2024-04-26-accounts

ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 26TH APRIL 2024

CHARITY NUMBER: 1194239

ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 26TH APRIL 2024

CONTENTS

CONTENTS
TRUSTEES’ REPORT	3
INDEPENDENT EXAMINER’S REPORT	22
STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES	23
BALANCE SHEET	24
NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS	25

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TRUSTEES’ REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 26TH APRIL 2024

INTRODUCTION

Exeter Science Centre is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) dedicated to public engagement with STEAMM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Mathematics and Medicine).

The Trustees are pleased to present their annual report, together with the consolidated financial statements of the charity, for the third year of the charity, from 27th April 2023 to 26th April 2024.

ADMINISTRATIVE DETAILS

Charity name:

Exeter Science Centre

Registered Charity Number:

1194239

Charity’s Registered Office Address:

Exeter Science Centre 1 Marsh Green Road Marsh Barton Trading Estate Exeter EX2 8NY

Trustee name	Role	Dates acted if not for whole year
Prof. Justin Dillon	Chair
Dr Sarah Usher
David Solomides
Dr Celia Oxlade
Prof. Pete Vukusic
Olga Petrakova-Brown
Christopher Sims	Treasurer	23/3/23 to present

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TRUSTEES’ REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 26TH APRIL 2024

STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT

Exeter Science Centre is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) with a CIO Foundation Model Constitution.

It is managed on a day-to-day basis by the two founders and directors, Dr Natalie Whitehead (1 FTE) and Dr Alice Mills (0.8 FTE), and overseen by the board of trustees. Our Projects Officer, Ross Castle (0.5 FTE), worked with us for a full year (February 2023-February 2024) and was an invaluable member of the team in reimagining our climate exhibition and developing the resources for one of our large touring projects.

In April 2023 we began to build a Strategic Advisory Board to support the development of the building and appointed Stuart Brocklehurst as the new Chair. The Board meets twice a year and, at the end of the 2023-2024 financial year, has six members.

We were delighted that in November 2023, George Monbiot became our Patron.

Appointment of trustees

Our trustee board is comprised of seven trustees with a range of backgrounds and experience; there were no changes to our board of trustees during the 2023-2024 financial year. Olga Petrakova has been formally re-elected for a second term. The charity governing document sets out that there must be a minimum of three trustees and a maximum of 12.

Apart from the first charity trustees (the founding trustees) every trustee must be appointed for a term of three years by a resolution passed at a properly convened meeting of the charity trustees.

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TRUSTEES’ REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 26TH APRIL 2024

CHAIR’S AND DIRECTORS’ INTRODUCTION

Exeter Science Centre has had a successful year reaching 3860 people of all ages from across the South West, connecting people with current research and industry through festivals, focus groups, workshops, touring projects, exhibitions and virtual content. A key focus this financial year has been working with our local communities to build a better understanding of their needs and interests, and how we can best create a science centre and organisation that serves them.

Our membership of the Association for Science and Discovery Centres (ASDC) and European Network of Science Centres and Museums (Ecsite) continues to be hugely important for keeping us at the forefront of informal science education and engagement, as well as giving us access to inspiration, advice and additional funding opportunities.

Alongside our project work, we have been strengthening our relationships with partner organisations and networks, including growing our Strategic Advisory Board and signing a Memorandum of Understanding with the University of Exeter; cementing our relationship with them and our shared vision of a physical science centre in Exeter. We have also begun fruitful discussions with North Devon Council about creating a physical centre in Barnstaple, and we are now re-developing our plans to consider a distributed network of science centres for the region, as opposed to a single large-scale centre.

We have had enormous support from a large team of dedicated volunteers, who have given over 630 hours of their time to support our events and projects. What they bring to the charity is invaluable, and we are so grateful to them. We are thankful to have received generous donations from individuals and corporate donors, and in particular we would like to give a special thank you to Lumi Therapy who have recently provided an incredibly generous support package, including funding our website redevelopment, providing rent-free space within their building for our team, equipment and exhibits, as well as pledging a significant donation to help us grow in the coming year. It will make a world of difference for us, and we look forward to reporting on the impact this has made, in next year’s Annual Report!

