## **The 175[th] Annual Report and Financial Statements**
## **of the**
**Royal Meteorological Society for the period**
**1 January – 31 December 2025**
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## Table of Contents
**’ THE SOCIETY S MISSION** .................................................................................................................... **3 PUBLIC BENEFIT** ................................................................................................................................. **3 ’ PRESIDENT S FOREWORD** ................................................................................................................. **7 THE YEAR JANUARY TO DECEMBER 2025** ....................................................................................... **8 FINANCE** ............................................................................................................................................. **11** Risk Management ........................................................................................................................... 12 Auditor’s Report .............................................................................................................................. 13 Statement of Financial Activities...................................................................................................... 16 Balance Sheet................................................................................................................................. 17 Cashflow Statement ........................................................................................................................ 18 Notes to the Accounts ..................................................................................................................... 19 **ANNEXES** ............................................................................................................................................ **33** Annex A: The UK Weather of 2025 ................................................................................................. 33 Annex B: Membership & Accreditation ............................................................................................ 34 Annex C: Awards ............................................................................................................................ 40 Annex D: Scientific Publishing......................................................................................................... 42 Annex E: Societal Benefits .............................................................................................................. 47 Annex F: Underpinning Activities & Cross-Cutting Priorities ............................................................ 61 Annex G: Membership of Committees, Board, Local Centres & SIGS ............................................. 67 Annex H: Society Governance & Executive Team ........................................................................... 72 Annex I: Reports from Other Representative Bodies ....................................................................... 77
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## **THE SOCIETY’S MISSION**
The Royal Meteorological Society (“the Society”) is the UK’s Professional and Learned Society for weather and climate, and its mission is to advance the understanding of weather and climate and its application for the benefit of all. The Society plays a key role as the custodian of both the science and the profession of meteorology in the UK and has an important role to play internationally as one of the world’s largest meteorological societies. The Society is owned by its membership but exists for the benefit of all.
## **PUBLIC BENEFIT**
The Royal Meteorological Society is dedicated to providing benefit to the wider public, or sections of it, in achieving its aims. The Charity Act 2011 lists 13 main charitable purposes that would be regarded as ‘for public benefit’. In the Society’s case, the public benefit of our activities falls into four of these categories.
## **The advancement of health or the saving of lives**
Through partnerships such as the General Aviation Safety Council (GASCo), the UK Flight Safety Committee (UKFSC), Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) and the Royal Institute of Navigation (RIN) as well as many weather service providers, the Society offers support and training for weather and climaterelated safety-critical issues. The Society holds weather and climate education seminars and events for operational meteorologists, private pilots, and sailors, with the specific purpose of improving safety and reducing the number of accidents and incidents relating to poor weather conditions, which can sometimes be fatal.
In 2025, the Society attended UKFSC meetings. The Society also hosted 55 events during 2025 including five Met Masterclass events for operational meteorologists in partnership with the University of Reading and the University of Leeds. Many of these events were free to attend.
The Society is the academic partner with EUROCONTROL to support the SKYbrary website (SKYbrary) to oversee weather content in order to encourage a meteorological exchange of information with the aim of enhancing flight safety.
While responsibility for implementing and maintaining the Aeronautical Meteorological Personnel (AMP) standards rests with the weather service providers in the aviation sector, the Society continues to provide support and impartial advice where required to enable them to comply with the World Meteorological Organization’s (WMO) and the International Civil Aviation Organization’s (ICAO) criteria for competence and qualifications. The Society’s professional accreditation schemes (Registered and Chartered Meteorologist) also support record holding of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) activities required as evidence for maintaining the AMP.
## **The advancement of education**
The Society’s mission has a wide remit that looks to support people’s understanding, interest and enthusiasm in weather and climate, whether they are research scientists, amateur meteorologists, practitioners, communicators or members of the general public. It goes further, supporting the development of high-quality science, the next generation of scientists, the professional development of individuals, recognising further and higher education courses, informing policy and supporting learning in weather and climate through education and outreach activities.
The Society believes that every student should leave school with the basic climate literacy that will enable them to engage with the messages put forward by the media or politicians, or to make informed decisions about their own opportunities and responsibilities when it comes to climate change mitigation and
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adaptation, and also to equip them with the knowledge and skills required for the green careers of the future.
The Society’s education work pursues this mission through three main strands: influencing education policy and curricula across all nations of the UK, creating and quality-assuring meteorological learning resources for teachers, and delivering teacher training. The doubling of our education team from one to two people has significantly increased our capabilities and reach.
Education policy and curricula have been a major focus in 2025, coinciding with curriculum review and development across all UK nations and widespread recognition that the quality and breadth of climate education need substantial improvement. The Society:
- **Organised the ‘Curriculum for Climate Literacy’ workshop** in March 2025, bringing together representatives from a broad range of subject and professional organisations at the University of Reading. By combining subject and teaching expertise, we developed a well-sequenced, coherent, holistic, and progressive Curriculum for Climate Literacy, published in May 2025. This has since informed ongoing curriculum review and development in all four UK nations.
- **Published the results of our annual Climate Literacy Survey of School Leavers** in November. Evidence from this survey informs our policy and curriculum engagement, as well as other areas of work.
- **Continued to support curriculum review processes** in different nations, contributing to the Call for Evidence in England and actively participating in Scotland’s Curriculum Improvement Cycle for social studies, science, and technology.
- **Provided feedback at an international level** on the draft PISA framework for assessing climate literacy.
Thanks to increased team capacity, teacher training expanded in 2025 and CPD sessions were delivered at events such as the Geographical Association Conference and the Geography South West Conference. Furthermore, a new video series of CPD materials supporting our Weather and Climate Teachers’ Guide was made available on YouTube.
At higher education levels, the Society awards financial support to enable students to broaden their studies of meteorological sciences, through its legacy funds. The Society provides careers information, such as our updated Careers Hub. The Society’s Youth and Early Career Special Interest Group (SIG) focuses on the Society’s engagement with and provisions for youth and early careers, as well as championing their voice within the Society’s activities.
The Society is recognised as both the competent authority and the regulatory body for meteorology in the UK and offers independent recognition around training and continuing professional development (CPD) for meteorology and meteorologists. The Society’s accreditation framework offers individuals two schemes: professional registration and chartered status (RMet and CMet), as well as related CPD opportunities, such as the Met Masterclass series which delivered five webinars in 2025. Additionally, the Society offers a number of CPD opportunities through the events programme, scientific journals and volunteering.
## **The advancement of the arts, culture, heritage or science**
One of the Society’s charitable objectives is to promote the advancement and dissemination of knowledge and education in science for public benefit. The Society aims to advance professionalism in meteorology through the Chartered Meteorologist and Registered Meteorologist accreditation schemes which recognise
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high professional standards and competencies and follow an established code of conduct. The Society sets standards for CPD and professional conduct and performance, so that meteorologists are empowered to conduct high-quality, ethical work consistently throughout their careers. The Society works with professional bodies, government, employers, and national academies, and aims to ensure the workforce across the meteorological community reflects the diversity of society.
The Society publishes eight world-leading scientific journals, which are made available free to our members and to developing countries through publishing aid programmes and to the World Meteorological Organization’s (WMO) Regional Training Centres. Half of our portfolio is fully open access providing free information to readers on important science.
The Society has a curation programme for an historical and culturally valuable archive of documentation on behalf of the UK. Most of our important artefacts are held at the National Meteorological Library and Archive in Exeter, with many articles being digitised to make them accessible to all. The Society also owns a set of cloud study drawings (c1803-1811) produced by Luke Howard, famous for naming the clouds, which are held in the archives at the Science Museum and are regularly exhibited. In 2024, the Society loaned the Luke Howard drawing collection to the Huntington Museum in the USA as part of an exhibition on Storm Clouds.
The Society runs a comprehensive events programme, which is open to all with an interest in weather and climate. This includes free public meetings to encourage a focus on global, national and local issues, and also conferences to bring about the advancement in the understanding of meteorology as a science, through its applications and as an interest to all. In 2025, the Society delivered a diverse and ambitious programme of 55 events throughout the year (26 in-person; 9 hybrid; and 20 virtual). The programme variety aims to increase accessibility for delegates whilst also supporting different audience needs and includes the RMetS Annual Weather and Climate conference.
The Society hosts an annual Early Careers Scientists’ and Student Conference that brings together those involved in graduate and post-graduate studies, as well as early career scientists from the UK and internationally, to create a community of young scientists and to give them experience in active participation in scientific conferences. In 2025 the event was held at the 30 June – 2 July at Manchester Metropolitan University attracting 93 delegates from over 14 academic institutions and 5 different industry companies.
The Society offers grants and bursaries to encourage interaction between scientific groups both in the UK and internationally, to enable attendance at meetings and conferences.
The Society’s Special Interest Groups deliver events and other activities to facilitate the exchange of information and views within specific areas of meteorology. The groups are primarily a way of communicating at a specialist level and include areas such as the History of Meteorology and Physical Oceanography, Atmospheric Electricity, Climate Dynamics, and Meteorological Observing Systems.
## **The advancement of environmental protection or improvement**
The Society is at the heart of the debate on climate change and aims to lead by example in the transition to net zero. It plays a particularly important role in communicating some of the more complicated scientific and technical issues to the public at large, enabling them to understand and engage with what is one of the most important global issues that we face today. This role is overseen by the Society's Science Engagement Committee, which aims to sustain, encourage, and progress activity in climate science and its relevance to society.
The Society’ activities during 2025 included:
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- sponsoring 12-month Science Engagement Fellowships to engage with non-academic stakeholders to build multidisciplinary partnerships, develop engagement skills and experiences, enhance their profile with stakeholders and leading academics, and grow their research impact. The Science Engagement Fellows support Special Interest Groups on Energy and Insurance.
- delivering climate change communication training to BBC, ITV, Public Relations and Communications Association (PRCA), and Sustainability Unlocked.
- running the Standard Chartered Weather Photographer of the Year which received over 4,000 entries from 84 countries around the world.
The Society’s website rmets.org has a wide range of information and content that is freely available to all with an interest in the Society and in meteorology. The Society continues to invest significantly in making its website more accessible and informative, providing a wide range of freely available educational, scientific and professional material.
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## **PRESIDENT’S FOREWORD**
2025 was the 175[th] anniversary year of the Royal Meteorological Society and I enjoyed the celebrations at Hartwell House, where the Society was formed in 1850. I was delighted to give my presidential address there, highlighting the importance of the United Nations’ initiative to provide Early Warnings for All, and emphasising the importance of taking an end-to-end view of the warnings value chain when designing warning systems. I also enjoyed reading the thoughtful opinion pieces by eminent colleagues on where they see our profession going in the next 25 years, as well as writing my own on the future of forecasting. The Society achieved two important milestones during the year. Firstly, it was accredited with reducing its directly controlled greenhouse gas emissions by more than 90%. This was an important step towards our target of Net Zero, and we now have a credible plan for achieving that by 2030. Secondly, the Society’s Professional Accreditation programme reached a key milestone of 100 Chartered Meteorologists. As the professional body for weather and climate science, the Society remains steadfast in supporting the profession and championing the highest standards of expertise, integrity, and innovation across our community, ensuring that meteorology continues to thrive in the service of society.
The role of the Society in education continues to grow and publication of the Curriculum for Climate Literacy was an important development, building on extensive work with scientists and teachers. The future of our profession depends on reaching and enthusing young people with our science and I know this is something that many of you are passionate about.
The Society’s journals and events continued to share the best of our science. As society’s needs evolve in a changing climate and technology changes at an increasing rate, clear communication of the science is of utmost importance. Rapid growth in the application of Artificial Intelligence, both to forecasting and to the provision of weather services was reflected by the Met Office in its new five-year strategy, focused on building and maintaining trust in an era of rapid change.
Around the world, extremes continued to dominate the weather news in 2025 which, despite a weak La Niña, was still one of the top three hottest years in the record, globally. Heatwaves resulted in large numbers of deaths, crop failures and wildfires, while floods in many parts of the world killed people, and destroyed property and infrastructure. Here in the UK, the hot, dry, sunny spring and summer broke records. Both the heat and heavy rain revealed aspects of our infrastructure that are no longer fit for today’s climate, but which will be disruptive and costly to change.
The year also saw a worsening of the impact of misinformation and disinformation on society and, increasingly, on colleagues working in our science, and my thoughts are with those who have lost jobs as a result. I applaud those who promote and defend the scientific evidence when it is challenged.
To finish, I would like to acknowledge with gratitude the work of the headquarters team and the dedication of the many volunteers who give their time, effort and expertise to furthering the work of the Society.
Professor Brian Golding ……………………………….. Date ………………………
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## **THE YEAR JANUARY TO DECEMBER 2025**
## **A Landmark Year for the Society**
2025 marked a truly historic year for the Royal Meteorological Society, celebrating 175 years since its founding in 1850. This milestone provided an opportunity not only to reflect on the Society’s rich heritage, but also to reaffirm its contemporary relevance and future ambition at a time when weather and climate science are more central to society than ever before.
Anniversary activity ran throughout the year, embedded across events, publications, communications and member engagement, strengthening connection to the Society’s legacy while clearly positioning RMetS as a modern, forward-looking learned organisation.
## **The UK Weather of 2025**
The UK experienced an exceptional year of weather in 2025, provisionally recorded as the warmest year on record. It was also the sunniest year in the UK observational series, with spring and summer dominated by prolonged warm, dry and sunny conditions. Annual rainfall was below average overall, particularly across central and southern England where drought stress emerged during summer. Alongside these sustained conditions, the year was punctuated by notable weather extremes, including winter windstorms, detailed under Annex A.
The Society’s authoritative reporting on UK weather continues to provide an essential public record and scientific reference point, reinforcing the Society’s role as a trusted voice on weather and climate trends.
## **Membership and Professional Accreditation**
Membership remained strong and resilient in 2025, with a total of 3,290 individual members and high retention of 89%, reflecting sustained engagement and perceived value. While overall numbers dipped slightly, the Society saw growth in student, member and corporate grades, alongside continued international engagement. More details can be found in Annex B
A particular highlight was the continued growth in corporate membership, which increased to 22 organisations, strengthening the Society’s connection with industry and reinforcing its role in supporting professional standards across the sector.
The Society is extremely grateful for the continued support from an active and engaged community of **volunteers** , with around 600 volunteers involved on the Society’s committees or contributing in other ways. This important input from volunteers allows the Society to successfully achieve many of the activities highlighted in this annual report.
Professional accreditation reached a significant milestone. The number of Chartered Meteorologists (CMet) exceeded 100 for the first time, reversing a long period of relative stagnation and marking a major success for the Society’s accreditation strategy. In total, 207 members now hold professional accreditation, supported by a modernised digital system, expanded specialisms and improved CPD processes, with full details in Annex B.
Key developments during the year included:
- Continued rollout of the upgraded ACCSYS accreditation and CPD platform
- Introduction of new professional specialisms reflecting the evolving profession
- Launch of the Society’s mentoring scheme, supporting members at all career stages
- Strong growth in CPD participation and reporting
Together, these initiatives strengthened professional recognition, career development and member value.
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## **Awards and Recognition**
The Society continued its proud tradition of recognising excellence through its refreshed awards portfolio, celebrating achievement across research, education, professional practice, communication and service.
Awards in 2025 highlighted the breadth of modern meteorology, from advances in climate science and modelling, to innovation in instrumentation, public engagement and professional leadership. Volunteer contribution was also recognised, underlining the central role of volunteers in delivering the Society’s mission. More detailed can be found in Annex C.
## **Scientific Publishing**
Scientific publishing remained one of the Society’s core strengths in 2025, delivering both global scientific impact and essential income to support charitable activities. The Society is committed to delivering a highquality portfolio of journals and books to support the management of scientific knowledge and the promotion of science.
Across the journal portfolio:
- Submissions increased by 23%
- Published articles increased by 7%
- Editorial Boards continued to diversify and expand internationally
- Early career researcher involvement was strengthened
The Society’s journals continued to perform strongly in a challenging publishing environment, with growing open access provision and sustained citation impact across titles. A major operational milestone was the successful migration of all journals onto the ReX peer-review system, improving workflow efficiency and user experience. Full details can be found in Annex D.
Income generated through publishing remains critical in enabling the Society’s wider education, engagement and outreach work.
## **Science Engagement, Education and Societal Impact**
Science engagement and education activities continued to be a defining strength of the Society in 2025, connecting weather and climate science with policymakers, industry, educators, the media and the public. For full details see Annex E.
The Society delivered a wide-ranging programme of evidence-based science engagement, with particular emphasis on:
- Climate communication and media training
- Sector-focused work with insurance and energy communities
- Delivery of authoritative climate reports and briefings
- International engagement, including presence at COP30
The Weather Photographer of the Year competition celebrated its 10th anniversary, continuing to reach millions globally through compelling visual storytelling that links weather, climate and human experience.
Formal education remained at the heart of the Society’s charitable mission. Highlights included:
- Publication of the Curriculum for Climate Literacy, influencing curriculum reform across the UK
- Training of over 360 trainee teachers
- Continued growth and impact of MetLink, the Society’s free education portal
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- Expansion of education staffing capacity
These activities support the Society’s long-held vision that every young person should leave school weather- and climate-literate.
## **Business Development and Strategic Partnerships**
Business development activity in 2025 strengthened the Society’s reach, resilience and impact. The Society business development activities continue to strengthen its relationship with strategic partners from a range of organisations including academic institutions, business and industry, NGOs and government to support the delivery of its charitable objectives.
