyone who is interested in Biomedical Engineering, Medical Engineering and Bioengineering. We welcome applications from UK and International members from Industry, Academic Institutions and Research Centres,
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Section D Achievements and erformance p
Clinical Establishments and Hospitals, Governmental and NonGovernmental Organisations, amongst others.
Finance and sustainability: GT discussed the Association’s income (£84,688.62) and expenditure (£ 2,782.82) items for 2022, which resulted in a leftover of £81,905.80, before the UCL conference expenses (£57,387.05) and host institution contributions for 2021(£5,952.00) and 2022 (£10,000.00) were paid out. With a 2021 balance B/F of £11,952.21, the Association will have an overall balance of £20,518.96, after all the pending expenses have been paid out for 2022. A summary of the 2022 Association finances is captured below.
Council update – Prof Martin Knight, MK, provided a brief update on the Working Groups and Council activities at the AGM. He also invited the Working Group Chairs who were attending in person to provide detailed updates. A Website and Communications Working Group has been launched following Prof Alex Casson’s acceptance to Chair the group. Also, the Industry Engagement and Sponsorship team are implementing a subscription model for industries to pay a base fee to the Association prior to sponsoring the local conference. Full details of the presentations from the Working Group are captured below.
Working Group Updates -
a. Education – Dr Anita Ghag, AG, presented the Education Working Group update at the AGM. She was currently working with Dr Jennifer Martay from Anglia Ruskin University to deliver activities for the Education Working Group. Some of their planned activities include:
- i. Blog posts highlighting different academic and industrial career paths from members of the community,
ii. Physical and electronic fliers for schools – targeting careers services
iii. National cohesive schedule for taster days
- iv. Outreach events at accessible venues including shopping centres, science museums etc
They were looking for more volunteers to join the team, and suggestions for contacts in industry who could be approached for their blog posts, as well as contact details of members of the outreach teams at various institutions.
b. ECR – Dr Silvia Del Din, SDD, presented the ECR Working Group update at the AGM. The team met every other month and comprised of three committees for Newsletter/ Communications (led by Dr Bonci), - Training & link with conference (led by Dr El Bouri) and Mentoring
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Section D Achievements and erformance p
Network (led by Dr Readioff). There were currently about 20 members in the Working Group comprising of Lecturers, Fellows, Res. Assistants and Associates, PhD and UG students.
The mentoring committee is actively recruiting mentors to join the campaign and shared their sign-up sheet via a QR code at the AGM. The Communications committee has completed a “spotlight” initiative to highlight ECR working group members via the Association’s twitter and LinkedIn platforms, and some of the ECRs engaged with the BioMedEng23 organisers and assisted with reviewing abstracts and chairing sessions.
The Training/ Conference committee organised a welcome session for ECRs to interact and network ahead of the BioMedEng23 conference and hosted a workshop/training session on presentation skills which was delivered by Dr Steve Cross. The team was also planning to deliver a training session on compiling a narrative CV shortly after the conference.
c. EDI – GR presented the EDI Working Group updates at the AGM. She was currently working with Adesola Ademiloye, Aliah Shaheen, Michael Trikić and Stefaan Verbruggen, to deliver a number of workshops in 2023 for the EDI Working Group including:
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i. Can a workshop improve undergraduate bioengineering students' understanding of inclusive engineering? Michael Trikic, University of Sheffield
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ii. Equity in STEM - a spotlight on local ED&I initiatives in teaching and research: Aliah Shaheen, Brunel University London
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iii. Research Funding Barrier for Ethnic Minority Academics in the UK: Perspective and Prospect: Adesola Ademiloye Swansea University
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iv. Embedding EDI in Local Research Cultures: Stefaan Verbruggen, Queen Mary University of London
GR also shared a link for delegates and members to complete the EDI survey to capture their opinions for future initiatives and events, and discussed some highlights from the BioMedEng23 EDI workshop.
BioMedEng24 - To kick start preparations for the BioMedEng24 conference, Prof Zion Tse, ZT shared a short presentation on Queen Mary University of London’s plans for hosting the BioMedEng Conference in 2024. The conference will take place on 5th – 6th September 2024 on their East London Campus and the team was looking forward to an exciting conference programme.
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Section E Financial review
The BioMedEng22 conference at UCL had a total income and Brief statement of the expenditure of £82,395.00 and £64,032.46, respectively. This left a charity’s policy on reserves surplus of £18,362.54, which was shared at a 3:1 ratio with the Association receiving £13,771.905 (75%) and UCL (Institute of Healthcare Engineering) keeping the remaining £4,590.64 (25%). The Trustees acknowledged the significant contribution from UCL and thanked the Conference Chair and team, for their generous donation to the Association. The 2021 and 2022 financial report outlined a closing balance of £11,952 and £81,905.80, respectively, before the outstanding expenses were paid. However, the actual closing balance for 2022, after the UCL conference expenses (£57,387.05) and host institution contributions for 2021 at (£5,952.00) and 2022 at (£10,000.00) were paid out, was £20,518.96. The 2023 contributions were discussed and finalised after the BioMedEng23 accounts were reviewed. Please see the attached independently examined accounts for further details on the Association’s financial position. Details of any funds materially No funds are in deficit in deficit
Further financial review details (Optional information)
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As detailed in the independently examined 2023 accounts attached, the
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You may choose to include Association’s core income is generated from membership dues and
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additional information, where proceeds from hosting dedicated events and the annual conference.