We are also thrilled to have the support of our first Patron: author, broadcaster, and academic George Monbiot. His efforts to highlight global issues and inspire action strongly resonate with our mission, and his work and insights will help shape our priorities for future projects.

This is a pivotal time for us, and are determined to expand our reach and impact even more in the coming year - full STEAMM ahead!

Prof. Justin Dillon Dr Natalie Whitehead, Dr Alice Mills

Chair

Directors

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TRUSTEES’ REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 26TH APRIL 2024

OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES

Our mission is to educate, motivate and empower the public to make a difference in the world.

CHARITABLE PURPOSES

Our main charitable purposes (as described in our CIO governing document) are:

To advance the education of the public, particularly in the South West of England in Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Mathematics and Medicine (STEAMM), in particular but not exclusively by:

• providing interactive activities, events and information media;

• establishing, developing and maintaining a physical STEAMM Discovery Centre (‘Science Centre’) for public benefit;

• developing the public understanding of and engagement with STEAMM; developing public access to current scientific and technological advancements particularly in the South West of England.

PUBLIC BENEFIT

The Trustees confirm that the objectives and activities for the year have been developed with due regard to the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit.

BENEFICIARIES

Our beneficiaries are people of all ages and backgrounds, particularly in the South West of the UK. We work with schools, the general public, and specific communities of people depending on the projects that we are working on.

For project work where we have limited resources and thus have to limit the direct beneficiaries, we aim to prioritise those from underserved and disadvantaged communities.

When identifying underserved or disadvantaged communities, we prioritise those with less access to STEAMM-related opportunities and in locations that rank highly on the Indices of Multiple Deprivation (IMD, typically within the top 20% most deprived regions in the UK, deciles 1-2).

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TRUSTEES’ REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 26TH APRIL 2024

When working with schools, we prioritise those with more than 20% of pupils entitled to free school meals, or with a postcode ranking highly on the IMD. Where possible, we try to make our work publicly accessible, to increase our reach and impact. This includes making public-friendly video summaries of some of our activities, making our project resources freely accessible on our website and sharing our work via social media.

FUNDRAISING

The directors have spent some of their time applying for grants and carrying out fundraising activity, which is estimated in the accounts. We are hugely grateful for funds raised by players of People’s Postcode Lottery and awarded by the Postcode Local Trust, which has supported our core costs and our development as an organisation through a grant awarded in December 2022.

Our new project work in the April 2023-2024 financial year has been generously funded by academic staff at the University of Exeter and the University of Oxford via their research grants; the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC); the Association for Science and Discovery Centres (ASDC) plus the UK Space Agency and Natural Environment Research Council for the Our World From Space project; The Adrian Swire Charitable Trust and the Sovereign Network Group (SNG).

ACTIVITIES

We have continued to develop and deliver a broad range of activities, predominantly in person. Over the following pages, we outline our main activities over the past financial year.

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TRUSTEES’ REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 26TH APRIL 2024

PROJECTS

Operation Earth

Thanks to a generous grant of £9830 from the Adrian Swire Charitable Trust, we were able to take the Operation Earth programme on tour from June to November 2023, visiting schools and communities across the South West. This extends the legacy of the original grant from the ASDC, which was mainly for the purchase of equipment.

Operation Earth is an outreach programme comprising a family show and hands-on activities developed by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and the Association for Science and Discovery Centres (ASDC), to engage young children and families with the science and scientists behind current environmental research. We extended some of the resources to be suitable for a broader age range as well as incorporating a virtual reality version of the award-winning “We are Guardians” film. Our delivery team included many expert volunteers working in climate, biological and environmental science.

The project was a great success, reaching 1290 people across Devon and Somerset, from a broad range of ages and backgrounds. We brought the programme to six primary schools, the Somerscience Festival, the two-day Exeter Cathedral Bioblitz, the first Sid Valley Biodiversity Festival and public libraries.

“The assembly delivered a really powerful message in an incredibly engaging way. One of the most well delivered and jam packed science events we have had at The delivery team school!” - Teacher at East-theWater Primary School.