Key achievements in 2025 included:
- Ongoing partnership with Standard Chartered to support the continued success of Weather Photographer of the Year.
- Funding secured from the Garfield Weston Foundation to support our climate education activities.
- Delivery of major partnership projects, including State of the Climate reports.
- Launch of the Fund for the Future, supporting long-term investment in education and outreach.
- Stronger engagement with industry, academia and public sector organisations.
These partnerships support both financial sustainability and mission delivery.
## **Net Zero and Organisational Sustainability**
In 2025, the Society achieved a major environmental milestone by meeting its Net Zero commitment for Scope 1 and 2 emissions. After more than 15 years of work to reduce the organisation’s environmental impact, Scope 1 and 2 emissions – those directly under the Society’s control – have now been reduced by more than 90% to just 0.3tCO2e (tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent). The Society is part of Pledge to Net Zero, CAFA (Climate Action For Associations), and helped develop and signed, the Professional Bodies Charter for Climate Action.
The Society is pleased to have achieved this level of reduction in Scope 1 and 2 emissions and to make this announce during its 175[th] anniversary year. In achieving net zero for Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions, the Society has ensured that all material emission sources within these categories have been directly addressed through reduction, substitution or elimination, and have not been reclassified or displaced into Scope 3. Meeting this pledge represents a significant milestone on the journey to full Net Zero and reflects the strong encouragement of the Society’s members, who have consistently called for climate science to be matched by credible action.
Work also progressed on understanding and reducing Scope 3 emissions, with particular focus on publishing, investments and events. Net Zero considerations are now embedded across organisational decision-making.
## **Marketing and Communications**
The Society’s website saw 1.2 million unique visitors in 2025, roughly equal to 2024, indicating that the anticipated negative impact of AI-driven search on web traffic has yet to fully take hold. The Society carried out 170 media engagements in 2025 and garnered around 3,800 pieces of media coverage across all work programmes, campaigns, and initiatives. This included more than 500 radio pickups and over 100 television mentions. Social media remains an important channel, and an increasing number of newly accredited meteorologists promoting their accreditation across social media was observed in 2025; driving advocacy from across the Society’s community remains a key goal for 2026.
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## **Equity, Diversity and Inclusion**
In 2025, the Society continued to progress its work in Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI), with support from the Society’s EDI Working Group which continues to provide advice and guidance to the Society. The Society began a new project to collect more quantitative data about the diversity of its membership, reviewing policies and processes and ensuring technical capability, with a view to starting to collect this data in 2026. The Society has supported its team to embed EDI into day-to-day activities including events and communication. The Diverse Voices events series has continued and is now a regular feature on the Society’s events calendar. The Society has also taken steps to improve the diversity of its Board of Trustees, by creating a new role for an Early Career Trustee.
The Society has managed to deliver the majority of planned activities in 2025, thanks to the support and determination of the staff and volunteers, and the Society continues to be in a strong financial position. However, the next few years remain challenging, with pressures on income across the meteorological community and from scientific publishing due to the move to an Open Access model, but the Society will enter this period on a firm financial footing.
## **FINANCE**
On the advice of our new auditors, and, in accordance with the relevant accounting standards, we have changed the way scientific publishing income is recognised, the result of which necessitated a restatement of the prior year comparatives. The restatement ensures that income is recognised in the correct period. The adjustment increased prior year income and net assets by £317k but had no impact on cash flows.
The Society continues to be in a good financial position and total reserves on 31 December 2025 were £3,013k (2024 restated: £3,007k). The Society’s Reserves Policy can be found in Annex H to this report.
The operating deficit of the Society in 2025 was £91k (2024 restated: surplus of £196k) which was consistent with our expectations for the year.
Investment gains of £97k (2024 restated: gain of £51k) helped offset the operating deficit leaving a small overall surplus of £6k (2024 restated: £247k).
Income: Total income was £1.445m (2024 restated: £1.739m).
Publishing income remains the mainstay of the Society’s income with £924k (2024 restated: £1,187k). Please note the restated amount for 2024 includes the £317k adjustment amount as detailed above.
Despite the headline decrease in publishing income the underlying performance of our journal portfolio was positive with a 23% increase in article submissions and a 7% increase in published articles. Subscription revenues have remained resilient as open access continues to gain dominance across all the journals.
Membership income remained at a similar level to the previous year at £242k (2024 restated: £243k) with the small decline in membership numbers offset by the increase in membership fees.
Other income of £171k, was also consistent with the prior year (2024 restated: £174k), with the single biggest contributor continuing to be Standard Chartered Bank’s sponsorship of the Society’s Weather Photographer of the Year Competition.
Expenditure: Total expenditure was £1.535m (2024: restated £1.543m) broadly consistent with the prior year. Costs associated with central support and charitable activities continue to represent the largest areas of expenditure.
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The Society continues to manage its finances prudently, with appropriate oversight of budgets and expenditure, and remains well placed to manage financial risks.
The notes in the separate Annual Accounts provide more insight into the detailed figures and the way these have been compiled.
## **RISK MANAGEMENT**
The trustees review the principal risks and uncertainties facing the Society on a regular basis, supported by the House Committee and a maintained risk register. Key risks include financial sustainability, operational resilience, and reputational risk. These are mitigated through regular budget and performance monitoring, oversight of investments and reserves, robust governance and committee structures, and appropriate systems and controls. The trustees believe that the arrangements in place enable the Society to manage its risks effectively. See Annex H for more details on risks.
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## **Independent Auditor’s Report to the Trustees of Royal Meteorological Society**
## **Opinion**
We have audited the financial statements of Royal Meteorological Society (the 'charity') for the year ended 31 December 2025 which comprise Statement of Financial Activities, Balance Sheet, Cash Flow Statement and notes to the financial statements, including significant accounting policies. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including Financial Reporting Standard 102 _The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland_ (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).
In our opinion the financial statements:
- give a true and fair view of the state of the charity's affairs as at 31 December 2025, and of its incoming resources and application of resources, including its income and expenditure, for the year then ended;
- have been properly prepared in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice; and
- have been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011.
## **Basis for opinion**
We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK) (ISAs (UK)) and applicable law. Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the auditor responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements section of our report. We are independent of the charity in accordance with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the financial statements in the UK, including the FRC's Ethical Standard, and we have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.
## **Conclusions relating to going concern**
In auditing the financial statements, we have concluded that the trustees' use of the going concern basis of accounting in the preparation of the financial statements is appropriate.
Based on the work we have performed, we have not identified any material uncertainties relating to events or conditions that, individually or collectively, may cast significant doubt on the charity's ability to continue as a going concern for a period of at least twelve months from when the financial statements are authorised for issue.
Our responsibilities and the responsibilities of the trustees with respect to going concern are described in the relevant sections of this report.
## **Other information**
The other information comprises the information included in the trustees' annual report, other than the financial statements and our auditor's report thereon. The trustees are responsible for the other information. Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information and we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon.
Our responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so, consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent with the financial statements or our knowledge obtained in the course of the audit or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If we identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, we are required to determine whether this gives rise to a material misstatement in the financial statements themselves. If, based on the work we have performed, we conclude that there is a material misstatement of this other information, we are required to report that fact.
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We have nothing to report in this regard.
## **Matters on which we are required to report by exception**
We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 require us to report to you if, in our opinion:
- the information given in the trustees' report is inconsistent in any material respect with the financial statements; or
- sufficient accounting records have not been kept; or
- the financial statements are not in agreement with the accounting records; or
- we have not received all the information and explanations we require for our audit.
## **Responsibilities of trustees**
As explained more fully in the trustees' responsibilities statement set out on page 73 in Annex H, the trustees are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements and for being satisfied that they give a true and fair view, and for such internal control as the trustees determine is necessary to enable the preparation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.
In preparing the financial statements, the trustees are responsible for assessing the charity's ability to continue as a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters related to going concern and using the going concern basis of accounting unless the trustees either intend to liquidate the charity or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.
## **Auditor responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements**
We have been appointed as auditor under section 144 of the Charities Act 2011 and report in accordance with the Act and relevant regulations made or having effect thereunder.
Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an auditor's report that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance, but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with ISAs (UK) will always detect a material misstatement when it exists. Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these financial statements.
Irregularities, including fraud, are instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations. We design procedures in line with our responsibilities, outlined above, to detect material misstatements in respect of irregularities, including fraud.
The extent to which our procedures are capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud is detailed below:
- Our understanding of the charity and the sector in which it operates, including the nature of its activities, its control environment and its operating performance.
- Inquiries of management and those charged with governance regarding:
- their assessment of the risk that the financial statements may be materially misstated as a result of fraud or error; and
- any knowledge of actual, suspected or alleged fraud or instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations.
- Our evaluation of the charity's policies and procedures relating to:
- identifying, evaluating and complying with applicable laws and regulations;
- the prevention, detection and response to fraud; and
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- the design and implementation of internal controls to mitigate the risk of fraud or non-compliance.
- The discussion of audit risks, including fraud risks, among the audit engagement team.
As a result of these procedures, we considered the opportunities and incentives that may exist for fraud within the charity and identified that the greatest potential risk of fraud arises in areas involving significant management judgement, in particular the recognition of revenue. In common with all audits conducted in accordance with ISAs (UK), we also performed specific procedures to respond to the risk of management override of controls.
In addition, we obtained an understanding of the legal and regulatory framework applicable to the charity, focusing on those laws and regulations that have a direct effect on the determination of material amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. In this context, the principal laws and regulations considered were the Charities Act and relevant tax legislation.
Because of the inherent limitations of an audit, there is a risk that we will not detect all irregularities, including those leading to a material misstatement in the financial statements or non-compliance with regulation. This risk increases the more that compliance with a law or regulation is removed from the events and transactions reflected in the financial statements, as we will be less likely to become aware of instances of non-compliance. The risk is also greater regarding irregularities occurring due to fraud rather than error, as fraud involves intentional concealment, forgery, collusion, omission or misrepresentation.
A further description of our responsibilities is available on the FRC's website at: https://www.frc.org.uk/auditors/audit-assurance/auditor-s-responsibilities-for-the-audit-of-thefi/description-of-the-auditor%E2%80%99s-responsibilities-for.This description forms part of our auditorìs report.
## **Use of our report**
This report is made solely to the charity's trustees, as a body, in accordance with Part 4 of the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the charity's trustees those matters we are required to state to them in an auditor's report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the charity and the charity's trustees as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.
UHY Ross Brooke Suite I, Windrush Court Chartered Accountants Abingdon Business Park (Statutory Auditor) Oxon Date: OX14 1SY
UHY Ross Brooke is eligible for appointment as auditor of the charity by virtue of its eligibility for appointment as auditor of a company under section 1212 of the Companies Act 2006.
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## **Royal Meteorological Society**
## **Statement of Financial Activities**
## **for the Year ended 31 December 2025**
|**Income and Expenditure**
**Incoming Resources**
Donations, Legacies and Gifts
Membership
Charitable Activities
_- Publications_
_- Meetings and Events_
Investment Income
Other Income - miscellaneous
**Total Incoming Resources**
**Resources Expended**
Fundraising
Charitable Activities
_- Publications_
_- Meetings and Events_
_- Schools Activities_
_- Grants Awarded_
_- Supported Organisations_
_- Local Centres_
_- Awards and Prizes_
_- Central Support_
Other costs - miscellaneous
**Total Resources Expended**
**Net Incoming Resources for the Year**
**Other Recognised Gains and Losses**
Gains / (Losses) on Revaluation of Investments
Gains / (Losses) on Investment Sales
**Net Movements in Funds**
Total Funds brought forward
**Total Funds carried forward**|**Note**|**Designated**
**Total**
**General**
**Legacies**
**Funds**
**Fund**
**Fund**
**2025**|**Total**
**Funds**
**As**
**restated**
**2024**|
|---|---|---|---|
||16
18
8
9,10
17
16
11
12
13
14
15
19
20
21
3|10,863
-
10,863
242,088
-
242,088
923,656
-
923,656
56,403
-
56,403
33,752
16,876
50,628
160,579
-
160,579|641
243,674
1,186,641
81,520
53,377
173,565|
|||**£1,427,341**
**£16,876**
**£1,444,217**|**£1,739,418**|
|||200,322
-
200,322
173,742
-
173,742
170,108
-
170,108
122,337
30,795
153,132
-
1,560
1,560
50,761
-
50,761
39,303
-
39,303
16,033
-
16,033
675,294
-
675,294
54,920
-
54,920|189,624
197,215
189,896
126,753
9,361
39,226
39,929
21,504
666,666
62,885|
|||**£1,502,820**
**£32,355**
**£1,535,175**|**£1,543,059**|
|||**£(75,479)**
**£(15,479)**
**£(90,958)**|**£196,359**|
|||68,626
34,312
102,938
(3,975)
(1,989)
(5,964)|25,888
25,207
-|
|||**£(10,828)**
**£16,844**
**£6,016**
2,791,566
214,957
3,006,523|**£247,454**
2,759,069|
|||**£2,780,738**
**£231,801**
**£3,012,539**|**£3,006,523**|
The notes on pages 19 to 32 form an integral part of these accounts.
16
## **Royal Meteorological Society**
## **Balance Sheet as at 31 December 2025**
|Note
Fixed Assets
Tangible Assets
2
Quoted Investments
3
Current Assets
Debtors and Stock
4
Cash at Bank and in Hand
5
Creditors: Amounts Falling Due
Within
One Year
6
Net Assets
Financed by:
General Fund
Legacies Fund
Capital Reserves||2025
566,750
1,387,399
1,954,149
1,058,390
£3,012,539
2,780,738
231,801
£3,012,539|As restated
2024|As restated
2024|
|---|---|---|---|---|
||310,189
1,026,157||358,602
1,076,709|575,596
1,279,625|
|||||1,855,221
1,151,302|
||1,336,346
277,956||1,435,311
284,009||
||||||
|||||£3,006,523|
|||||2,791,566
214,957|
|||||£3,006,523|
The notes on pages 19 to 32 form an integral part of these accounts.
_**Approved by the Board of Trustees and signed on its behalf on**_
_**Approved by the Board of Trustees and signed on its behalf on by** Brian Golding President Paul Hardaker Treasurer_
17
## **Royal Meteorological Society**
## **Cashflow Statement**
## **for the Year ended 31 December 2025**
|**Note**
**Net cash provided by operating**
**activities:**
Net movement in funds
Depreciation of tangible fixed assets
2
Investment income
17
(Gains) / losses on revaluation of
investments
3
(Gains) / losses on disposal of investments
Decrease / (Increase) in debtors
Increase / (decrease) in creditors
Net cash from operating activities
**Cashflows from investing activities:**
Dividends received
Interest received
Purchase of investments
3
Proceeds of disposal of investments
Purchase of tangible fixed assets
2
**Total cashflow from investing activities**
**Increase / (Decrease) in cash**
5
**Reconciliation of net cashflow**
Cash held at 31 December
5
Cash held at 1 January
**Change in cash and cash equivalents**
**during the year**|**Designated**
**General**
**Legacies**
**Fund**
**Fund**|**Total**
**Funds**
**2025**
6,016
11,827
(50,628)
(102,938)
5,964
48,413
(6,053)
(93,415)
(87,399)
22,461
28,167
(209,722)
198,923
(2,982)
36,847
**£(50,552)**
1,026,157
1,076,709
**£(50,552)**|**As restated**
**Total**
**2024**|
|---|---|---|---|
||(10,828)
16,844
11,827
-
(33,752)
(16,876)
(68,626)
(34,312)
3,975
1,989
48,413
-
(6,053)
-||247,454
13,511
(53,377)
(25,888)
(25,207)
(312,681)
(50,427)|
||(44,216)
(49,199)||(454,069)|
||(55,044)
(32,355)||(206,615)|
||14,974
7,487
18,778
9,389
(139,815)
(69,907)
132,615
66,308
(2,982)
-||24,585
28,792
(499,056)
462,849
(5,688)|
||23,570
13,277||11,482|
|||||
||**£(31,474)**
**£(19,078)**||**£(195,133)**|
||||1,076,709
1,271,842|
||||**£(195,133)**|
The notes on pages 19 to 32 form an integral part of these accounts.
18
## **Royal Meteorological Society**
## **Notes to the Accounts**
## **for the Year ended 31 December 2025**
## **General information**
The Charity is a registered charity in England and Wales and is unincorporated.
The address of the principal office is 104 Oxford Road, Reading, RG1 7LL.
These financial statements have been prepared in compliance with FRS 102, 'The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and the Republic of Ireland', the Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) (Charities SORP (FRS 102)) and the Charities Act 2011.
## **1. Accounting Policies**
## **1.1 Basis of preparation**
The financial statements have been prepared on the historical cost basis, as modified by the revaluation of certain financial assets and liabilities and investment properties measured at fair value through income or expenditure.
The financial statements are prepared in sterling, which is the functional currency of the entity.
## **1.2 Going concern**
There are no material uncertainties about the charity's ability to continue.
## **1.3 Fund accounting**
Unrestricted funds are available for use at the discretion of the Trustees to further any of the Charity's purposes.
Designated funds are unrestricted funds earmarked by the trustees for a particular future project or commitment.
Restricted funds are subjected to restrictions on their expenditure declared by the donor or through the terms of an appeal, and fall into one of two sub-classes: restricted income funds or endowment funds.
## **1.4 Incoming resources**
All incoming resources are included in the statement of financial activities when entitlement has passed to the charity; it is probable that the economic benefits associated with the transaction will flow to the charity and the amount can be reliably measured. The following specific policies are applied to particular categories of income:
- income from donations or grants is recognised when there is evidence of entitlement to the gift, receipt is probable and its amount can be measured reliably.