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relevant about: • the charity’s principal sources of funds (including any fundraising);
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• how expenditure has supported the key objectives of the charity;
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• investment policy and objectives including any ethical investment policy adopted.
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Section F Other optional information
Section G Declaration
The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above.
Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees
Signature(s) GAJTetteh
Full name(s) Dr Gifty Tetteh Position (eg Secretary, Chair, Head of Operations etc) Date 15.08.24
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| MEDICAL ENGINEERS AND BIOENGINEERS Period end date 01/01/2023 31/12/2023 Charity Name No (ifany) ASSOCIATION OF BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERS, 1191005 Receipts andpayments accounts For the period from Period start date To |
MEDICAL ENGINEERS AND BIOENGINEERS Period end date 01/01/2023 31/12/2023 Charity Name No (ifany) ASSOCIATION OF BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERS, 1191005 Receipts andpayments accounts For the period from Period start date To |
MEDICAL ENGINEERS AND BIOENGINEERS Period end date 01/01/2023 31/12/2023 Charity Name No (ifany) ASSOCIATION OF BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERS, 1191005 Receipts andpayments accounts For the period from Period start date To |
MEDICAL ENGINEERS AND BIOENGINEERS Period end date 01/01/2023 31/12/2023 Charity Name No (ifany) ASSOCIATION OF BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERS, 1191005 Receipts andpayments accounts For the period from Period start date To |
MEDICAL ENGINEERS AND BIOENGINEERS Period end date 01/01/2023 31/12/2023 Charity Name No (ifany) ASSOCIATION OF BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERS, 1191005 Receipts andpayments accounts For the period from Period start date To |
MEDICAL ENGINEERS AND BIOENGINEERS Period end date 01/01/2023 31/12/2023 Charity Name No (ifany) ASSOCIATION OF BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERS, 1191005 Receipts andpayments accounts For the period from Period start date To |
CC16a | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| For the period from |
01/01/2023 Period start date |
To | Period end date 31/12/2023 |
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| Section A Receipts and payments | |||||||
| A1 Receipts | Unrestricted funds to the nearest £ 5,330 - 68,075 - 7 73,412 - - - 73,412 539 1,167 1,481 83 91 - - 57,387 10,000 5,952 311 300 156 102 77 19 77,665 - - - 77,665 - 4,253 93,857 89,604 |
Restricted funds to the nearest £ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - |
Endowment funds to the nearest £ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - |
Total funds to the nearest £ 5,330 - 68,075 - 7 73,412 - - - 73,412 539 1,167 1,481 83 91 - - 57,387 10,000 5,952 311 300 156 102 77 19 77,665 - - - 77,665 - 4,253 |
Last year to the nearest £ |
||
| Members' subscriptions | 5,330 | 5,140 | |||||
| IndustryEvent | - | 1,358 | |||||
| Conference Fees | 68,075 | 72,865 | |||||
| Sheffield Conferencce Fees | - | 5,325 | |||||
| Other | 7 | - | |||||
| Sub total(Gross income for AR) | 73,412 | 84,688 | |||||
| A2 Asset and investment sales, (see table). |
|||||||
| - | |||||||
| - | - | ||||||
| Sub total | - | - | |||||
| Total receipts A3 Payments |
|||||||
| 84,688 | |||||||
| Refunds | 539 | 960 | |||||
| ProcessingFees | 1,167 | 1,316 | |||||
| Website Expenses | 1,481 | 72 | |||||
| Video Hosting | 83 | 83 | |||||
| BioMedEng22 Conference Chairs Gifts | 91 | 71 | |||||
| BioMedEng22 LegacyAward | - | 96 | |||||
| BioMedEngBanner | - | 185 | |||||
| BioMedEng22 Costs and Charges - UCL |
57,387 | - | |||||
| 2022 Host Institution Contribution- Imperial |
10,000 | - | |||||
| 2021 Host Institution Contribution- Imperial |
5,952 | - | |||||
| Operational - Accommodation and Internet |
311 | - | |||||
| IndependentExamination | 300 | - | |||||
| BioMedEng23 Special Awards | 156 | - | |||||
| Operational - Travel | 102 | - | |||||
| Operational -Condolences | 77 | - | |||||
| Stationary andPosting | 19 | - | |||||
| Sub total | 77,665 | 2,783 | |||||
| A4 Asset and investment purchases, (see table) |
|||||||
| - | |||||||
| - | |||||||
| Sub total | - | - | |||||
| Total payments Net of receipts/(payments) A5 Transfers between funds A6 Cash funds last year end Cash funds this year end |
|||||||
| 2,783 | |||||||
| - 4,253 |
- | - |
- 4,253 |
81,905 | |||
| - | - | - | |||||
| 93,857 | - | - | 93,857 | 11,952 | |||
| 89,604 | - | - |
89,604 |
93,857 |
4
2
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 5 B5 Liabilities B4 Assets retained for the charity’s own use B3 Investment assets B2 Other monetary assets B1 Cash funds 2 |
Signature Details Details Details Details Closing Balance - Unrestricted Funds Closing Balance - Restricted Funds Total cash funds (agree balances with receipts and payments account(s)) Details |
Unrestricted funds Restricted funds to nearest £ to nearest £ 89,604 - - - - - 89,604 - 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) 59,509 - - - - - Print Name Prof Anthony Bull |
Endowment funds to nearest £ |
|---|---|---|---|
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| OK | |||
| Endowment funds to nearest £ |
|||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| Current value (optional) |
|||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| Current value (optional) |
|||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| When due (optional) |
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| Date of approval |
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| 20/06/24 | |||