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TRUSTEES’ REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 26TH APRIL 2024

Our World from Space - ASDC and SNG

In May 2023, we were awarded a grant from the ASDC to join the national ‘Our World from Space’ (OWFS) programme alongside 22 other science centres in the UK. This is a national STEM programme exploring the relevance of UK space science for the future health and sustainability of our home planet, funded by UK Space Agency in partnership with Natural Environment Research Council (NERC). The grant primarily covers the costs of purchasing equipment and delivering the programme in larger scale events at schools and communities until December 2024.

We were granted additional funding from the Sovereign Network Group (SNG) as part of the EDI Community Microgrants Programme, to engage smaller groups of people with learning or physical disabilities with OWFS activities. This will mostly be delivered across the next financial year.

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OWFS activities at Ernesettle School
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We delivered our first two events of the main programme in April 2024, taking over the foyer of Exeter library for a day of drop-in activities, engaging around 200 people. Our first school event involved a jam-packed day of activities for 120 Year 5 and 6 students at Ernesettle Community School in Plymouth. The event included workshops around land, oceans and atmosphere, VR showings of environmental film “We are Guardians”, and an afternoon mission task inspired by local expertise in Earth observation, on the topics of rainforest conservation, disaster relief and algal blooms.

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OWFS drop-in activities at Exeter Library
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TRUSTEES’ REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 26TH APRIL 2024

Our World from Space - ASDC and SNG (continued)

“So want you guys to have a permanent exhibition space. Loved how you brought complexity into clarity using fun experiments”.

“In the topography mapping experiment where kids had to plot the landscape on a graph based on instrument readings: They were told to work together as a team on that one, because 'that's what scientists do'. When they were playing together later, my sons were noticeably working together more collaboratively and actually said within their play 'lets be a team, like scientists'. Thank you!”

- Feedback from participants at Exeter Library.

STFC Impact Project and Climate Exhibition 2023

This year, with funding from the STFC via the Association for Science and Discovery Centres (ASDC) and research departments from the University of Exeter, we reimagined our March 2022 climate exhibition.

As part of the STFC Impact Project, we engaged focus groups from CoLab (multiagency wellbeing hub), Ellen Tinkham College (a school for young people with Education, Health and Care Plans), and the Pelican Project (a group of young adults with learning disabilities), to work with us to improve the accessibility of our exhibition and make it more meaningful to a broader audience. This work was led by our Projects Officer Ross Castle and built on consultation work with schools and youth groups at the end of the last financial year. These focus groups led to a list of priorities for updating and improving the exhibition content, accessibility and relevance. They also contributed to a community window display as part of the exhibition.

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CoLab focus group session and their artwork
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Members of the Pelican Project and their artwork
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Thanks to additional funding from the University of Exeter’s (UoE’s) Department for Physics and Astronomy, Global Systems Institute, and Dr Raphaëlle Haywood, we were able to upgrade the exhibition significantly following this community consultation and include even more UoE research. The resulting exhibition was hosted in Maketank, Exeter and was the longest-running event in the 2023 British Science Festival. This was an ideal opportunity to share this local research and showcase a ‘pop-up’ taster experience of the future science centre.

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TRUSTEES’ REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 26TH APRIL 2024

We had 688 visitors to the exhibition in total over 5 days and 5 evenings. We were also supported by 27 volunteers, many of whom were climate scientists and

astrophysicists, giving people fantastic opportunities for informal conversations with scientists. The visitor feedback was overwhelmingly positive, and the exhibits and online content we have developed will serve as a lasting resource for our charity and the University’s researchers to make use of in future. We are so grateful to all our funders for their support.

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Climate Exhibition Photos
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“It was a great experience with an abundance of interactive activities.” -exit survey response

“Very passionate guys here, which has a positive result and helps people understand” -exit survey response

“ Great stuff- felt like all interactive activities were well considered. Enjoy joining in as an adult and it not feeling like it was just for kids! Thank you” -exit survey response

“Nice friendly space that had something for all ages. Thanks” - exit survey response

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TRUSTEES’ REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 26TH APRIL 2024

PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT PROGRAMMES

Across this financial year we have collaborated with five academic researchers at the University of Exeter and University of Oxford to develop public engagement resources, events and workshops to engage schools and the public with their research. This has provided an income (paid to us from their academic grants) whilst also working towards our charitable purposes.