- legacy income is recognised when receipt is probable and entitlement is established.
- income from donated goods is measured at the fair value of the goods unless this is impractical to measure reliably, in which case the value is derived from the cost to the donor or the estimated resale value. Donated facilities and services are recognised in the accounts when received if the value can be reliably measured. No amounts are included for the contribution of general volunteers.
- income from contracts for the supply of services is recognised with the delivery of the contracted service. This is classified as unrestricted funds unless there is a contractual requirement for it to be spent on a particular purpose and returned if unspent, in which case it may be regarded as restricted.
19
## **1.5 Resources expended**
Expenditure is recognised on an accruals basis as a liability is incurred. Expenditure includes any VAT which cannot be fully recovered, and is classified under headings of the statement of financial activities to which it relates:
- expenditure on raising funds includes the costs of all fundraising activities, events, non-charitable trading activities, and the sale of donated goods.
- expenditure on charitable activities includes all costs incurred by a charity in undertaking activities that further its charitable aims for the benefit of its beneficiaries, including those support costs and costs relating to the governance of the charity apportioned to charitable activities.
- other expenditure includes all expenditure that is neither related to raising funds for the charity nor part of its expenditure on charitable activities.
All costs are allocated to expenditure categories reflecting the use of the resource. Direct costs attributable to a single activity are allocated directly to that activity. Shared costs are apportioned between the activities they contribute to on a reasonable, justifiable and consistent basis.
## **1.6 Tangible assets**
All fixed assets are initially recorded at cost.
## **1.7 Depreciation**
Depreciation is calculated so as to write off the cost or valuation of an asset, less its residual value, over the useful economic life of that asset as follows:
|
seful economic life of that|
asset|
as follows:|
|---|---|---|
|Furniture, fixtures and|-|10% on cost|
|fittings|||
|Office equipment|-|20% – 33% on cost|
The Trustees have considered the useful economic life and residual value of the Grade II listed building. Having regard to its durable construction, heritage restrictions, long-term use as headquarters, and ongoing maintenance policy, the Trustees consider the useful economic life of the building to be 60 years.
In accordance with FRS 102, land is not depreciated as it is considered to have an indefinite useful life. The carrying value of the property therefore comprises a land element, which is not depreciated, and a building element, which is depreciated over its assessed useful economic life.
On this basis and having considered the likely residual value of the building, the resulting annual depreciation charge is not material to the accounts.
## **1.8 Investments**
Unlisted equity investments are initially recorded at cost, and subsequently measured at fair value. If fair value cannot be reliably measured, assets are measured at cost less impairment.
Listed investments are measured at fair value with changes in fair value being recognised in income or expenditure.
## **1.9 Financial instruments**
A financial asset or a financial liability is recognised only when the charity becomes a party to the contractual provisions of the instrument.
Basic financial instruments are initially recognised at the amount receivable or payable including any related transaction costs.
Current assets and current liabilities are subsequently measured at the cash or other consideration expected to be paid or received and not discounted.
Where investments in shares are publicly traded or their fair value can otherwise be measured reliably,
20
the investment is subsequently measured at fair value with changes in fair value recognised in income and expenditure. All other such investments are subsequently measured at cost less impairment.
Debtors and trade creditors that are measured at cost or amortised cost are reviewed for objective evidence of impairment at the end of each reporting date. If there is objective evidence of impairment, an impairment loss is recognised under the appropriate heading in the statement of financial activities in which the initial gain was recognised.
For all equity instruments regardless of significance, and other financial assets that are individually significant, these are assessed individually for impairment. Other financial assets are either assessed individually or grouped on the basis of similar credit risk characteristics.
Any reversals of impairment are recognised immediately, to the extent that the reversal does not result in a carrying amount of the financial asset that exceeds what the carrying amount would have been had the impairment not previously been recognised.
## **1.10 Pension**
The Society’s contributions in respect of the staff pension arrangements are charged to the Income and Expenditure Account for the year in which they are payable to the pension providers. From 1 June 2016 the Society has had auto enrolment pension arrangements in place.
## **1.11 Prior period adjustment**
During the year, the Trustees identified a prior period error relating to the understatement of accrued income in the comparative period. This error arose because income relating to the prior year had been earned but was not recognised as accrued income at the previous year end. The error has been corrected by restating the prior-year comparatives in accordance with FRS 102.
Nature of the error - The Society had not recognised all accrued income for publishing that related to the prior reporting period. The income should have been recognised on an accruals basis, as the entitlement existed at the year end.
This resulted in - Accrued income understated, Incoming resources understated and Net assets understated by the same amount
Balance Sheet (extract)
|
ated by the same amount
e Sheet (extract)||||
|---|---|---|---|
|Balance|Originally Stated
(£)|Adjustment (£)|Restated (£)|
|Accrued income|-|
316,654|
316,654|
|Net assets|2,689,869|
316,654|
3,006,523|
Statement of Financial Activities (SOFA) (extract)
|SOFA line item|Originally Stated
(£)|Adjustment (£)|Restated (£)|
|---|---|---|---|
|Charitable Activities -
Publications|869,987|
316,654|
1,186,641|
|Net movement in funds|(69,200)|
316,654|
247,454|
## Explanation
The restatement ensures income is recognised in the correct period. The adjustment increases prior-year income and net assets but has no impact on cash flows.
21
## **Royal Meteorological Society Notes to the Accounts for the Year Ended 31 December 2025**
## **Note**
|**2.**
**Tangible Assets**
**Cost**
At 1 January 2025
Additions
Disposals
**At 31 December 2025**
**Depreciation**
At 1 January 2025
Charge for Year
On Disposals
**At 31 December 2025**
**Net Book Value**
**At 31 December 2025**
**At 31 December 2024**
**3.**
**Quoted Investments**
Market Value at 1 January
Additions
Disposals
**At 31 December**
Revaluation to Market Value
**Market Value at 31 December**
**Historical Cost**
Government Stock and Corporate Bonds
UK Equities
Overseas Equities / Other Investments|**Freehold**
**Property**
544,590
-
-|**Furniture &**
**Equipment**
**Total**
223,162
767,752
2,981
2,981
-
**£226,143**
**£770,733**
192,156
192,156
11,827
11,827
-
**£203,983**
**£203,983**
**£22,160**
**£566,750**
**£31,006**
**£575,596**
**2025**
**2024**
1,279,625
1,192,323
209,722
499,056
(204,886)
(437,642)
**£1,284,461**
**£1,253,737**
102,938
25,888
**£1,387,399**
**£1,279,625**
**£1,152,047**
**£1,181,121**
**2025**
**2024**
132,773
200,214
193,227
389,238
1,061,399
690,173
**£1,387,399**
**£1,279,625**|
|---|---|---|
||**£544,590**||
||**-**
**-**
-||
||**£-**||
||**£544,590**||
||**£544,590**||
||||
22
## **Royal Meteorological Society Notes to the Accounts**
## **for the Year Ended 31 December 2025**
|**Note**
**4.**
**Debtors and Stock**
Debtors
Payments in Advance
Gift Aid Recoverable
Value Added Tax Receivable
Accrued publishing income
**Total Debtors**
**5.**
**Balances at Bank and Cash in Hand**
Lloyds Bank Plc - Current Account
Lloyds Bank Plc - Deposit Account
Investment Managers Cash Account
Investment Managers Time Deposits
Cash
**6.**
**Creditors: Amount Falling Due Within One Year**
Creditors and Accrued Charges
Amounts Received in Advance
Value Added Tax Payable
PAYE and National Insurance
**7.**
**Analysis of Net Assets between Funds**
Fund Balances are represented by:
Quoted Investments
Other Net Assets|**Designated**
**Unrestricted**
**2025**
462,466
-230,665|**As restated**
**2025**
**2024**
5,433
10,954
43,851
8,106
24,204
21,453
-
1,435
236,701
316,654
**£310,189**
**£358,602**
72,782
19,652
112,440
1,037,510
21,722
19,407
819,015
-
198
140
**£1,026,157**
**£1,076,709**
147,905
160,654
105,008
87,214
5,013
-
20,030
36,141
**£277,956**
**£284,009**
**General**
**Designated**
**Unrestricted**
**General**
**2025**
**2024**
**2024**
924,933
426,542
853,083
1,855,805
-211,585
1,938,483|
|---|---|---|
||**£231,801**|
**£2,780,738**
**£214,957**
**£2,791,566**|
23
## **Royal Meteorological Society**
## **Notes to the Accounts**
## **for the Year Ended 31 December 2025**
|**Note**
**8.**
**Publications etc - Income (General Fund)**
Net receipts from scientific publications
Calendar
Other Publications
**Publications Income Total**
**9.**
**Meetings and Events Income**
Training Events
National Meetings
SIG meetings
**Conference Income**
Delegate Receipts and Sponsorship
**Total Meetings Income (Notes 9 & 10)**|**Designated**
**General**
**Legacies**
**Fund**
**Fund**
10,500
1,657|**As restated**
**2025**
**2024**
920,335
1,180,710
3,321
4,107
1,824|
|---|---|---|
|||**£923,656**
**£1,186,641**|
|||**2025**
**2024**
**Total**
**Total**
10,500
11,034
1,657
7,011
-
-|
||**£12,157**
**£-**|
**£12,157**
**£18,045**|
||44,246|44,246
63,475|
||**£44,246**
**£-**|
**£44,246**
**£63,475**|
||**£56,403**
**£-**|
**£56,403**
**£81,520**|
24
## **Royal Meteorological Society Notes to the Accounts**
## **for the Year Ended 31 December 2025**
## **Note**
|**11.**
**Publications Expenditure (General Fund)**
Quarterly Journal
Subscriptions and Other Costs
Staff Costs
Premises and Admin Overheads
Weather
Subscriptions and Other Costs
Staff Costs
Premises and Admin Overheads
International Journal of Climatology
Subscriptions and Other Costs
Staff Costs
Premises and Admin Overheads
Meteorological Applications
Subscriptions and Other Costs
Staff Costs
Premises and Admin Overheads
Atmospheric Science Letters
Subscriptions and Other Costs
Staff Costs
Premises and Admin Overheads
Calendar
Production Costs
Staff Costs
Premises and Admin Overheads
Other Publications (incl digital)
Production Costs
Staff Costs
Premises and Admin Overheads
**Publications Expenditure Total**|**2025**
378
5,140
889|6,407
73,750
8,779
5,928
5,669
8,859
64,350
**£173,742**|**2024**
756
4,795
951
6,502
56,992
13,618
2,701
73,311
6,878
1,364
8,242
4,744
941
5,685
4,478
888
5,366
2,075
6,081
1,206
9,362
29,175
49,711
9,861
88,747
**£197,215**|**2024**
756
4,795
951
6,502
56,992
13,618
2,701
73,311
6,878
1,364
8,242
4,744
941
5,685
4,478
888
5,366
2,075
6,081
1,206
9,362
29,175
49,711
9,861
88,747
**£197,215**|
|---|---|---|---|---|
||54,004
16,834
2,912||56,992
13,618
2,701||
||7,484
1,295||6,878
1,364||
||5,054
874||4,744
941||
||4,833
836||4,478
888||
||2,072
5,786
1,001||2,075
6,081
1,206||
||2,089
53,079
9,182||29,175
49,711
9,861||
||||||
|||||**£197,215**|
25
## **Royal Meteorological Society Notes to the Accounts**
## **for the Year Ended 31 December 2025**
|**Note**
**12.**
**Meetings and Events Expenditure**
**National Meetings**
Direct Costs
Staff Costs
Premises and Admin Overheads
**Other Meetings and Training Events**
Direct Costs
Staff Costs
Premises and Admin Overheads
**Conferences**
Premises Hire, Travel and Catering
Staff Costs
Premises and Admin Overheads
**Specialist Groups and Miscellaneous**
Direct Costs
**Total Meetings Expenditure**
**13.**
**Schools Activities**
**Expenditure**
Direct Costs
Staff Costs
Premises and Admin Overheads
**14.**
**Grants**
Meetings and Conference Grants
Staff Costs
Premises and Admin Overheads|**Designated**
**General**
**Legacies**
**2025**
**2024**
**Fund**
**Fund**
**Total**
**Total**
9,912
9,912
14,219
28,286
28,286
23,519
4,893
4,893
4,665|
|---|---|
||**£43,091**
**£-**
**£43,091**
**£42,403**|
||4,624
4,624
17,160
27,964
27,964
23,797
4,838
4,838
4,721|
||**£37,426**
**£-**
**£37,426**
**£45,678**|
||39,571
39,571
54,099
42,643
42,643
38,396
7,377
7,377
7,616|
||**£89,591**
**£-**
**£89,591**
**£100,111**|
||-
1,704|
||**£-**
**£-**
**£-**
**£1,704**|
|||
||**£170,108**
**£-**
**£170,108**
**£189,896**|
||30,795
30,795
37,374
104,295
104,295
74,584
18,042
18,042
14,795|
||**£122,337**
**£30,795**
**£153,132**
**£126,753**|
||1,560
1,560
9,361
-
-
-
-|
||**£-**
**£1,560**
**£1,560**
**£9,361**|
26
## **Royal Meteorological Society Notes to the Accounts for the Year Ended 31 December 2025**
## **Note**
|**ote**||
|---|---|
|**15.**
**Supported Organisations**
EMS Membership and Meetings
Science Council Membership and Meetings
Other Organisations
Staff Costs
Premises and Admin Overheads
**16.**
**Miscellaneous Income**
Grants, special funding
Donations and legacies
Reproduction Fees, Advertising Royalties and other
**17.**
**Investment Income**
Interest on Deposits
Income from Shares and Securities
**18.**
**Membership Income**
Members
Gift Aid
Accreditation Fees|**Designated**
**General**
**Legacies**
**2025**
**2024**
**Fund**
**Fund**
**Total**
**Total**
7,409
7,409
6,153
1,878
1,878
1,782
10,872
10,872
7,634
26,089
26,089
19,741
4,513
4,513
3,916|
||**£50,761**
**£-**
**£50,761**
**£39,226**|
||133,569
133,569
164,189
10,863
10,863
641
27,010
27,010
9,376|
||**£171,442**
**£-**
**£171,442**
**£174,206**|
||18,778
9,389
28,167
28,792
14,974
7,487
22,461
24,585|
||**£33,752**
**£16,876**
**£50,628**
**£53,377**|
||215,432
-
215,432
213,891
20,688
20,688
22,281
5,968
5,968
7,502|
||**£242,088**
**£-**
**£242,088**
**£243,674**|
27
## **Royal Meteorological Society**
## **Notes to the Accounts**
## **for the Year Ended 31 December 2025**
|**Note**
**19.**
**Local Centres Subventions**
Scottish Centre
East Anglia Centre
South East Centre
Yorkshire
Staff Costs
Premises and Admin Overheads
**20.**
**Awards Committee Expenditure**
L F Richardson Prize
Malcolm Walker Award
Emerging Communicator Award
Medals awarded
Staff Costs
Premises and Admin Overheads|**Designated**
**General**
**Legacies**
**2025**
**2024**
**Fund**
**Fund**
**Total**
**Total**
3,500
3,500
1,500
600
600
600
900
900
275
128
128
-
29,135
29,135
31,338
5,040
5,040
6,216|
|---|---|
||**£39,303**
**£-**
**£39,303**
**£39,929**|
||1,000
1,000
1,000
250
250
250
400
400
800
68
68
5,748
12,204
12,204
11,437
2,111
2,111
2,269|
||**£16,033**
**£-**
**£16,033**
**£21,504**|
28
## **Royal Meteorological Society**
## **Notes to the Accounts**
## **for the Year Ended 31 December 2025**
## **Note**
|**21.**
**Management and Administration Expenses**
Governance:
Audit Fee
Council (Venues, Post, Photocopies etc.)
Bank and BACS Charges
Membership (Post, Photocopies etc.)
Travel - Other Committees
Travel - Other Meetings
Membership Advertising / Promotional costs
Professional charges
Sundries
Staff Costs (Note 22)
Establishment Expenditure (Note 23)
Administration Support (Note 24)
**22.**
**Staff Administration**
Salaries
National Insurance
Pension Scheme
Private Medical Insurance
Other staff related costs
Apportioned to Fundraising
Apportioned to Activities
Administration Support|**Designated**
**General**
**Legacies**
**2025**
**2024**
**Fund**
**Fund**
**Total**
**Total**
15,000
-
15,000
9,500
5,888
-
5,888
4,158
-
4,158
4,844
-
-
-
1,445
-
1,445
1,386
6,914
-
6,914
9,036
5,581
-
5,581
7,400
26,283
-
26,283
14,601
17,095
-
17,095
34,746
505,484
-
505,484
488,292
27,002
-
27,002
34,450
60,444
-
60,444
62,411|
|---|---|
||**£675,294**
**£-**
**£675,294**
**£666,666**|
||762,212
-
762,212
721,157
92,909
-
92,909
75,158
90,645
-
90,645
70,026
18,540
-
18,540
-|
||964,306
-
964,306
866,341
32,547
-
32,547
34,325|
||**£996,853**
**£-**
**£996,853**
**£900,666**|
||122,545
-
122,545
99,258
368,824
-
368,824
313,116
505,484
-
505,484
488,292|
||**£996,853**
**£-**
**£996,853**
**£900,666**|
29
## **Analysis of staff costs**
The following number of employees received employee benefits in excess of £60,000 (excluding employer pension costs and employer national insurance) during the year between:
|||**2025**|**2024**|
|---|---|---|---|
|||**Nr.**|**Nr.**|
|£60,000|- £69,999|**1**|**1**|
|£70,000|- £79,999|**-**|**-**|
|£80,000|- £89,999|**-**|**-**|
|£90,000|- £99,999|**1**|**1**|
The key management personnel at the Society comprise the Chief Executive, Chief Finance Officer, Head of Scientific Publishing and the Head of Partnerships and Member Development. The total employee benefits (including pension contributions and employer national insurance contributions) of the key management personnel was £318,992 (2024: £306,488)
The trustees were not paid nor received any other benefits from employment with the Society in the year (2024: £nil)
## **Staff numbers**
|**Staff numbers**|||
|---|---|---|
|The average number of employees employed during the year was|||
|as follows:|**2025**|**2024**|
||**Nr.**|**Nr.**|
|Total staff (headcount based on number of staff employed)|22|19|
|Total staff (Full time equivalents)|17|16|
The Society is fortunate and grateful to receive the support of a large number of volunteers who contribute enormously across all activities of the Charity. In 2025 there were 651 active volunteers (2024: 600).