Dr Julie Pepper & Katherine Ashbullby

Drs Pepper and Ashbullby are psychology researchers at the University of Exeter, and this year we collaborated with them on two projects focused around types of anxiety - maths anxiety and eco-anxiety.

For the maths anxiety project we produced infographics, videos and a webpage for students and teachers, to help underline the causes, effects and solutions of maths anxiety in students, and to highlight how teachers can help.

For the eco-anxiety project we produced infographics, videos and a webpage focusing on what eco-anxiety is and how to manage it. These resources were produced with involvement of the researchers, Natural England and students from the University of Exeter.

Prof. Nathan Mayne

In June 2023 the University of Exeter hosted an international conference called Exoclimes bringing together researchers from across the world that specialise in studying the climates on other planets. Prof. Mayne brought us on board to deliver an event during the conference that connected local people with the research and researchers.

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TRUSTEES’ REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 26TH APRIL 2024

We set up a wall of LED screens and a sound system in the Guildhall Shopping Centre in Exeter and 19 different researchers delivered lightning talks and demonstrations with stunning images behind them. Over 150 members of the public attended this free event and the footage was also livestreamed to our YouTube Channel.

Prof. Jude Meakin: Image Driven Subject Specific Spine Modelling

This research project focuses on building a better understanding of the spine. We had been brought in for the 3-year duration of the project, to help people to understand the research from its early stages, and to help them inform the long-term direction of the research.

This year we organised a focus group on World Spine Day at Exeter Library with 12 adult members of the public from a range of ages and backgrounds. The event involved a brief introduction to the project from the research team, followed by discussions around different aspects of the research. This was a really valuable session both to help inform the research and for the participants themselves.

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The research team The discussion tables
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Prof. Janet Anders

We have been working with Prof. Janet Anders and researchers at the University of Oxford to create a set of YouTube videos on the theme ‘What is research?’, explored through the lens of physics researchers developing quantum engines. This funding follows on from the FQXi University of Oxford funding to develop more videos of the team.

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TRUSTEES’ REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 26TH APRIL 2024

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

British Science Festival Community Grants

This year the British Science Festival (BSF) was hosted in Exeter and we were brought in as a Festival Partner, co-delivering the Community Grants Scheme. The main aim of the grants was to help underrepresented groups to better connect with science in a way that is relevant to them.

It was a privilege to support nine different community groups in developing their events, and we are grateful for core cost funding from the Postcode Local Trust to enable us to take up this role.

"I want to extend our thanks to Exeter Science Centre for the incredible work they did on the Community Grants Scheme in Exeter. They were integral to connecting with local community groups and the relationships they made and strengthened serve as a legacy of the British Science Festival’s visit to Exeter ... I wouldn’t hesitate to work with them again."

• Emery Howarth, Festival Engagement Manager at the British Science Association.

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Some of the BSF community events
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RAMM - Community Consultations

December 2023 - ongoing

This year we have worked with the Royal Albert Memorial Museum (RAMM) in Exeter to connect various community groups with the RAMM’s upcoming Transport Exhibition. As part of these consultations, we helped to connect these groups to researchers at the University of Exeter who are using data science to understand access to transport and the wider issues of urban liveability.

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TRUSTEES’ REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 26TH APRIL 2024

EVENTS

Year 7 Space Day 2023

June 2023

We were invited for the second year running to contribute to the Ogden Trust-funded Year 7 Space Day, hosted this year at Exmouth Community College. This was an ideal opportunity to test out some of the astronomyfocussed, interactive elements of our Climate Exhibition.

In total 144 pupils from 7 local schools attended the day.

Sidmouth Science Festival

October 2023

Sidmouth Science Festival is an annual event for us and was another great opportunity to bring a mini version of our Climate Exhibition to new audiences. It was a busy day engaging with over 430 people!