30
## **Royal Meteorological Society Notes to the Accounts**
## **for the Year Ended 31 December 2025**
## **Note**
|**23.**
**Establishment**
Rates including Water Rates
Cleaning and Gardening
* Insurance
Lighting and Heating
Repairs and Maintenance
Depreciation of Furniture and Equipment
Loss on Disposal of fixed assets
Apportioned to Activities
Apportioned to Fundraising
Administration
* Includes Trustee Indemnity Insurance which is part of
the integrated combined cover.
**24.**
**Administration Support Costs**
Computer Software, Training etc.
Printing and Photocopying
Stationery and Office Supplies
Postage and Packing
Telephone and communications
Apportioned to Activities
Apportioned to Fundraising
Administration|**Designated**
**General**
**Legacies**
**2025**
**2024**
**Fund**
**Fund**
**Total**
**Total**
3,722
-
3,722
3,578
15,403
-
15,403
15,539
8,613
-
8,613
8,597
5,320
-
5,320
2,529
8,364
-
8,364
19,790
11,827
-
11,827
13,511
-
-
-
-|
|---|---|
||**£53,249**
**£-**
**£53,249**
**£63,544**|
||19,701
-
19,701
22,091
6,546
-
6,546
7,003
27,002
-
27,002
34,450|
||**£53,249**
**£-**
**£53,249**
**£63,544**|
||106,701
-
106,701
90,000
112
-
112
260
3,021
-
3,021
2,341
6,084
-
6,084
5,304
3,281
-
3,281
17,212|
||**£119,199**
**£- £119,199**
**£115,117**|
||44,102
-
44,102
40,020
14,653
-
14,653
12,686
60,444
-
60,444
62,411|
||**£119,199**
**£- £119,199**
**£115,117**|
31
## **25. Library**
No amounts have been included in the accounts for the value of the Library, Luke Howard painting, items on loan to Science Museum Library, Ben Nevis instruments on loan to Royal Scottish Museum and observational records on loan to the Met Office. The items have accumulated by the Society from donations, or generated from activities with which the Society has been involved and so no significant cost of acquisition has been incurred by the Society.
## **26. Stocks**
Stock has been included in Debtors for products in which the Society has invested. No amount has been included in the Accounts for Stock of other Publications and Instruments held since the net realisable value is immaterial.
## **27. Rupert Ford Memorial Fund**
During the year there were no additional donations. The fund was established during 2002 to the memory of the late Rupert Ford to finance travel awards. During 2025 one award was made to the value of £1,000 (2024: £1,000). The assets of the fund at 31 December 2025 stood at £34,320 (2024: £35,746).
The fund is administered by officers of the Society but kept autonomous from the Society's funds and in separate bank accounts. In consultation with the Society's previous auditors it was considered appropriate that this fund should not be included in the Society's Balance Sheet, however, the Trustees are re-assessing the legal position regarding the status of this fund as potentially being restricted funds of the charity to be included in the 2026 accounts if deemed appropriate.
## **28. Related Parties**
The Society entered into a contract with one of its Trustees during 2025 for the sum of £4,500. (2024 - £10,000). During the year reimbursements of £2,889 were made to 6 Trustees for expenses (2024 - £980).
32
## **Annex A: THE UK WEATHER OF 2025**
## **Review of UK Weather for 2025**
The whole of the UK was warmer than average in 2025, marking the warmest year on record in observational history with a provisional mean temperature of around 10.09°C, exceeding the previous record from 2022.
Spring and summer were both exceptional, with prolonged warm, dry and sunny conditions contributing to 2025 also becoming the sunniest year on record. Several months, including March through August, were consistently above average in temperature, while only January and September saw below-average mean temperatures. High pressure systems and elevated seasurface temperatures helped sustain unusually warm, dry spells, and heatwaves were notable, especially in June and July.
Rainfall totals for the year were below average overall, following very dry conditions through spring and summer in many areas, particularly central and southern England, where drought stress emerged as a concern, although autumn and late-year rainfall helped ease deficits in some regions.
There were also significant weather extremes: Storm Éowyn brought severe winter winds in January, while summer storms such as Floris generated strong gusts and travel disruption. In autumn and winter, further named storms including Amy and Bram brought widespread wind and rain, and heavy rainfall contributed to localised flooding.
The highest temperatures of the year reached the mid-30s°C, with a provisional UK peak of around 35.8°C recorded at Faversham on 1 July, among the highest summer maxima in the long climate record. Meanwhile, winter minimum temperatures where generally higher compared with long-term averages, reflecting the overall warmth of the year.
2025’s weather underscores ongoing climatic shifts: the combination of record warmth, exceptional sunshine and notable extremes illustrates both the variability and the persistent upward trends in UK temperature and sunshine hours in the context of long-term climate change.
UK Temperatures: The mean value was 10.09°C, which is 0.95°C above the 1991-2020 average. UK Precipitation: The total was 1,041.2 mm, which is 90% of the 1991-2020 average. UK Sunshine: The total was 1,648 hours, which is 118% of the 1991-2020 average.
## **Regional Breakdown** (data from the Met Office):
|**Relative to the average (1991-**|**Mean Max**|**Mean Min (°C)**||**Rainfall**|**Sunshine**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|**2020)**|**(°C)**|||**(%)**|**(%)**|
|**_UK_**|14.01(1.22)|6.22(0.69)||90|118|
|**_England_**|15.09(1.28)|6.79(0.67)||91|119|
|**_Wales_**|14.02(1.10)|6.59(0.64)||97|117|
|**_Scotland_**|12.25(1.19)|5.08(0.67)||86|117|
|**_Northern Ireland_**|13.67(1.00)|6.55(0.94)||97|110|
||||Comparisons/maps||are based upon|
||||provisional data. Temperature series|||
||||from|1884, rainfall from 1836, and||
||||sunshine from 1910|||
33
## **Annex B: MEMBERSHIP AND ACCREDITATION**
## **Membership**
Membership is central to the Society because it connects people to a shared Professional community and underpins everything the Society does. Through membership, the Society brings together scientists, practitioners, educators, students and enthusiasts, providing a trusted framework for Professional standards, accreditation, learning and collaboration across weather and climate. Members themselves shape the Society’s direction through their expertise, volunteering and leadership. In this way, membership is both the foundation of the Society’s charitable impact and how it remains relevant, authoritative and responsive to a rapidly evolving field.
The **Membership Development Board (MDB)** represents the voice of the Society’s membership within strategic discussions and supports the delivery of an inclusive and relevant membership offer. It works to engage, retain, and grow a diverse membership drawn from academic, Professional, student, and enthusiast communities, in line with the Society’s Strategic Plan.
The Board reviews membership benefits, categories, onboarding and communications to ensure they continue to meet members’ needs and maximise engagement and value. It gathers member insight to inform Society initiatives and acts as an advocate for the Society and its benefits.
Despite a small overall reduction in membership, the Society saw encouraging growth in the student, member, and corporate grades.
Membership and Accreditation Highlights:
- The total number of members at year-end 2025 was 3290, excluding corporate members.
- Retention remained high at 89%, reflecting sustained member engagement and satisfaction.
- • Member acquisition remained strong at 8.2%, with 269 new members welcomed during the year including 20% international members.
- There are a total 207 professionally Accredited members at year-end 2025 with a healthy number of applications during the year. Approx 5.7% of RMets progressed to CMet.
- There are now over 100 active CMets, this was hovering at around 60-70 for many years.
- Net Promoter Score (NPS) continues to be monitored as a key indicator of member advocacy and satisfaction, providing valuable insight into members’ likelihood to recommend the organisation and highlighting areas for continuous improvement.
Supporting our Members:
34
**Member value remains at the heart of our strategy.** Insights from our membership surveys directly shape our strategic plan, strengthening how we design, tailor and communicate benefits across all membership categories.
**Our membership reflects the breadth of our profession.** Survey responses revealed a wide and diverse range of work and research undertaken by our members, including operational meteorology, education, weather and climate research, instrumentation and technology.
**Strength across sectors.** Members span both private and public sectors, with strong engagement across education, climate change adaptation, mitigation and service delivery.
Membership Collaboration:
## **Sector Engagement and Industry Leadership**
The Society remained actively engaged with the sector and with industry leaders throughout the year, participating in a wide range of events and engagement opportunities. These activities increased awareness of the Society’s role and provided employees with clear pathways to membership. As a result of the increased awareness of the need to demonstrate competence, participation was consistently positive, reinforcing the Society’s mission to professionalise the sector and to support career development for individuals committed to professional advancement.
## **Member Value**
The **Member Value Project (MVP)** delivered a range of tangible outcomes, including a new membership area on the website, www.rmets.org/membership, with new segmented value proposition statements as well as refreshed website content clearly articulating MVP messages that contributed to an increased rate of new member sign-ups in the second half of the year. To celebrate the Society’s 175[th] anniversary in 2025, we ran a membership engagement programme with the community behind the Society’s legacy, strengthening members’ sense of belonging, and connecting a diverse membership with a shared purpose at a pivotal moment in the Society’s history.
Improved stakeholder engagement, and progress in developing the **Local Centre project** provide a strong foundation for regional engagement and enhanced member value in the years ahead. Structured meetings resulted in a clear delivery timeline, event guidance and targeted journal content. Targeted consultation was also undertaken with students and the **Early Career Special Interest Group** , alongside focused recruitment and engagement activity.
Collectively, this work strengthened the Society’s focus on membership-specific content, improved the clarity of member benefits, and ensured closer alignment between engagement activity and strategic priorities .
Reciprocal Membership:
The Society continues to maintain important strategic partnerships across the meteorological community and beyond. These partnerships enable collaboration on shared initiatives that deliver tangible benefits to members of both organisations and including access to discounted membership subscriptions. The Society has reciprocal membership agreements with the American Meteorological Society, the Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society, the Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society, the Indian Meteorological Society, the Institute of Physics, and AMPRO. The Society has worked with all our reciprocal partners during 2025.
35
## Corporate Membership:
In 2025, the Society increased the number of corporate members to a total of 22.
Corporate members: Adiabat, AMPRO, ARPA FVG, Arup, Bermuda Airport Authority, Biral, DTN, Equinox Instruments, FleetWeather, Fortis Facades, Fugro, Gallagher Re, Jersey Met, Lake Street Consulting Ltd, MetDesk Ltd, Meteo France International, OpenWeather, Royal Navy, Skyview, StormGeo Ltd, Vaisala, and WeatherQuest.
The Society has been working to increase engagement with its corporate members, with a focus on supporting employees with continued professional development and achieving accreditation.
Student Ambassadors:
It has been another active year for our Student Association (SA), with ambassadors leading a variety of initiatives to raise awareness of research and its connection to their studies. Their efforts included hosting events, sharing updates through newsletters and social media, displaying posters, and networking with peers. They also delivered tutorial talks to engage audiences, including introducing the Society during postgraduate social activities, providing early career insights into operational meteorology, and promoting the usefulness of our journals as a resource for targeted research support. The total number of ambassadors grew to a maximum of 33 last year.
## Volunteers:
The Society could not deliver its important work without the help of a team of dedicated volunteers. In 2025, we continued to raise the visibility of volunteering through various initiatives. This included reaching out to volunteers for preferences to be used across multiple platforms. Successful recruitment efforts for active groups led to an overall increase in both volunteer numbers and engagement. Additionally, we began collecting EDI data and developed volunteer-focused content for National Volunteer Week, which took place in June.
With around **600 volunteers** taking part in 60 different activities, this continued involvement of our volunteers underpins many of our membership activities.
RMetS extends its sincere gratitude to all volunteers, recognising the invaluable impact of their efforts.
36
## Membership Retention:
Member retention remained a key focus throughout the year. While retention levels were slightly lower than the previous year, overall engagement with the Society remained strong. Members continued to access a wide range of professional development opportunities, events and networks, demonstrating the ongoing relevance and value of membership. Ongoing investment in clearer communication of member benefits, tailored engagement across career stages and strengthened support for early-career and under-represented groups remains central to improving retention and sustaining a vibrant, inclusive membership.
The majority of the Society’s membership (80%) are based in the UK, and the remaining 20% represent a healthy spread across several countries. These include the USA with the highest number of members, followed by Australia, Germany, Italy, Hong Kong, Ireland, the Netherlands and Canada. The following table shows a breakdown in membership in each category over recent years.
|Grade of
Membership|2014|2015|2016|2017|2018|2019|2020|2021|2022|2023|2024|2025|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|Honorary Fellow
HonFRMetS|30|29|27|30|30|31|30|30|31|30|31|31|
|Life Fellow
FRMetS|31|99|94|98|76|82|79|105|107|120|121|121|
|Fellow
FRMetS|1586|1513|1518|1510|1471|1479|1445|1390|1344|1295|1259|1220|
|Member
(Associate Fellow
before2018)|974|1104|1217|1212|1186|1164|1217|1372|1390|1434|1487|1491|
|Student Member|261|416|473|471|464|464|378|367|334|353|422|427|
|Corporate Member|22|28|27|14|15|12|14|12|16|17|18|22|
|Total|2904|3189|3356|3337|3242|3233|3162|3278|3222|3249|3338|3312|
## **Professional Accreditation in Meteorology**
The Society’s activities around Professional Accreditation in Meteorology are overseen by the **Professional Accreditation Board (PAB)** . Members of the Board come from across the breadth of the meteorological community, including the public and private sectors, along with academia. The PAB sits alongside the Membership Development Board (MDB) within the Membership and Accreditation Business Area. The PAB aims to work closely with the MDB and the Terms of Reference for each group reflect this closer cooperation, along with standing invitations for the Chairs to attend each other’s meetings. It reports to Council and is supported by the Course Evaluation and Continuous Professional Development (CE/CPD) Panel. The PAB met twice during 2025. Following the introduction of a new Terms of Reference during 2025 the Board expanded to ensure better representation from the private and economic sectors.
The accreditation process continued to operate smoothly during the year, with a record **207** members now holding professional accreditation. The total number of CMets reached **101** , including 19 new applicants during the year. RMetS accreditation also saw strong growth, with 14 new applications received bringing the total number of RMets to **106.**
As part of our support for career development the Society launched its mentoring programme www.rmets.org/career-resources/starting/mentoring-scheme. The programme is designed to support members at all career stages, providing early-career members with structured guidance while enabling experienced professionals to share expertise, develop leadership skills and strengthen professional networks. This initiative enhances member value, supports professional development and contributes to improved engagement and retention across the membership.
37
Key Activities in 2025:
- **ACCSYS:** the upgraded online Accreditation and CPD management system, was very well received by members. A range of enhancements were delivered during the year, including full integration with the Society’s main website and improvements to system functionality. ACCSYS is accessible to all members, including those not currently applying for accreditation.
- **Dormancy Register** was updated to ensure a more inclusive, fair and transparent process for accredited members wishing to take an extended break from professional activity.
- **Self-Assessment Questionnaire** continues to support prospective applicants in assessing their readiness to apply for RMet or CMet. To date, over 300 individuals have completed the online questionnaire: Accreditation Assessment
- **CPD** records and reports were remapped to better reflect member activity, with enhanced flexibility allowing multiple CPD types to be selected within a single CPD record.
- **New Specialisms** : twelve new professional specialisms were introduced, recognising the continued evolution and diversification of the profession, including: Artificial Intelligence for applications in meteorology, Climate mitigation and net zero, and Early Warning Systems / Services.
- **Accreditation guidance and resources** : a major update to accreditation documentation and application forms was completed, strengthening requirements around English language proficiency and reinforcing the Society’s commitment to inclusivity.
The Society defines the scope of its accreditation activity as recognising excellence in people, in organisations, and supporting CPD. Providing the resources and support listed above to encourage professional development and learning for members is vital in delivering a meaningful experience whilst they complete their professional journey.
**Registered Meteorologist (RMet):** The **RMet register** can be found here. The tables below show the data relating to RMet (launched in 2014) and CMet (launched in 1994) over recent years.
|Registered
Meteorologists
(RMet)|2016|2017|2018|2019|2020|2021|2022|2023|2024|2025|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|No. of applications
received|11|46|5|4|17|8|6|7|12|14|
|No. of accreditations
granted|20|46|5|3|13|18|3|7|13|4|
|No. of RMet
resigned/withdrawn|||5|19|3|6|9|7|5|2|
|No. of applications
outstanding at year
end|4|7|2|3|8|2|3|3|3|11|
|No. of RMet
transferred to CMet||||8|1|4|3|4|4|6|
|No of RMet on
DormancyRegister|3|5|6|6|6|8|7|11|11|7|
|No. of accredited
RMetS at yearend|92|124|123|99|106|114|112|108|110|106|
|RMet CPD reports|2016|2017|2018|2019|2020|2021|2022|2023|2024|2025|
|No.ofCPDsreviewed||50|71|93|94|81|86|92|43|36|
|No.ofCPDs approved||50|71|92|93|81|86|82|42|34|
38
## **Chartered Meteorologist (CMet):** The **CMet register** can be found here.
The number of CMets increased in 2025 to 101, the highest number of CMets since the accreditation scheme was launched in 1994.
|Chartered
Meteorologists
(CMet)|2016|2017|2018|2019|2020|2021|2022|2023|2024|2025|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|No. of applications
received|5|6|4|9|7|7|7|9|14|13|
|No. of
accreditations
granted|3|4|5|8|3|8|7|9|17|9|
|No. of CMet
resigned/withdrawn|1|5|1|8|1|2|5|2|5|4|
|No. of applications
outstanding at year
end|2|4|0|1|5|4|3|4|3|4|
|No. of CMet on
Dormancy Register|3|2|2|1|1|0|0|1|0|0|
|No. of accredited
CMet atyear end|69|67|71|71|74|81|82|89|96|101|
|CMet CPD|2016|2017|2018|2019|2020|2021|2022|2023|2024|2025|
|No. of CPDs
reviewed|36|24|27|28|28|31|32|28|38|38|
|No. of CPDs
approved|36|23|27|28|28|31|32|28|37|34|
## **Continuing Professional Development (CPD)**
The Society continues to recognise the close alignment between membership, professional accreditation and continuing professional development, delivering benefits for both meteorological practitioners and their employers.
Compared with 2024, the number of members completing CPD records increased by 9%. More than 60 CPD events were delivered across the year in both in-person and virtual formats, improving accessibility for members across the community.
All accredited meteorologists transitioned to a biennial (two-year) reporting cycle during the year, streamlining accreditation requirements. The requirement for CPD reporting during periods of dormancy was reviewed, and the CPD report review process was formally documented to improve consistency and transparency. Assessment capacity was strengthened through the expansion of the CPD assessor pool, and development commenced on a grading system for assessed CPD reports to support clearer feedback and quality assurance.
The table below shows the data relating to ACCSYS, the Society’s online platform for accreditation application and CPD records, since it was launched in 2014. CPD activities linked to Society publishing opportunities and event attendance can be captured directly as a CPD record in ACCSYS through the click of a button.
|**ACCSYS**|**2015**|**2016**|**2017**|**2018**|**2019**|**2020**|**2021**|**2022**|**2023**|**2024**|**2025**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|**CPD**
**records**|1,644|4,782|7,820|9,237|11,984|14,297|16,400|19,232|21,880|23,725|25,826|
|**CPD**
**reports**|||321|391|604|718|825|971|1,080|1,169|1,241|
39
## **Annex C: AWARDS**
The Society is incredibly proud of the work and achievements of all our award winners. Over recent decades the nature and extent of contributions of our members have broadened substantially, as meteorology and related disciplines have become more central to education, business and policy. Since 2022, following an awards review, the Society launched a new award portfolio that reflects the breadth of work in the meteorological community, as well as maintaining a link to the Society’s history.
The Society recognises and rewards excellence in people and teams who have made outstanding and exceptional contributions to meteorology and related disciplines, as well as recognising innovation in the use of observations and instrumentation and in the use of models, computational tools and visualisation. The award portfolio is split into 4 sections based on the activities of the Society and its members: “Advancing Science”, “Educating, Inspiring and Enthusing”, “Impact on Science, Policy and Society”, and “Contribution or Service to the Society or Profession”.
The Society’s Award winners for 2025 are shown in the table below:
|**Honorary Fellowship (HonFRMetS)**||
|---|---|
|**Award**|**Recipient**|
|Honorary Fellowship|Dr Florence Rabier|
|**Awards for Advancing Science**||
|**Award**|**Recipient**|
|The Mason Gold Medal|Not awarded|
|The Buchan Award for Scientific Advances|Not awarded|
|The Hugh Robert Mill Award for Precipitation Research|Dr Ruchir Patidar|
|The Adrian Gill Award for Advances at the Interface of Atmospheric
Science and Related Disciplines|Team comprising Professor Brendan
Mackey, Professor David Lindenmeyer
and Dr Heather Keith|
|The L F Richardson Award and Lecture for Early-Career
Researchers|Alice Lake|
|The Malcolm Walker Award for New Environmental Researchers|Ruth Eveline Dunn|
|**Awards for Educating, Inspiring and Enthusing**||
|**Award**|**Recipient**|
|The Climate Science and Climate Science Communication Award|Not awarded|
|The Michael Hunt Award for Increasing Public Understanding of
Meteorology and its Applications|Laura Tobin|
|The Education Award|Teaching the Teachers|
|The Emerging Communicator Award|Dr Carla Mateus|
|The Gordon Manley Weather Award|David Smart|
|**Awards for Impact on Science, Policy or Society**||
|**Award**|**Recipient**|
|The FitzRoy Award for Professional Meteorology|Stewart Turner|
40
|The Award for Impact|Professor Yuli Shan|
|---|---|
|The Award for Innovation in Development of Observations or
Instrumentation|GloSAT Data Development Team|
|The Award for Innovation in Development of Computational Models,
Tools or Visualisation|FASTA: African Storm Nowcasting
Team|
|**Awards for Contribution or Service to the Society or Profession**||
|**Award**|**Recipient**|
|The Award for Outstanding Contribution to The Society or
Profession|Dr Stephen Burt|
|The Society Volunteer of the Year Award|Arundhati Kalyan|
|The Meteorological Applications Editors’ Award|Dr Hannah Bloomfield|
|The International Journal of Climatology Editors’ Award|Dr Bill Collins|
|The Quarterly Journal Editors’ Award|Professor John Thuburn|
|The Geoscience Data Journal Editors’ Award|Blair Trewin|
|The Atmospheric Science Letters Editors’ Award|James Booth|
|The Climate Resilience and Sustainability Editors’ Award|Rhosanna Jenkins|
The Society also presents awards at the annual ECR and Student Conference and in 2025 these were awarded to:
## **Oral Winners**
Tim Banyard Regan Mudhar Ruth Dunn Maisie Wright Damaris Tan Eve Grant Elena Dauster Mason Durant Ashar Aslam
## **Poster Winners**
Isaac Jadav James Oates
Helen Miller Owen Alijabar/Thomas Hitchins
41
## **Annex D: SCIENTIFIC PUBLISHING**
Scientific publishing is one of the Society’s strengths and aims to deliver a high-quality journal and book programme to support scientific knowledge management and promotion of the science.
Our journal programme is overseen, on behalf of Council, by the **Scientific Publishing Board** and the **Editorial Boards** for each journal in the portfolio.
It has been a very positive year for our journal portfolio, with a **23% increase in submissions** and a **7% increase in published articles** . Subscription revenues have fallen at a lower-than-expected rate and open access continues to gain dominance across all the journals.
To commemorate the **Society’s 175[th] Anniversary** milestone, our journal Editors in Chief compiled a special collection of articles from each publication. These articles have been chosen for reasons such as the inaugural publication, the most downloaded or cited pieces, notable advancements in the field, exceptional international collaborations, and research that is expected to influence the future of our field and related disciplines.
All our journals in the RMetS portfolio, https://rmets.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/, have made significant progress in expanding both the size and global diversity of their Editorial Boards. They have also been proactive in encouraging greater involvement of early career researchers across their teams. With their support, we have developed the **RMetS Peer Review Guide** , which has been shared at conferences— where it has been very well received—and is also available to download from our website. It serves as an excellent introductory and supportive resource for ECRs who want to learn more about peer review, featuring valuable insights and practical advice from our Editors-in-Chief.
**Peer review** , however, continues to present significant challenges, particularly as the landscape becomes increasingly dominated by predatory journals that prioritise speed over robust review standards, alongside the continued growth in research output from China requiring expert assessment. Our Editors ‑ in ‑ Chief and all members of the editorial boards work extremely hard to ensure that authors ‑ receive high quality, timely reviews whilst managing their own personal and work commitments. It is a demanding role in the current publishing environment, and the Society is immensely grateful to the 200+ Editorial Board members whose dedication helps us maintain our high standards. Their work not only supports our journals, but the meteorological community as a whole, as any income generated from scientific publishing makes up a significant portion of the Society’s total revenue allowing the Society to deliver many other important programmes of work and charitable activities.
Regarding the workflow process of peer review, as of December 2025, all our journals moved onto the **ReX system** . This is an extension of the already in place submission platform and should help to guide the author through a more user-friendly experience and provides benefits at each stage for everyone involved. In particular, it will provide improved support for our Editors through peer reviewer workflow efficiencies, advanced integrity tools and an improved intuitive user interface. The RMetS portfolio was one of the last to be moved onto this system, therefore we benefited from avoiding ironing out issues.
**Generative AI tools** are rapidly transforming the research landscape by offering new ways to analyse data, refine writing, and accelerate discovery. The Society has developed its own AI policy for authors and reviewers and continues to refine it in line with guidance from our publishing partner. Wiley has chosen to actively engage with AI so they can help shape its responsible use rather than be shaped by ‑ it, and they remain committed to working with us as we navigate this fast changing and complex environment. They are exploring opportunities to adopt AI in safe and ethical ways that enhance efficiency, uphold research integrity, and support creativity and productivity. This includes a coordinated effort to understand how researchers are incorporating generative AI tools into their everyday work. To support authors, peer reviewers, and editors in using AI responsibly, Wiley has developed detailed guidance outlining best practices, clarifying expectations around disclosure and oversight, and addressing common questions about using AI tools while safeguarding intellectual property and maintaining the integrity of research.
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The Society would like to thank all those who participate in our journal publishing programme, be they Editors, reviewers, authors and our readers. The Society would particularly like to thank William Collins whose term ended as Editor of the _International Journal of Climatology_ ; and Simon Lee whose term ended as Editor of _Weather_ .
All the Society’s journals are freely available online to its members at www.rmets.org/publications/journals.
Highlights from the RMetS’ Journals in 2025:
_**Climate Resilience and Sustainability (CRS)**_ is an interdisciplinary open access journal which publishes recent transdisciplinary research on the approaches, methods, and tools that enhance the resilience of human societies, economies, or natural systems to climate change, in the context of aiming to achieve the broader UN Sustainable Development Goals. CRS submissions have continued to grow in each successive year since Rachel Warren and Kristie Ebi took over as Co-Editors-in-Chief in 2023. The journal is listed in Scopus, and we are looking forward to the journal’s receiving its first impact factor in the next year.
In 2025, **submissions and publications have almost doubled** compared to 2024: 185 papers were submitted to the journal and 25 were published, compared to 95 submitted and 14 published in 2024. Last year’s efforts to reduce the number of out-of-scope submissions by revising the aims and scope to enhance clarity, especially for those for whom English is not their first language, appear to have been moderately successful, having reduced the number of out of scope submissions from roughly one half to roughly one third, although few authors take the trouble to write the requested cover letter. The Editors-in-Chief have continued to refresh and expand the editorial board and change its composition to include a more dynamic team of early career researchers.
The completion of the **special collection** “For a Future Informed by Science at the Climate-Ecology Interface” was a highlight of 2025. The journal is expanding its portfolio of special collections, with a number of collections on call or proposed. A special collection on ‘Regional Convergences and Divergences in Cultures of Climate Adaptation’ is making good progress. A recent exciting development is that the Tyndall Centre has selected the journal to host a special collection emerging from its 25[th] Anniversary Conference, in partnership with the Wiley journal ‘Sustainable Development’, entitled ‘Delivering Sustainable, Transformative and Just Climate Action’.
_**Geoscience Data Journal**_ **(GDJ)** welcomed new Editors-in-Chief, Anirudh Prabhu and Qingxiang Li, in late Spring/early Summer. Since joining they have expanded the editorial board to include geoinformaticians, mineralogists, and geochemists, considerably improving the coverage of specialists across the geosciences, especially in the areas of mineralogy where they have seen increasing submissions. GDJ has demonstrated good performance in 2025 with submissions increasing by 20%. The number of published articles has increased slightly, and this is set to improve due to a large number of special issues planned or that are shortly due to close.
_**International Journal of Climatology (IJOC)**_ has undergone some significant changes in the editorial structure in 2025. A new co-Editor in Chief, Christopher White from the University of Strathclyde (UK) has joined Enric Aguilar from Universitat Rovira i Virgili (Spain). Athanassious Argiriou from the University of Patras (Greece) has also joined as a Deputy Editor, sharing this role with Renguang Wu from Zhejiang University (China).
IJOC continues to be the **largest of the Society's journals** with more than 1,000 submissions in 2025, extending the recent trend that started in 2023 and nearing the volume of the pre-COVID years. The total acceptance ratio remains at 42%, compared with 49% in 2022. This rejection rate comes from the identified need to increase the citability of the published items. It is worth mentioning that nearly 2/3rds of the rejections happen during the screening process by the Senior Editors, such as filtering out-ofscope articles, identifying submissions with plagiarism issues and rejecting articles that do not represent a significant contribution to climate science.
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IJOC remains a truly international journal, with manuscripts submitted from 85 countries. China continues to be the most important geographical contributor with 31% of papers in IJOC in 2025. India is the second most important contributor with 16% and Brazil with 5%.
The median days to first decision for submissions in IJOC continued dropping to reach 66 days, though this is still higher than the best figure in 2021 with 60. Final decision times improved to 159 from 169 in 2024 and 178 in 2023. The number of open access articles also continues to grow, with a large proportion of them funded via Transformational Agreements.
In 2025, the Senior Editors continued to highlight the “Editor’s choice article” – a selection of significant contributions to climate science, published in IJOC. The journal published the 2024 UK State of the Climate report along with three special issues: (i) The climate of the Mediterranean region at multiple time and spatial scales; (ii) Advances in homogenization techniques of meteorological and other environmental time series; (iii) Compound extremes: mechanisms, attribution and future changes. In addition, a new special issue comprising invited short perspective articles is planned for 2026.
In 2025, IJOC continued with the engagement of its International Advisory Board to support the Senior Editors and Associate Editors, acting as ambassadors for the journal and providing valuable input into the direction of content and strategy for journal development.
_**Meteorological Applications (MetApps)**_ aims to serve the needs of forecasters, applied meteorologists, hydrologists, climate scientists and users of meteorological services, as well as early career scientists and both graduate and undergraduate students. Met Apps publishes research and review papers on all aspects of meteorological and hydrological science, including both weather and climate processes.
We are pleased to report a large increase in submissions up from 168 manuscripts in 2024 to in excess of 215 in 2025. The increase this year could be due to the large number of Special Issues which are still open. Another reason could be that Met Apps is receiving many manuscripts that use machine learning tools to examine relevant scientific and forecasting problems. The explosion in machine learning techniques has likely contributed to more papers being submitted to Met Apps as these techniques are very useful to problems which are relevant to the journals' scope.
Met Apps’ impact factor has risen from 2.3 in 2023 to 2.5 in 2024. In the Meteorology and Atmospheric Sciences category of Clarivate's journal citation index, we are at the top of the Q3 category as 63/111 (2024) rising from 68/110 in 2023.
We have recruited some excellent new Associate Editors and our teams of Guest Editors for Special Issues are very strong. Overall, the journal has benefitted from the amazing team that we have on the Editorial Board and the support from our colleagues at Wiley who are attentive and focussed on problemsolving.
_**Atmospheric Science Letters (ASL)**_ saw 122 submissions in 2025, consistent with 2024 (124). However, the number of published papers underwent a noticeable decrease (45, compared to 54 in 2024), somewhat in line with a recent decreasing trend. As in previous years, China remains the main submitting country, followed by the UK and USA. The Co-Editors-in-Chief have successfully expanded the Editorial Board geographically and in terms of expertise, with the involvement of several early career researchers. Currently, there is a special issue open on Large-Scale Atmospheric Circulation: Dynamics and Climate Impacts.
_**Weather**_ is a journal that publishes articles written for a broad audience, including those having a professional and a general interest in the weather, as well as those working in related fields such as climate science, oceanography, hydrometeorology, and other related atmospheric and environmental sciences.
2025 saw _Weather’s_ Impact Factor decrease slightly to 2.0; this is above that seen in 2020 and marginally lower than some of RMetS’ other journals. Nevertheless, _Weather_ benefitted from a couple of articles that generated wider public and media interest through the year. Article turnaround times were lower
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compared to the previous two years, with review turnaround times marginally shorter even amidst another difficult year for sourcing reviewers. Submissions continued to be predominantly from the UK, with other notable contributions from Asia, particularly China and India.
The long running “ **Global and Regional Climate** ” and “ **Scottish Snow Patches** ” series continued for their 30[th] and 29[th] years, respectively. Two Spotlight articles – short articles introduced in 2020 to bring timely high-level summaries of important recent weather events – were published, along with two Insight articles (up from last year). There was also a noted increase in non-RMetS event-focused Meeting Reports published. One Special Issue was published, ahead of the annual Early Career and Student Conference, in June.
_**WIREs Climate Change**_ is an invited review journal published by Wiley and affiliated with the Royal Meteorological Society and the Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers). Maria Carmen Lemos and Dan Friess are co Editors-in-Chief, supported by a team of Domain Editors each covering specific sub-topics. The journal received an **Impact Factor of 10.3** and over 900,000 full text views in 2024, publishing between 40-50 reviews per year. WIREs Climate Change is ranked 3[rd] in the Meteorology and Atmospheric Sciences JCR category, and 8[th] in the Environmental Studies category. The Editors-in-Chief have recruited 5 new Domain editors in the past few months and aim to refine the scope of some Domains in discussions with the refreshed editorial team.