Library Lates

November 2023

This retro, sci-fi-themed, adults-only evening at Exeter Library provided another opportunity to share elements of the Climate Exhibition. This was one of the last events supported by the Postcode Local Trust’s core costs grant.

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TRUSTEES’ REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 26TH APRIL 2024

CONSULTING

Public Engagement Training and SDG Workshops

The University of Exeter hired us to develop and deliver a public engagement training course and create resources for academics at various stages of their public engagement journey. As part of this course, we invited members of local community groups and organisations to be part of a panel and discussion groups, to help academics to find ways to make their research more relevant and beneficial to people.

We were also commissioned to create and deliver a workshop for degree apprenticeship students to explore the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s) and the applicability to the workplace, and we will be delivering more workshops in future years.

OTHER ACTIVITIES

Natural Science Students Group Project

As part of our OWFS programme we set a group project for a group of five University of Exeter Natural Sciences Students. Their project was to identify and learn about local research and innovation relating to the OWFS programme, and liaise with these R&I practitioners to develop resources that bring in their work to the programme. They did some really interesting work on coastal erosion and joined us for an Operation Earth event at a primary school to get some experience of engaging young people with science.

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TRUSTEES’ REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 26TH APRIL 2024

Citizen Phage Library Publication

From 2021-2022 we worked with Prof. Ben Temperton and the Citizen Phage Library (CPL) Team at the University of Exeter on a public engagement programme including citizen science, where members of the public and schools collected water samples from their local streams and rivers to hunt for phages (viruses that attack bacteria).

We were thrilled to be included in a paper published in the journal ‘Microorganisms’ which describes this important work in tackling antibiotic resistance through the power of citizen science.

The CPL could be an important ‘biobank’ to identify, store and supply phages for patients in the UK, Europe and worldwide – and the CPL team have already supplied phages from the Library to be used for patients in Australia, the US and Canada.

There are now well over 1000 phages in the CPL, and we’re so grateful to all the Citizen Phage Hunters who have contributed so far.

We really hope to continue supporting this important project. The paper is titled “The Citizen Phage Library: Rapid Isolation of Phages for the Treatment of Antibiotic Resistant Infections in the UK”. Fletcher et al. 2024 .

South West Science Chats

We began a YouTube series called South West Science Chats, interviewing interesting local people working in science research and industry. We aim to develop this more in coming years.

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TRUSTEES’ REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 26TH APRIL 2024

UPCOMING PROJECTS/EVENTS

In the coming year we will be continuing with a number of funded projects, including:

• The “Our World from Space” tour to schools and communities across the region. Touring our climate exhibition to other locations.

• Building a project team and applying for funding for a community-led school water quality monitoring project.

• Investigating installation of a ‘living wall’ on our office building, working in collaboration with Lumi Therapy and local researchers.

GROWING THE ORGANISATION

We are at a turning point where, through consultation with our strategic advisory board and our trustees, we are moving towards the idea of a small network of centres as opposed to one larger centre in Exeter. The first physical centres we aim to establish would be in Exeter and Barnstaple.

Growing our team is critical in the coming year, to allow us to expand the number and scale of projects we deliver, as well as allowing time for the directors to adapt our business plan to a new model in consultation with partners, stakeholders and the public.

We are especially keen to develop an income stream around larger, multi-year projects, themed on global issues with locally-relevant motivation and opportunities for action. We are hugely inspired by our Patron’s work, and we strongly feel that land use - and the connected topics of biodiversity loss, climate change, food systems, river and ocean pollution, among many others - is a topic that people should, urgently, be engaged with. We hope to make this a key theme of our work in the coming years.

SUMMARY OF ACHIEVEMENTS AND PERFORMANCE

This year we have engaged with 3860 people amounting to at least 4200 in-person interaction hours (number of people x engagement time in hours). This is a significant increase on our in-person interactions compared to the last financial year. We have spent a large proportion of our time developing meaningful relationships with community groups in our region, which we hope to build upon in future.

Our digital content has also reached a large number of people, with our YouTube videos alone having 15,117 views in this financial year (a 40% increase on the last financial year).