Submissions and Decisions (All Journals Combined)
|Submissions and
Decisions/Year|2018|2019|2020|2021|2022|2023|2024|2025|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|Number of Submissions|1841|1903|1996|1961|1754|1712|1980|2440|
|Number Reaching Final
Decision|1716|1847|1923|1961|1712|1609|1860|2210|
|Number Accepted|844|944|1022|1045|906|834|958|1080|
|Average Journal Rejection
Rate(%)|46|50|51|53|52|49|51|56|
Impact Factors
|Journal/Year|2019|2020|2021|2022|2023|2024|2025|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|QuarterlyJournal|3.198|3.471|3.739|7.237|8.9|3.0|2.9|
|Intl. Journal of
Climatology|3.601|3.928|4.069|3.651|3.9|3.5|2.8|
|Meteorological
Applications|1.711|1.685|2.119|2.451|2.7|2.7|2.5|
|Atmospheric Science
Letters|1.796|1.879|2.416|2.992|3.0|2.2|2.2|
|Geoscience Data Journal|2.667|2.714|1.778|3.488|3.2|3.3|2.4|
|Weather|1.143|0.943|1.596|2.239|1.9|2.3|2.0|
|WIRES|7.057|6.099|7.385|10.072|9.2|9.4|10.3|
Academic Book Programme:
The academic book programme ‘ _Developments in Weather and Climate Scienc_ e’ aims to be recognised for its international, high-quality publications offering a diverse choice of books. Professor Paul Williams is the Society’s Book Series Editor and continues to work with authors to develop our academic book programme. The following books were published in 2025:
- **Aerosols and Precipitation over Africa** : Editors: Akintomide A. Akinsanola, Adeyemi A. Adebiyi;
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- **Consequences of Weather, Climate and Ocean Extremes** : John E. Hay;
- **Air Quality Monitoring and Management using Sensors** : Amit Awasthi, Manjeet Kumar, Tanupriya Choudhury, Sneha Gautam, Jung-Sup Um;
- **Geospatial Techniques in Climate Change Monitoring and Environmental Mapping: Advances and Applications** : Jung-Sup Um, Anindita Nath, Bappaditya Koley, Tanupriya Choudhury.
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## **Annex E: SOCIETAL BENEFITS**
## **Science Engagement**
Science Engagement is an important charitable activity for the Society that connects weather and climate science with communities, policymakers and the wider public. This work is vital for improving scientific understanding, inspiring future scientists, and ensuring public debate and decision-making on weather and climate are informed by robust, evidence-based science rather than misinformation.
The **Science Engagement Committee (SEC)** is responsible for developing and overseeing the delivery of the Society's strategy relating to communication and engagement with all audiences, whether that is the general public, government or other key stakeholders representing the interests of the meteorological profession. Chaired by Hayley Fowler and Michelle Cain in 2025, the committee helps the Society engage in important conversations within weather and climate, whilst providing evidence-based information through statements, briefing papers, events, training, and informal education activities.
Our Science Engagement Officer, Beth Woodhams left the Society in May 2025. Since then, we have decided to re-position this role and expand its remit to cover content generation (now re titled: Science Content and Engagement Officer) thereby supporting our Member Value Proposition project, our Weather Online project and various partnership initiatives. Hannah Mallinson went on maternity leave in September.
A continued focus for science engagement activities in 2025 was building on the success of previous years and further enhancing the Society’s engagement with the insurance and energy sectors. To enable this area of work, the Society continued to award two **Science Engagement Fellowships** to Conor Lamb and James Mollard. Activities for each program of work included:
## **Insurance** :
- Hosted an in-person workshop at University of Reading: ‘Advancing Collaboration between the Insurance Sector and Academia’. Developed in collaboration with SIG members at Reading and Brit Insurance
- Produced an Industry Insight piece based on this workshop, featuring key points, take-home messages and future steps
- Published two blog posts from industry representatives: The roles in the industry from Ruari Rhodes at Liberty Mutual; and how catastrophe models are useful and the role of atmospheric scientists in their construction
- Delivered ‘Weather and climate webinar: stochastic event sets’.
## **Energy:**
- Hosted two Energy Insights webinars: ‘How Can We Ensure Resilience of the Energy System to Both Climate Change and Extremes?;’ and ‘Innovative Applications of Weather and Climate Data in the Energy Sector’
- Presented a poster on State of the Climate Energy Sector at the Risk and Resilience Day
- Published two blog posts: Early career roles in the energy industry; Atmospheric science in the energy industry
- Delivered a workshop at International Conference Energy & Meteorology about education/training opportunities in energy-meteorology
- Delivered the State of the Climate for the UK Energy Sector 2024-25 Report. This was launched at a hybrid event hosted by our in-kind sponsor, AECOM.
- Held an Energy-Meteorology workshop at RMetS Annual Conference: How can meteorology and climate science better support the transition to a low carbon energy future?
- Delivered the annual ‘Seasonal Winter Forecasting Event for the Energy Sector’
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The SEC also focused on the development and delivery of activities within the Society’s Climate Strategy through 2025. This included:
- Delivering **climate change communication training** to the ITV, delivering a virtual session to 35 broadcast meteorologists and a half day in person session; a virtual session focused on climate communication delivered to 16 botanical garden educators for Bgen; and a series of three virtual sessions for over 70 BBC national and regional weather presenters and journalists.
- Worked with the GSCC Weather Change Project to create a **media guide for UK weather presenters on climate chang** e. This provided the presenters with essential knowledge and data to successfully convey the science of climate change, its impact on the UK’s weather, and its significance to their audiences. This was complemented by three webinars through 2025 to UK weather presenters and focused on extreme event attribution.
- Supported the **5th National Climate Impacts and Risk Meeting** in Bristol.
- Supported the identification of partnership opportunities with other sectors including water, agrifoods and supply chains.
- Supported delivery of the **British Hydrological Society/RMetS in person joint even** t: ‘From Forecast to Action: Advancing flash flood resilience’.
- Worked with Cambridge Zero to create three **adaptation case studies** which have been submitted to _Climate Resilience and Sustainability_ for peer review.
- Attended **COP30** in Brazil as an observer organisation in November. Across the two weeks the Society sent one member of staff to participate in the formal meetings, input into the process through the constituencies, and produce written round-ups for the website including views for experts across our community. MetMatters content on COP30 was written by the Editor with a special insider's guest blog from their Brazilian contact who was working as a forecaster at the forum.
Other informal education activities to note outside of the Science Engagement Fellowships and Climate Strategy included:
- Work with the **RMetS Youth and Early Career SIG** to develop some _Weather_ promotional videos aimed at ECRs and how they can get involved with the journal i.e. as an Editor or peer reviewer. The SIG also contributed to discussions around keynote speakers at the ECR and Student Conference as well as identifying a skills workshop to run at the event.
- Work began on developing the careers tab on the Society website.
- Served as a member on the Grantham Institute’s ‘ **Communicating 1.5C** ’ project steering group and engaged RMetS members in focus groups and review rounds.
- Developed and launched with the Met Office: ‘Science Communication - Opportunities and Challenges: **A Toolkit for Scientists** ’
- Supported the 10th RMetS Standard Chartered **Weather Photographer of the Year** competition.
- To celebrate the Society’s 175[th] anniversary a number of MetMatters articles were produced across the year including:
- 175 Years of the Royal Meteorological Society: Meet the Founding Forecasters;
- `o` Demisemiseptcentennial: 175 Years of the Royal Meteorological Society; and `o` Notable Weather Events from the Past 175 Years
## **Education Committee**
The Society supports formal education through curriculum reviews and resources, teacher support and CPD, and programmes that strengthen the teaching and learning of weather and climate science at all stages of education. These activities are important so that every child leaves school weather and climate literate ensuring that learners develop the skills and understanding needed to engage critically with one of the defining challenges of our time. We also aim to attract a strong, diverse future pipeline of meteorologists and climate scientists. The RMetS education portal www.MetLink.org continues to be a powerful web platform to schools and teachers.
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2025 proved to be a busy and productive year in formal meteorological education and a list of highlights and outcomes can be found in this report. The sector continues to develop, change and grow, and the Society has responded well in several ways. Our key areas of work have been education policy and curricula across all the nations of the UK, quality assurance of meteorological learning resources, teacher training and resources for teachers. RMetS now benefits from a much-needed doubling of our education team size, from 1 to 2 people. This report details the hard work and capabilities of both members of staff; Sylvia Knight and Ellie Pinches.
At the heart of our charitable object and Society values is the need to be an advocate for and provider of formal weather and climate education. Teachers and their learners have been our main beneficiaries for many decades, and this remains true today. We operate independently with a professional approach that encourages the study, enjoyment, and personal progression in everything related to weather and climate.
Our vision and purpose remains a strong one: “We believe that every student should leave school with the basic weather literacy to understand the impact of weather on their personal life, leisure activities and employment; and that every student should leave school with the basic climate literacy that would enable them to engage with the messages put forward by the media or politicians, or to make informed decisions about their own opportunities and responsibilities.
The Society has trained over 360 trainee secondary geography teachers in the 2024/2025 academic year.
In the policy and curriculum realm, we hosted the ‘Curriculum for Climate Literacy’ workshop in March 2025, inviting representatives from a broad range of subjects and professional organisations to come together in a workshop kindly hosted by the University of Reading. By bringing together those with subject and subject-teaching expertise we developed a well sequenced, coherent, holistic and progressive Curriculum for Climate Literacy www.metlink.org/curriculum/a-curriculum-for-climateliteracy/ which was published in May 2025 and which has subsequently been used to inform the ongoing curriculum review and development in all four nations of the UK.
At government level, education policy and delivery is devolved to the four nations of the United Kingdom. Therefore, we have recently supported the setting up of a new Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish Meteorology Education Fora, which each met a couple of times in 2025. The Education Committee is anticipating significant benefits, as we hope to pull through the latest and best understanding of the educational needs in the devolved nations, enhancing our policy development capabilities, and ensuring our resources are fit for purpose for learners and teachers in every nation.
Results from our annual Climate Literacy Survey of School Leavers in 2025 were published in November 2025. Evidence from this survey informs our policy and curriculum engagement, as well as the work we do supporting initial teacher training and teacher Continuing Professional Development.
The Society owns and operates a popular teacher resources website: Metlink.org. It is kept up to date, and new content is always being added. It is free to use for all, fully funded by RMetS memberships and other Society activities. In 2025 we introduced new resources including decision making exercises investigating Category 6 hurricanes and flood prevention strategies for Sheffield, resources on climate change and biodiversity (www.metlink.org/resource/climate-change-and-biodiversity/), and on photosynthesis and sunlight (www.metlink.org/resource/photosynthesis-and-sunlight/). We produced geography and maths resources aligned to COP30 for secondary schools, on the theme of climate zones of Brazil (www.metlink.org/resource/climate-zones-of-brazil/) and practice SATs questions for primary schools in England. These resources exemplify the opportunities for climate education identified in the Curriculum for Climate Literacy.
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Many other organisations, people, and companies produce meteorological education resources, and the RMetS is uniquely placed to undertake timely education quality assurance, to ensure the highest standards of accuracy, validity and trustworthiness. Several resources have recently passed our quality checks and were awarded the RMetS Quality Mark, including resources from SOS UK, the National Education Nature Park, Twinkl Education Publishing, Educake, Engineering UK, Georamblings and Megawatt and we look forward to working together with other resource providers in 2026, ultimately promoting recognition of the Quality Mark by teachers.
The Society’s staff and volunteers of the Education Committee continue to give their time and experience to help oversee the educational remit. The well attended Committee formally met twice in 2025, once fully virtually and once in a hybrid mode at the Society Headquarters. The Committee undertakes the routine business of reviewing our formal education activities, strategies, priorities, and risks.
If you’ve ever wondered what happens in the Committee behind the scenes, the agenda is a discussion of education activities, with staff reports, followed by news and reports for other organisations. Recent discussions have been on curriculum review engagement in all four nations, climate literacy surveys, climate misinformation and the rise in climate scepticism, and the use of artificial intelligence (AI). We have standing items regarding society award nominations and strategic funding proposals too. Please get in touch if you wish to contribute to the Committee in any way by emailing education@rmets.org, you’ll be made very welcome.
Many partner organisations support the Committee, including the Institute of Physics, Royal Geographical Society, Geographical Association, various Universities, the Met Office, plus many others. The Society would like to thank everyone for their continued generous support, significant efforts, and loyal dedication. In particular, in 2025 Geoff Jenkins retired from the committee after many years of dedicated service and contribution, including two phases of chairing the committee.
Highlights and outcomes from 2025 include:
- Guest-edited the June issue of Classroom Physics June 2025 (with an atmospheric physics focus). The journal had a pull-out and keep section full of weather-related resources, highlighting the large degree of cross-over with the geography curriculum.
- New “More for Teachers’” CPD videos on YouTube to accompany the CPD material in the Teachers’ guide which we published in 2020:
- www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLxfRaIHcilDd1FswvUnuTa9W3fFyKVQTu
- Professor Sylvia Knight presented a session at the Geography Association (GA) conference, entitled “The Water Cycle Back to Basics”.
- We published an article in Teaching Geography, headed “Climate Clarity: common climate misconceptions.”
- Contributed a blog for the Geography Association, looking at the cross-over of weather and climate teaching in geography and physics:
- https://ga-blog.org/2025/07/04/weather-climate-geography-and-physics/
- We presented at the Geography South West annual conference addressing common climate change misconceptions. We also supported a careers in climate page on their website and a guest blog looking at Storm Bert, plus a look at flooding events in a warming climate: www.geographysouthwest.co.uk/past-guest-blogs/storm-bert-a-case-study-navigating-the-truthabout-flooding-in-a-changing-climate/
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- A blog was produced for FutureLearn titled “Whatever the weather: a guide to climate and weather” which promotes our long-standing and well-used ‘Come Rain or Shine’ weather course on that platform: www.futurelearn.com/info/blog/whatever-the-weather-a-guide-to-climate-and-weather-by-sylviaknight
- We produced secondary school statistics resources in partnership with the Royal Statistical Society: www.metlink.org/resource/secondary-statistics-resources/
- The Society’s communications and education teams have worked together to support a new careers tab on the RMetS’ website which was launched in time for Green Careers Week 2025.
- Our programme of loaning weather instrument kits to schools remains very popular. We have increased our reach of meteorological loan kits, with several loan requests now coming from Northern Ireland.
- We have continued to support the curriculum review process in different nations in England and Scotland. We have fed into the Curriculum and Assessment report in England in the Call for Evidence period and have been actively involved in the Curriculum Improvement Cycle in Scotland, feeding into the process for the social studies, science and technology subject areas.
- We have Issued a response to the Review of the Northern Ireland Curriculum in which we second the push for climate education to be “more than information about climate change; [pupils] need the skills, attitudes and confidence to respond to it.”: www.metlink.org/blog/rmets-response-to-review-of-the-northern-ireland-curriculum/
- At an international level, we also provided feedback to the draft PISA framework for assessing Climate Literacy.
- Our Climate Literacy Survey 2025 was published in November 2025. This work builds on the evidence collected in previous years about the state of climate awareness amongst our young people, as well as the key gaps in the climate education they are currently receiving. This was the first year that all data collection and analysis happened in house through our own communication channels and those of partner organisations www.metlink.org/blog/results-of-2025-climate-literacysurvey/. It was also the first year all 55 questions were opened to all four nations of the UK.
## **Events Committee**
The Society’s extensive programme of events is vital to its role as a convenor, connector and trusted voice for weather and climate science. RMetS events bring together researchers, practitioners, educators, students and stakeholders to share the latest science, exchange ideas, build professional networks and support continuing professional development across all career stages. By providing inclusive, high-quality forums for discussion and debate, these events help to accelerate scientific progress, strengthen professional standards and encourage collaboration across disciplines and sectors. Beyond the scientific community, RMetS events play an important role in engaging wider society, supporting evidence-based decision-making and ensuring that weather and climate knowledge is shared, challenged and applied for public benefit.
The Events Committee and Events team delivered an extensive programme of **55 events** comprising of National Meetings, Masterclasses, Conferences, and lectures throughout 2025; see the breakdown of events below. Of these, 20 were virtual, 26 in person and 9 were streamed whilst in front of an audience. This is the highest number of events that the team have delivered in the last 5 years.
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The number of delegate attendance has also increased again this year, making 2025 the fourth consecutive year where we have seen an increase in numbers. There were however some challenges in 2025, with a reduction in the number of national meetings, competitor event clashes and budget constraints, meaning many delegates had to choose between different events and only select one to attend. Despite all these factors, we still saw an increase in event and delegate numbers which is a great achievement.
The fact that we can continue to deliver this high volume of events is down to the continued success and voluntary contributions of organisers, committees, speakers, and members of the Events Committee and the Conference Organising Committees, together with the tremendous efforts made by Society staff.
The 175th anniversary was celebrated throughout the events programme in 2025. From the Annual Meeting which was held at Hartwell House to a Keynote presentation on ‘175 Years of the Royal Meteorological Society: Past Lessons, Present Potential, Future Horizons’ given by Professor Liz Bentley at the Annual Weather and Climate Conference in July. These celebrations also spread across all our events, giving multiple
delegates the opportunities to hear about how the Society was first formed to the work we do in the current day. President Brian Golding gave several talks in the Autumn whilst touring the local centres, spending time with our volunteers and chatting to the members in their local areas.
As we continue to work towards net zero, the events team have made progress by creating a useful checklist that set reminders that crosscuts EDI, sustainability, net zero and safeguarding considerations. This list will be used by the team to help work through the event organisation process from start to finish. In a continued effort to improve our event sustainability, a second conference microsite was built for the Early Career and Student conference. Access to information is now online for delegates, reducing the onsite printing and increasing the accessibility for the event.
## National Meetings
The 2025 National Meetings programme continued to host a variety of events to cater for all aspects of the meteorological community. We took the decision to move a joint event with the British Hydrological Society from May to October to give more time to source speakers and encourage delegates to attend, which did mean that we had 1 less national meeting than originally planned. September was also kept free as we were anticipating a greater involvement with an externally organised event. A taster event was held in December as the originally planned national meeting unfortunately did not happen. We continued to host either in person or virtual events and recorded events where possible.
|**March**|Air Quality Monitoring and Modelling Advances|
|---|---|
|**June**|Celebrating 175 years of the Royal Meteorological Society and AGM|
||2025|
|**October**|From Forecast to Action: Advancing Flash Flood Resilience|
|**November**|The History of Numerical Weather Predication in the UK|
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One of the meeting highlights of the year was our June meeting, to celebrate the 175[th] anniversary of the Society, held at Hartwell House, near Aylesbury. A drinks reception was held in the library, which was where the first meeting of the Society took place in 1850 and delegates were able to view the commemorative
plaque, which is displayed there. The event was hugely popular and with only 90 spaces available we had to carefully manage the delegate list to ensure as many members were able to attend as possible. We had 97 registered delegates. The event also included the RMetS Awards Ceremony celebrating excellence within our community.
## Conferences
The first week of July saw the start of our conference week with conferences running from one straight into the other. The Early Career and Student Conference started on Sunday 29 June with an ice-breaker event. This event gives those who have travelled on the Sunday a chance to meet their fellow delegates in a relaxed environment. The conference formally started on the 30 June at Manchester Metropolitan University in the new Dalton building. The event attracted 93 delegates from over 14 academic institutions and 5 different industry companies.
The **Early Career and Student Conference** programme was developed through call for papers submissions, for which we received a staggering response. The final programme was made up of 31 oral presentations, 33 poster presentations, one Keynote and one workshop session; ‘Design Slides That Work for Everyone – no more Death by PPT!’. The conference ended with a talk given by Ned Williams as part of his prize for winning the Malcolm Walker award. The lecture was opened for the first time to the Annual conference delegates and, as well as those in the room, 15 delegates took advantage of the opportunity to listen to this talk by an early career scientist via a live stream into a separate lecture theatre. The feedback from this conference was extremely positive.
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Whilst the final talk and awards were given out for the Early Career and Student conference, registration started for the **Annual Weather and Climate conference** . The overlap allowed for a joint poster session and lunch session, where both sets of conference delegates were invited to network, giving early career scientists the opportunity to talk to more senior researchers and academics. The conference programme was made up from 104 abstract submissions. Together these brought together 50 oral talks, four keynote talks, eight parallel workshop sessions, 35 poster presentations and one Symons Gold Medal lecture given by James Murphy from the Met Office Hadley Centre at the event. The programme was packed including two evening networking events.
Our Annual Weather and Climate Conference attracted 132 delegates across a 3-day period. This is figure was unfortunately a 25% decrease in attendance when comparing to the previous year. The main reason for this was several competitors’ conferences were taking place at the same time including the NCAS staffing conference, the Tipping Points Conference and the Exeter Climate Conference. We have worked with all our colleagues at various institutions to ensure a clash doesn’t happen again in future years.
A big thank you needs to be extended to the both the Student Organising Committee and Annual Weather and Climate Committees who have delivered outstanding events this year.
Other RMetS Events
On 14 January, the Insurance SIG ran an event at the University of Reading on ‘Advancing Collaboration between the Insurance Sector and Academia’. The workshop summary can be viewed online www.rmets.org/news/workshop-summary-advancing-collaboration-between-insurance-sector-andacademia. An insurance webinar was held in the autumn on ‘Stochastic Events Sets’ which was very popular with over 165 registrations.
The Masterclass series continued to be a highlight of the calendar of events offering CPD to both members and non-members. The spring series on ‘Changing European Summers’ saw two speakers from the University of Reading attract over 300 registrations to attend the virtual events. Once again, the
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sessions provided insightful talks with an excellent chance for audience engagement during the question and answers session. A big thank you to the University of Reading once again for putting on such great talks.
The Autumn Masterclass series saw an additional institute taking ownership of the Masterclasses. The University of Leeds arranged for three speakers to talk about Tropical Meteorology which attracted over 700 registrations and 356 attendees across the three lectures. This was a fantastic response to their first series, and we look forward to working on the autumn programme for 2026 with them soon.
## **Local Centres and Special Interest Groups**
The Local Centres and Special Interest Groups (SIGs) continue to play an important role in supporting the Society’s events programme. They provide a variety of opportunities for members and nonmembers to engage with us across a range of talks and events. The Local Centres held 23 events and the SIGs held 6 events in 2025.
## Reports from Local Centres
The Society’s Local Centres offer an extensive programme of events and meetings which are of great interest to Society members and the general public. The meeting details, speakers and dates are available at rmets.org/events. The Society and its Local Centres gratefully thank all their speakers, who have provided an interesting and varied programme, and to all the regular and enthusiastic audiences for their support.
Activities of the Society’s Local Centres during 2025 are detailed below:
## East Anglia Centre
Committee members: James Lester (Co-Chair and Secretary), Bernadette McCaffrey (Co-Chair and Treasurer), Chris Bell (UEA liaison), Morrison Gooch (IT Coordinator), Anna Flynn
This was the first full year of EA Local Centre Operations since re-launching in August 2024.
## Events:
- Monday 3 February 2025 - Forecasting for Ice Cream: A journey to becoming a weather presenter (hybrid and recorded)
- ο Speaker: Aisling Creevey
- ο Attendees: 10 in person & 21 online (including all committee members and speaker)
- ο Good turnout online. High turnout from WQ but a pretty low student in person turnout. Aisling provided a very insightful talk across many of her different jobs across the Meteorological Sector.
- Monday 3 March _–_ How Do Teleconnections Affect Water Resources in the East of England? (hybrid and recorded)
- ο Speakers: Geoff Darch, Marcus Krumins ο Attendees: 19 in person, 12 online
- ο A nice mix of external and internal attendees. Very insightful
- Monday 19 May - _Stepping into Success: A Conversation with Recent Graduates_ (hybrid and recorded)
- ο Speaker: Emma Downey & Amelia Weatherall
- ο Attendees: 12 online, 10 in person
- ο Quite a low turnout but there was a mix of people. Most of which were WQ and UEA students.
- Monday 6 October – Mason Gold Medal Lecture: Forecasting Summer Thunderstorms
- ο Speaker: Brian Golding
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- ο Attendees: Around 25 in person
- ο Pizza party! It went quite well with a good mixture of academics, students, WQ and members of the public.
- Monday 10 November – From Forecasts to First Drafts: Bringing Weather Knowledge to Print and Media
- ο Speaker: Zoe Johnson
- ο Attendees: 12 in person, 8 online
- ο It felt like more of an intimate kind of event, with a mixture of WQ staff, students and one or two general public. Nice chats at the end and after the talk too.
- Monday 1 December – Tornadoes, Lightning and Hail! A video and picture review of our 2025 US Storm Chase
- ο Speakers: Chris Bell and Morrison Gooch
- ο Attendees: 55-60 in person, 16 online
- ο The talk was brilliant with great engagement from students and the public. There were some issues with zoom as the mics were connected to the camera and not the laptop, so when Chris moved away from the camera it became hard to hear him online, especially when conflicting audio with videos were being played.
## Other activities:
- December 2025 Photo Competition
- ο Entrees had to submit weather photos from the last year (Dec 24-Nov 25). We had 9 entrees, and the winners were decided on Friday 1[st] December by Bernadette and James and presented at the end of the December 1[st] talk.
## East Midlands Centre
Committee Members: Michael Steven (Chair), Roger Phillips (Editor: Weather Front), Alan Jones, Mike Longman, Richard Severn, Joyce Imara Humphrey (incoming Chair).
Remit: As a local centre, our aim is to bring the RMetS to its members in the region; to broaden interest in meteorology among the public at large; and to promote local expertise in atmospheric science and related disciplines. We achieve these aims by inviting speakers from the region, where appropriate, and by targeting our local publicity at people and organisations in the region who we think might be interested in the topic in hand.
Activities: This is the East Midlands Centre’s fifth year of operation since its restart in 2021 and it held three online meetings during 2025:
- Thursday 20 February - Sea Level rise: Projections and future coastal impacts
- Speakers: Rachel Perks and Jennifer Weeks (both Meteorological Office)
- Attendees: 84 attendees on the day and 204 subsequent views of the video to date, making this one of our more successful meetings.
- Thursday 29 May - Hydrometry - Measuring Floods and Droughts
- Speakers: Richard Severn (Environment Agency)
- Attendees: 41 attendees on the day and 90 subsequent views of the video.
- `o` The talk was followed by a lively discussion.
- Thursday 18 September - A guide to web resources to amateur meteorologists.
- Speaker: Karl Shepherdson (Meteorological Office)
- Attendees: There were 65 attendees on the day and 76 subsequent views of the recording.
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In addition to committee members, our local membership is currently 10. However, apart from receiving advance warning of upcoming activities, there appears to be little engagement from those not on the committee.
The Weather Front (established 1981) is produced monthly online. The editor is continuing to revamp the Weather Front file. East Midlands Local Centre | Royal Meteorological Society
Committee changes: As of 23 October 2025, Professor Steven has retired from chairing the East Midlands Centre and has passed the chairmanship to Dr Joyce Imara Humphrey. Richard Severn also joined the committee during the year.
North East Centre
- Tuesday 18 November - Gordon Manley Memorial Lecture – Preparing for floods in an uncertain future: forecasting, warning and imagination.
- Speaker: Hannah Cloke
- Attendees: 30 delegates
North West Centre
There were no meetings hosted by the North West Centre during 2025.
Scottish Centre
The Scottish Centre hosted six meetings, one in Aberdeen and the rest in Edinburgh. Average attendance was 57 individuals, a 38% increase on the previous year. In addition, a site visit was organised.
- Friday 10 January - Post Graduate Student Showcase
- Speakers: Toby P Jones (University of Exeter) – “Correlation of Wind and Precipitation Annual Aggregate Severity of European Cyclones” Lucy Seabourne (Weather Impacts Industrial Placement, Met Office) – “Automated Weather Impact Data Collection”
- Attendees: 10 in person, 5 online
- Tuesday 4 February - Snow Conditions and Avalanches – Two case studies
- Speakers: Dr Michael Reading (Met Office) and Mark Diggins (Scottish Avalanche Information Service)
- Attendees: 20 in person, 100 (maximum Zoom capacity)
- Tuesday 11 March - Artificial Intelligence and Numerical Weather Prediction
- Speaker: Professor. Kirstine Dale (Met Office)
- `o` Attendees: 28 in person, 86 online
- Wednesday 21 May - Visit to Auchencorth Moss Atmospheric Observatory
- Tuesday 7 October - The Presidential Lecture - Early Warnings for All
- Speaker: Professor Brian Golding OBE, FRMetS, RMetS President
- `o` Attendees: 17 in person, 22 online
- Friday 14 November - Wildfires, Fuel and Weather – a dynamic relationship
- Speaker: Michael Bruce (Director, Firebreak Services)
- `o` Attendees: 19 in person, 25 online
- Tuesday 9 December - The Interaction of Weather and People
- Speaker: Helen Roberts (Socio-Meteorologist, Met Office)
- Attendees: 34 online (online only event)
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## South East Centre
The South East Local Centre held three meetings in 2025:
- Tuesday 7 October - University of Reading PhD Showcase of their work.
- Speakers: Nathaniel Edward-Inatimi – “Capturing Uncertainty in Space Weather with Smarter Solar Wind Ensembles”
- Rhiannon Biddiscombe – “Understanding Storm Track Variability through Dry Entropy”
- Karan Ruparell – “Looking at rivers: adapting deep learning models for river discharge prediction“
- Attendees: 27 in person (in person only event)
## • Tuesday 4 November: TORRO, Severe Thunderstorms and me
- Speaker: Paul Knightley
- Attendees: around 25 delegates attended
- Tuesday 2 December: EarthCARE and WIVERN: Two of the 11 ESA “Earth Explorer” Observation satellites are from the Reading stable. Why not a third?
- Speaker: Anthony Illingworth
- Attendees: Just over 10 delegates attended, which we believe was due to clashing with another event
## South West Centre
In 2025, the Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution (BRLSI) Geography and Adventure Group enjoyed its ninth year as the Royal Meteorological Society's South West Local Centre. Because of work pressures and ill-health, the team who had been running this group had disbanded and a past Convenor, Dick Bateman, took over nominal responsibility again for the year. Professor Stuart Reynolds, of the BRLSI Sustainability Group worked really hard and effectively to set up an event with **Professor Chad Staddon, of the University of The West of England (UWE), Bristol, for December 2025, and BRLSI’s Geography and Adventure Group helped with this process.**
The event built on a similar event in 2024 and was an interactive evening in BRLSI’s Elwin Room, in Queen Square Bath and was based on Climate Change discussions following COP 30, held in Belem, Brazil. A diverse panel of speakers answered questions from an in person and an online audience. The Chair was Professor Chad Staddon (University of West of England, Bristol) and speakers included Professor Stuart Reynolds (University of Bath), James Spincer (then of Birmingham University), Penny Tranter (Professional Meteorologist) and Theresa Lober (Head of Climate Hub at Bank of England).
Many questions were asked – and answered – and all present agreed that this was a useful and original prototype event that should be developed further for following years.
For this successful event the principle was established that Royal Meteorological Society and Royal Geographical Society Members would be entitled to the same discounted ticket process as BRLSI Members.
## Welsh Centre
There were no meetings hosted by the Welsh Centre during 2025 and the centre remains inactive.
## West Midlands
The West Midlands Centre were due to host 1 meeting on 6 March 2025, Disappearing Antarctic Sea Ice, which unfortunately was cancelled due to last minute speaker unavailability.
## Yorkshire Centre
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The Yorkshire Local Centre relaunched in May 2025 and held three events during the year. They also held monthly social meet ups on the first Wednesday of each month in Leeds for anyone to come along to.
## • Thursday 15 May – National and Internation Climate Policy
- Speaker: Professor Piers Forster
- Attendees: 40 in person (in person only event)
- Wednesday 8 October – Mason Gold Medal Lecture: Forecasting Summer Thunderstorms
- Speaker: Professor Brian Golding
- Attendees: 13 in person (in person only event)
- Wednesday 19 November – Towards a Wind Humanities
- Speakers: Dr J R Carpenter and Dr Richard A Carter
## **Reports from Special Interest Groups**
The Special Interest Groups (SIGs) of the Society are informal groups interested in specific areas of meteorology and related topics. The groups are primarily a means of bringing together those with a specialised interest that cannot be explored fully by other Society meetings.
## Atmospheric Chemistry
The group held a successful day meeting as part of a wider meeting on the atmospheric chemistry of hydrogen, an emerging topic in atmospheric chemistry and chemistry-climate interactions. The meeting, titled Environmental Impacts of Hydrogen Energy, took place at the University of Cambridge on 11 March. We were joined by around 60 delegates and speakers from the UK, CICERO in Norway and the NOAA Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory in Princeton USA. Topics covered the climate impact of hydrogen emissions and the critical uncertainties in the hydrogen budget. There was a lively poster session and a dinner, sponsored by Knowledge Exchange activities, in the evening. The topic stimulated much interesting discussion, and future work in this area is keenly anticipated.
## Atmospheric Electricity
The Atmospheric Electricity group organised their 13th annual ‘Wilson Meeting on UK Atmospheric Electricity’ on 13 November 2025, as a hybrid event at the University of Bath. There were 44 registered attendees, who delivered 10 oral presentations and 10 posters. A meeting report is being written for _Weather_ . Further, an international workshop associated with the group was held at the University of Bath, on “Atmospheric Discharges in Dynamic Environments” (during 23 -27 June 2025). There were 77 registrants, 24 of whom were UK-based.
## Aviation Meteorology
The Aviation SIG held its AGM online on 24 November 2025. Only six members attended, partly due to operational constraints. However there was agreement that we should establish specialist groups within the SIG focusing on specific issues. One such group focuses on the effects of climate change on aviation, whilst another focuses on how aviation can reduce its carbon footprint.
## Climate Dynamics
The 10th National Climate Dynamics workshop was held at the Met Office, which is where the first in the series was held. Taking place in June 2025, the annual workshop continues to thrive with over 100 delegates registered to attend. This 2-day event fosters collaboration between the academic community and Met Office scientists working on atmosphere and ocean climate dynamics from sub-seasonal to multi-decadal timescales.
History of Meteorology, Climatology and Physical Oceanography
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The History Group had two meetings in 2025. The first was a visit to the Science Museum’s Science and Innovation Park at Wroughton in Wiltshire on 1 April. We were joined by the equivalent group from The Challenger Society and were given an opportunity to view a range of exhibits from meteorology and physical oceanography in the Science’s museum’s storage facility there. The visit was appreciated by all who attended as a change from the online activities that inevitably proliferated after the pandemic.