We have been incredibly fortunate to have 59 enthusiastic volunteers that have supported our work this year, from a range of ages and backgrounds. They have given over 630 hours of their time to support event delivery. A large majority of our volunteers are STEMM professionals and students but a few have joined us from the creative industries, teaching and charitable sector.

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TRUSTEES’ REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 26TH APRIL 2024

Our events have been well distributed across the region, with a focus in Exeter and a large number of repeat interventions with particular schools and groups in the region.

Maps showing the distribution of our activities this year. Orange indicates multiple interventions/events at that location. Top: the South West region. Bottom: Exeter. Credit: Google Maps, 2024, google.com/maps.

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TRUSTEES’ REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 26TH APRIL 2024

FINANCIAL REVIEW

At the end of the period 27th April 2023 - 26th April 2024, Exeter Science Centre is in a secure financial position thanks to a significant donation and support package pledged from Lumi Therapy to support our core costs in the coming year. We are able to sustain the salaries of the two directors (1.8FTE total) and have increased their salaries to the 2023 South West average at the end of this financial year.

The charity’s principal funding sources this year have been: donations; grant income (covering project costs and support costs); consulting (mainly public engagement training) and paid events; a small amount through savings interest. We are also registered with Easyfundraising and Paypal Giving.

RESERVES POLICY

Our reserves policy is regularly reviewed and updated to fit the financial situation of the charity. For this financial year, we intend to retain 2 months of running costs (approximately £10,000) in case of unforeseen delays in payments from grants or other income, to ensure that salaries, fees and other costs can be paid on time.

The directors are flexible on payment dates for their salaries, as they are dedicated to ensuring the charity's success and stability, so this allows for some additional flexibility.

When taking on employees, these will typically be for fixed terms and fully funded via grants. In future we will need to revise this policy to ensure stability for permanent staff members.

The reserves and funds for the past financial years have been mostly retained in an interest-paying savings account, and where possible we will continue to do so.

RISKS AND UNCERTAINTIES

The trustees maintain a risk register which is reviewed and maintained regularly. The main risks at current are the dependence of the charity’s activities on the two directors, and the risk of insufficient funds to pay their salaries and the salary of our employee. The impact of these risks are controlled through:

• having operations which are transparent to both directors and trustees (so that if either director is unable to fulfil their responsibilities, their work can be accessed and continued by their replacement);

the directors being flexible on their salary payments.

The trustees are confident that the directors’ management of the organisation will enable the organisation to grow and achieve its ambitions.

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TRUSTEES’ REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 26TH APRIL 2024

Going concern

The trustees are confident that the charity has sufficient funds to continue as a going concern for the foreseeable future, and prepare the accounts on this basis. The charity will need to get into a more secure financial situation in the next couple of years to grow to a sustainable level and to work towards creating physical centres, but the only risk to the charity currently ceasing to be a going concern is a lack of project funding, which is unlikely.

DECLARATIONS

The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above.

Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees:

Signature:

Name: Prof. Justin Dillon

Position: Chair of the board of trustees

Date: 20 February 2025

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INDEPENDENT EXAMINER’S REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 26TH APRIL 2024

Independent Examiner’s report to the trustees of Exeter Science Centre Charitable Incorporated Organisation (‘the CIO’)

I report on the accounts of the CIO for the year ended 26 April 2024, which are set out on the following pages 23-30.

Responsibilities and basis of report

As the charity’s 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 carried out under section 145

of the Act and in carry 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; 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.

NAME: Sam Blackford ACA OF: On Target Accounting Ltd ADDRESS: 105 Chineway Gardens, Ottery St. Mary Devon, EX11 1JJ

SIGNED DATE: 20 February 2025

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STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES INCLUDING INCOME AND EXPENDITURE ACCOUNT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 26TH APRIL 2024

The financial statements were approved by the board of trustees on 20 February 2025 and were signed on its behalf by:

Prof. Justin Dillon Chair

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THE EXETER SCIENCE CENTRE BALANCE SHEET AS AT 26TH APRIL 2024 2024 2023 Notes Flx•d assèts Tangible assets Current assets Prepayments Debtors 470 ,508 12.455 Stock Investments Cash at bank and in hand Total curr•nt 1199ets 20.108 91,616 28.766 41,691 Llabllltl Creditors,. amounts falling clue withln one year Net current a55ets 12001 91,416 91,416 12001 41,491 41,491 Net assets Creditors,, amounrs falling due after more than one year N•t a55•t5 9116 41,491 The funds of the charlty. Uniestricted funds Restricted funds 86,118 5,298 9116 20,497 20.993 41,491 Total fundi 24

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 26TH APRIL 2024

1. ACCOUNTING POLICIES

Basis of preparation

The charity is a public benefit entity as defined by FRS 102. The accounts have been prepared in accordance with the Charities Act 2011 and ‘Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP) applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) second edition’. The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention.

Income

All income is recognised and thus included on the Statement of Financial Activities when the amount can be quantified accurately and the charity is legally entitled to the income. For grants or other income which is paid in advance, the income is stored in a savings account and can accrue interest, which is allocated to that same fund, as required by trust law and highlighted in the Charities SORP. Any unspent income at the year end is retained in that fund, and will be noted as funds carried forward in the following year.

Expenditure

All expenditure is accounted for on an accruals basis, and has been classified under the headings that aggregate all costs related to the category. We recognise an expenditure as soon as a transaction has occurred, or if a quantifiable amount is due to be spent on a particular item or service; in the latter case, the expenditure is listed as a liability (creditors). If funds are expected to be spent in the future – for example on a restricted funding grant that needs to be fully expended in a certain period – but the purchases have not yet been determined, then the amount is retained in the fund and not listed as a liability. The actual expenditure will be acknowledged in future accounts, once the funds are expended.

Tangible fixed assets

Items with a tangible cost price of £500 and above will be included in fixed assets. In this financial year, the charity has no items in this category.

Taxation

The charity is exempt from corporation tax on its charitable activities.

Fund accounting

Unrestricted funds are funds which can be used by the charity to fulfil its charitable objectives.

Restricted funds can only be used on particular projects or for a particular purpose. Expenditure includes the direct staff time, materials or other expenses required to

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NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 26TH APRIL 2024

fulfil the obligations of the restricted funds, along with a fair allocation of support costs.

The total interest accrued on the charity’s savings throughout the year has been allocated proportionally to each fund, based on the arrival date of income sources in each fund in the financial year and the size of each income source. This is judged to be a reasonable estimate of the interest accrued by each fund, and the amount is stated separately for each income source category for clarity.

2. DONATIONS AND LEGACIES

3. INCOME FROM CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES

4. EXPENDITURE ON FUNDRAISING AND CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES

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NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 26TH APRIL 2024

Staff salaries have been allocated to project work (“Direct costs of projects”) based on the salaried time spent on these projects. The support costs apportioned to salaries account for the salaried time operating the charity, including: administration, finances, social media and website maintenance, planning, networking, volunteer management and carrying out other activities that further our purpose and increase our audience (such as unpaid events). Any additional support costs are covered by unrestricted funds.

Governance costs, as defined in the Charities SORP (FRS 102), relate to the salary costs of the employees assisting or reporting to the trustees (which we account for in “Staff salaries (inc. employers NI)”) or any costs associated with trustee expenses or preparing statutory accounts.

4. COMPARATIVE EXPENDITURE ON CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES

The ‘Consultancy fees’ category for the previous year’s accounts now shows the amount expended on the accounts examination in ‘Governance costs’, rather than support costs.

5. DEBTORS

Before the end of our financial year, Lumi Therapy pledged an unrestricted donation of £70,508 (rounded) to Exeter Science Centre, plus a further donation of interest accrued before the amount is paid to us.

This donation (not including interest) has been included in the April 2023-2024 accounts since the amount fulfils the requirements of 5.10 of the Charities SORP: the amount is well-defined and the charity is entitled to the donation, having been allocated in Lumi Therapy’s earlier end of year accounting. It was also received by the charity within 8 months, paid in two instalments: £7,051 on 31 July 2024, £63,457 on 29 November 2024 (both rounded figures).

The interest pledged will be accounted as a further donation in the 2024/25 financial year, since this amount is not well-defined by the end of the 2023/24 financial year.

6. CREDITORS: AMOUNTS FALLING DUE WITHIN ONE YEAR

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NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 26TH APRIL 2024

7. NET ASSETS BY FUND

8. MOVEMENT IN FUNDS

The transfers into each project account for any additional salaried time spent on project delivery, beyond the amount of time originally allocated as part of the fee/grant. This additional time is contributed when there are core costs to do so, and when deemed necessary; typically to ensure the best quality of our project delivery, and to make the most of potential opportunities to reach more people or have a greater impact. This year, the transfers covered the additional time required for the ASDC - STFC Impact project, in the delivery of Climate Exhibition 2023. The support costs from the other component of this project (funded by the University of Exeter research departments) balance this additional expenditure.

Note also that the Our World From Space project will have a further £4,000 of grant income, due on successful completion of the project in the next financial year (although the project will be overspent, supplemented by support costs from other funded extensions of the project and core costs).

‘Events’ income included festivals and single-day events where the organiser funded all or some of our time / expenses to attend, including the Sid Valley Biodiversity Festival, Space Day 2023, the Sidmouth Science Festival, Paignton Library Eco Day, North Devon District Scouts Camp 2024, and the Norman Lockyer Family Day.

‘Consulting’ income was from public engagement training and a workshop around addressing the Sustainable Development Goals in the workplace for University of Exeter researchers and students, and speaking at events about our work.

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NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 26TH APRIL 2024

COMPARATIVE MOVEMENT IN FUNDS

9. STAFF NUMBERS, COSTS AND EMPLOYEE BENEFITS INCLUDING KEY

MANAGEMENT PERSONNEL

The average number of employees this year was three. The two directors (i.e. the key management personnel), Dr Natalie Whitehead (1FTE) and Dr Alice Mills (0.8FTE), were employed for the entire financial year, and one employee (0.5FTE) was salaried until February 2024, and on unpaid leave until the end of the financial year.

Staff costs were as follows:

The total employee benefits paid to the key management personnel were £37,512. The directors and staff have opted out of pension contributions until a greater income stream can be established. There are no other employee benefits offered during this financial year. The employer National insurance (NI) contributions did not exceed the Employment Allowance, so no social security costs were due.

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NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 26TH APRIL 2024

10. RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS

Related party transactions this year involved three businesses run by or associated with trustees or key management personnel, for services to the charity on funded projects, which are:

Maketank: Climate Exhibition 2023 was hosted at Maketank - a cultural lab space in Exeter which is directed by one of our trustees, Olga Petrakova-Brown, and the space that the original exhibition (in 2022) was designed for.

Lumi Therapy: The husband of Dr Natalie Whitehead (Director) is Co-Director of Lumi Therapy which is providing a support package to ESC, including an unrestricted donation (listed in Table 5. Debtors).

The VRVE: Dr Whitehead’s husband is also Director of The VRVE, and provided services through his company relating to virtual reality headsets, screens and staff support for projects. These services were accounted for in the grant proposals, the (unrelated) trustees agreed that this business was the most suitable for providing these services, which were kindly provided at a greatly reduced rate.

The transactions in chronological order:

£740 to the VRVE for the rental of virtual reality headsets as part of the ASDC - STFC Impact Project.

£105 to the VRVE for the rental of virtual reality headsets for Space Day 2023.

£500 to the VRVE for rental of display screens and staff time as part of Prof Mayne’s public engagement programme for Exoclimes 2023.

£1427 to Maketank for space hire for 7 days (at £200/day) plus £27 for promotional poster printing.

£2085 to the VRVE for the rental of virtual reality headsets for the Adrian Swire Charitable Trust - Operation Earth Tour.

£70,508 donation (debtors) from Lumi Therapy to Exeter Science Centre as part of a wider support package for the charity including office space and equipment, storage space and ad hoc staff support.

11. STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES FOR YEAR ENDED 26TH APRIL 2023

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