The second meeting was our involvement in the Society’s National meeting on the History of NWP held in London on 5 November. Plans for this meeting originated with discussions in the Group’s committee led by Chris Folland. We are grateful to the current Society President, Professor Brian Golding, who agreed to compile the programme and to Chair the meeting. The meeting took place on the 60[th] anniversary of the regular use of NWP in Met Office forecasting. Activities planned for 2026 will be guided by the feedback provided by the results of a members’ survey that was completed in 2025.
Two issues of our newsletter were issued – edited by Julian Mayes – the series is archived at https://www.rmets.org/special-interest-groups/history-group . Julian took over the editing of the Occasional Papers series from Howard Oliver; these are longer studies than the articles included in the newsletter. The 21[st] paper on _Breaking meteorological cyphers in the European theatre of war_ was completed during the year; based on a paper written by George McVittie. Brian Booth is thanked for his well-researched and detailed introduction.
The Group continued to consider the development of the Distinguished Voices Podcast series, at present one further interview is planned. We are hoping to add short biographies to the existing podcasts, adding to the value of this member-benefit. We also have plans to update the Society’s Classic Papers, working from and developing the list of papers compiled for the 150[th] anniversary of the _Quarterly Journal._ Additional Pen Portraits of Presidents will be commissioned over the next year or two.
We continue to work closely with the Met Office’s National Meteorological Library and Archive with particular assistance from their Archivist, Catherine Ross, a member of our committee.
We were very sorry to learn of the death of our former Chairman Norman Lynagh during the year. Norman was a notable private-sector meteorologist and a great advocate of the value of past observations of all kinds. An obituary was prepared for _Weather._
## Meteorological Observing Systems
The Meteorological Observing Systems SIG held a mini-conference on the 3 September in Newcastle with about 50 people attending. The SIG held an online AGM on the 2 December and was chaired from Antarctica. The SIG produced one newsletter during the year.
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# **Annex F: UNDERPINNING ACTIVITIES AND CROSS-CUTTING PRIORITIES**
**Council and Committees**
**MEMBERSHIP OF COUNCIL (TRUSTEES OF THE SOCIETY)**
# **Patron: King Charles III, HonFRMetS**
From 1 January to 30 September 2025 the constitution of the Council was as recorded in the Annual Report for 2024. On 1 October 2025, the following Council held office:
PRESIDENT
Brian Golding, OBE, FRMetS (also Chair, Strategic Planning Board and Awards Committee)
VICE-PRESIDENTS N. Penny Holliday, FRMetS Emily Shuckburgh, CBE, FRMetS Keith Williams, FRMetS
VICE-PRESIDENT FOR SCOTLAND Greg Wolverson, FRMetS, CMet
GENERAL SECRETARY Derek Swannick, FRMetS, FCMI, MAPM (Chair, House Committee, Salary and Remuneration Committee)
TREASURER Paul Hardaker, FRMetS, CMet, FInstP
COMMITTEE CHAIRS Hayley Fowler, PhD, FRMetS (Science Engagement Committee) Edmund Henley (Meetings and Conferences Committee) Sarah Hewitt, FRMetS, CMet (Membership Development Board) Radan Huth, FRMetS (Scientific Publishing Committee) Karl Shepherdson, FRMetS (Education Committee) Rebecca Venton, FRMetS, CMet (Professional Accreditation Board)
MEMBERS OF COUNCIL Manali Lukha Hilary Weller
Council met on three occasions during 2025 in February, June and November. In addition to routine business, Council discussed: the Sustainable Development Goals and mapping to the Society; RMetS Learning Strategy market review; and strategic planning discussions in preparation for the Society’s new strategy development. Council also had presentations on Met Office Strategy from Penny Endersby, RMetS’ 175[th] Anniversary plans, membership and cyber security.
## **Council Diversity**
The Society’s Council has long championed the benefits of diversity on decision-making and seeks to have a diverse range of individuals on its Council and committees in terms of protected characteristics and in terms of diversity of background and experience. To identify the skills and knowledge it needs and inform future recruitment, the Society conducts an annual skills audit of Council and collates some EDI data. The current Council membership has some gender balance and representation from diverse communities, and our EDI representative on Council is our Vice-President, Keith Williams.
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## Without Whom
During the year, the following Officers and Council Members retired or stepped down from office with our grateful thanks.
**David Griggs** (Vice President) **Rob Varley** (Vice President)
## House Committee
The House Committee reviews and develops the key functions that underpin the general activities of the Society in order to achieve its strategic aims. The Committee, chaired by the General Secretary, normally meets ahead of the Council meetings. The House Committee met twice in 2025 to:
- monitor staff updates including HR matters including staff benefits;
- review financial updates including investment trends;
- review the Society’s Risk Register to ensure ongoing risks are reduced and monitored;
- monitor Health and Safety actions following the annual audit;
- review changes to the Standing Orders;
- review progress towards the Society’s Net Zero pledge;
- get progress updates on the _Weather_ online project;
- hear updates on the donations and legacies work;
- monitor Eaton Court developments;
- monitor transition to new auditors;
- review the Business Plan and budget for 2025 and recommend them to Council.
## Strategic Planning Board
The Strategic Planning Board (SPB) supports the development of the Society’s Strategic Plan. It normally meets annually to ensure the Strategic Plan remains fit for purpose, to provide guidance on cross-cutting themes and potential strategic partnerships, and to review and prioritise strategic project proposals. The Chair of the SPB is the President of the Society.
In 2025, the SPB met twice to review the Strategic Plan, the Society’s financial positions and the budget and Business Plan for 2026.
## **Business Development and Strategic Partnerships**
The Society partners with a range of organisations, including academic institutions, businesses and industry, NGOs and government, to support the delivery of its charitable objectives. Business development and strategic partnerships highlights delivered in 2025 include:
- the **Weather Photographer of the Year** competition in partnership with Standard Chartered, with global media coverage of the shortlisted photographs and increased emphasis on the connection between weather and climate change. A selection of the 2025 winners is shown below, and the full winners gallery can be found online. The 2025 competition attracted more than 4,000 entries from 84 countries and received nearly 1,000 pieces of media coverage. The accompanying social media campaign engaged more than 12 million people globally.
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- Working in partnership with AECOM to support the delivery of the _State of the Climate in the Energy Sector_ report.
- Working in partnership with the Met Office to plan the delivery of the first _State of the Secto_ r report for Meteorology.
- Worked in partnership with the Global Strategic Communication Council’s WeatherChange programme to deliver guidance and a series of webinars to support Weather Presenters to communicate climate change and weather extremes.
- Worked in partnership with a range of stakeholders including exam boards, publishers and government departments to highlight opportunities for improved climate change education, provide quality assurance for teaching resources and deliver teacher CPD.
- Continued relationships with **BBC, ITV** , **PRCA** and **Sustainability Unlocked** to provide training on climate change communications to communication professionals.
The new ‘ **Fund for the Future** ’ is a legacy-driven initiative launched for the Society's 175th anniversary to support the next generation of meteorologists and advance climate education. It focuses on funding scholarships, mentoring, research bursaries, and educational resources to inspire young people and break down barriers to entry in the profession.
## **Key Aspects of the Fund for the Future:**
- **Targeted Support:** Focuses on education, outreach, and nurturing early-career meteorologists.
- **Educational Impact:** Enhances school climate education by providing high-quality resources for teachers.
- **Professional Development:** Offers grants, bursaries, and mentoring to students and earlycareer researchers, including international support.
- **Legacy Giving:** Primarily funded by gifts in Wills to ensure long-term sustainability.
The initiative aims to strengthen the global community of meteorologists and ensure a sustainable, resilient future by educating young people on weather and climate.
## **Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI)**
With support of its EDI working group, the Society continued to progress its work in Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI). In 2025 we completed the Science Council’s EDI Progression Framework. The Society began a new project to collect more quantitative data about the diversity of its membership, reviewing policies and processes and ensuring technical capability, with a view to starting to collect this data in 2026. The Society has supported its team to embed EDI into day-to-day activities including events and communication. The Diverse Voices events series has continued and is now a regular feature on the Society’s events calendar. The Society has also taken steps to improve the diversity of its Board of Trustees, by creating a new role for an Early Career Trustee and continues to embed EDI activities into its day-to-day operations.
## **Net Zero**
The Society is committed to achieving net zero direct carbon emissions (Scope 1 & 2) by 2025, where there is direct control through avoiding, reducing and substituting. It is also working towards net zero indirect emissions (Scope 3) by 2030, subject to a full feasibility assessment.
The Society is part of Pledge to Net Zero along with over 220 signatories, which is an initiative tackling greenhouse gas emissions within the environmental services sector for those taking a leadership role in the transition to Net Zero. This initiative strengthens the Society’s longstanding efforts to address the global climate emergency.
In 2025, after successfully reducing its Scopes 1 and 2 emissions to net zero, the Society focused on its Scope 3 emissions. A review highlighted that three activities contributed to 85% of the Society’s Scope 3 emissions, namely scientific publishing, investments and events.
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The Society has worked closely with Wiley, our scientific publisher, on a roadmap and milestones to net zero as well as gaining a contractual agreement to meet our 2030 target.
Rathbones, the Society’s investors, have been providing investment emissions data since 2023. The Society moved to direct investments to get a breakdown of emissions across our investment portfolio, and a move from investment risk level 3 to 4. In 2025 the emissions from the Society investment portfolio were 64.9tCO2e.
The Society has been collecting events emission data since 2019, and we introduced an events net zero plan in 2021. Actions taken include recording travel data to events, livestreaming, choosing accessible locations, sustainable name badges, recycling and plant-based food at all our events.
2025 Carbon Emissions Data
The Society reports on progress against its net zero pledge annually and has been collating information about scope 1 and 2 emissions for 2019 and 2020. The full baseline year is 2022 which also includes scope 3 data calculated during 2023. The Society calculates its scope 1 and 2 emissions annually and its scope 3 emissions every 3 years (the next calculation will be completed on 2026 data), and these calculations are independently, externally verified.
The Society has been mindful of reducing its carbon footprint for over a decade, installing solar panels on the roof of the headquarters building and taking steps to eliminate scope 1 emissions by replacing an end-of-life gas boiler with a new electric system. The Society has already cut its scope 2 electricity emissions to net zero by switching to a 100% renewable energy tariff and switching to efficient lighting to reduce its energy demands.
Baseline Year 2022:
Scope 1: 2.4 tCO2e Scope 2: 1.8 tCO2e (0.3 tCO2e market-based emissions[1] due to green tariff and renewables) Scope 3: 289.3 tCO2e (3.8 tCO2e from T&D losses, water, waste, paper and business travel, 186.6 tCO2e from purchased goods and services, 21.4 tCO2e is employee commuting, 2 tCO2e is downstream transportation and distribution, 5.5 tCO2e is use of sold products, and 68.8 tCO2e is investments.)
Latest annual carbon footprint for 2025:
Scope 1: 0.0 tCO2e Scope 2: 0.3 tCO2e (market-based emissions due to green tariff and renewables) Scope 3: 283.9tCO2e (5 tCO2e from T&D losses, water, waste, paper and business travel, 185 tCO2e from purchased goods and services, 22 tCO2e is employee commuting, 2 tCO2e is downstream transportation and distribution, 5 tCO2e is use of sold products, and 64.9 tCO2e is investments.)
> 1 The market-based method was introduced in 2015 in order to allow companies to reflect the emissions from the electricity that they have specifically chosen to procure or generate on-site, which in most cases will be different from the average emissions of the electricity that is generated by the local grid.
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## **Marketing and Communications**
The role of communications and marketing is to promote the Society's work and the understanding of weather and climate. The Society recognises the importance of increasing its visibility, raising awareness and being an independent, authoritative voice about weather and climate science.
## **Highlights from 2025**
- **Social media:** The Society grew its social presence in 2025, maintaining sustained activity on BlueSky and continuing to attract new followers across all other platforms. On LinkedIn, RMetS exceeded 10,000 followers for the first time, followed closely by Instagram, where Weather Photographer of the Year content continues to resonate – with organic content attracting thousands of shares, comments and other engagements signals. The competition’s paid content continued to be impactful, engaging millions of people around the world through Facebook. The launch of the RMetS BlueSky account also attracted nearly 1,000 followers in its first year. Social media highlights included a fourth-quarter Climate Literacy Survey campaign, which generated strong visibility and engagement. An increasing number of newly accredited meteorologists promoting their accreditation across social media was also observed; driving advocacy from across the RMetS community remains a key goal.
- **Website statistics:** The RMetS website saw **1.2 million** unique visitors in 2025, roughly equal to 2024, indicating that the anticipated negative impact of AI-driven search on web traffic has yet to fully take hold. The MetMatters enthusiast blog continued to contribute an outsized proportion of this traffic, with around 750,000 visits across the year. The Society’s MetLink schools’ portal also performed well. MetLink was performing around 25% better in 2025, in terms of average monthly traffic, compared with 2024.
- **Media coverage:** The Society carried out **170 media** engagements in 2025 and garnered around 3,800 pieces of media coverage across all work programmes, campaigns, and initiatives. This included more than 500 radio pickups and over 100 television mentions. In addition to reactive media engagements – where RMetS provides expert commentary and input on extreme weather events – 2025 saw the introduction of a more proactive approach. The _Curriculum for Climate Literacy_ , the _State of the Climate Report for the UK Energy Sector_ , and the _Weather Photographer of the Year Climate Gallery_ all received proactive media pushes, resulting in targeted coverage.
In 2025, the Society delivered the following key marketing and communications activities:
- A sequence of content activities and initiatives to celebrate the Society’s 175[th] anniversary year, including refreshed branding across all platforms and channels, thought leadership pieces drawn from across the community, video content and more. The thought leadership content formed part of a series of opinion pieces published throughout the year, including:
- How will weather forecasting evolve over the next 25 years?
- `o` Professional accreditation for meteorologists in 2050
- How I became a meteorologist, exploring the impact of RMetS education activities
- `o` Advice to the next generation of operational meteorologists
- Scientific publishing in 2050
- The role of the media in communicating weather and climate stories and impacts
- `o` Long range prediction in 2050 `o` Climate science in 2050
- RMetS and the UN Sustainable Development Goals
- Launch of _Science Communication - Opportunities and Challenges: A Toolkit for Scientists_ developed in partnership with the Met Office. The toolkit is designed to equip weather and climate scientists with the knowledge and strategies needed to effectively navigate the challenges of public engagement while sharing their research confidently.
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- Complete refurbishment of the Society’s _Career Resources_ website hub, leading to improved user experience and uptake of resources. The Society has produced many different career resources over the years; however, web users have long reported that these resources were difficult to find, as they were dispersed across the site. The Career Resources area brings them together in a central repository with a clear user interface. The hub, which was launched during Green Careers Week in November, has already seen thousands of users who have carried out more than 20,000 actions – clicks, browsing, reading, downloads, etc – indicating a high level of engagement.
- Delivery of the Energy SIG’s _State of the Climate for the UK Energy Sector_ report, including enhancements to website functionality, such as interactive charts, and an integrated communications campaign in partnership with AECOM, which saw strong pickup across energy sector media.
- Announcement of the Society’s major emissions reduction milestone on the journey to full Net Zero. Significant update to the membership area of the website, factoring in new value propositions derived from the Member Value Proposition project.
- Migration to a new email service platform. Over time, this will enable more effective use of email communication to support members and other stakeholders with increasingly relevant and valuable information.
- 2025 also saw the 10[th] anniversary of the Weather Photographer of the Year competition. The competition continues to engage millions of people globally with striking images of weather phenomena and accessible climate storytelling about the issues putting our planet at risk.
## **IT and System Security**
Over the past year, we have focused on improving the security and resilience of our systems. This included adding a Cloudflare web application firewall to the site, along with a security audit and followup hardening work.
During the year the MetLink site was compromised and used to host spam links. A full review was carried out, the issue was resolved, and additional safeguards were put in place.
We have enforced two-factor authentication for administrators and are now enabling this as an option for other users. Password policies have been strengthened, regular updates are in place, and we continue to maintain our Cyber Essentials certification. We are also updating our incident response plans.
As cyber threats continue to increase, we keep up to date with emerging risks such as phishing and share relevant guidance with staff.
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## **Annex G: Membership of Committees, Boards, Local Centres and SIGs**
The Committees listed below are the standing Committees of the Society as of 31 December 2025. Membership of other sub-committees, working groups and similar _ad hoc_ bodies are not detailed.
## **Accreditation Board**
Becky Venton (Chair), Andrew Eccleston, Baden Hall, Alan Hisscott, Pete Inness, Paul Knightly, Alex Kubara, Ewen McCallum, Bob Riddaway, Jenny Rourke, Derek Swannick, Keith Thomson, Thomas Webb.
## **Awards Committee**
Brian Golding (President and Chair), Myles Allen, Cristina Charlton-Perez, Liz Kent, Simon Lee, Ruth Purvis, Helen Roberts, Dudley Shallcross.
## **Course Evaluation and Continuous Professional Development Panel**
Keith Thomson (Chair), Daniel Adamson, Roger Barrowcliffe, Michael Brettle, Andrew Eccleston, Peter Jonas, Andy Page, James Rainbow, Fraser Ralston, Dan Suri, Penny Tranter, Becky Venton.
## **Education Committee**
Karl Shepherdson (Chair, Met Office), Andrew Charlton-Perez (University of Reading), Mike Follows (King Edward’s School), Simon Foster (Imperial College, London), Rebecca Griffiths (Met Office), Rebecca Kitchen (Geographical Association), Melissa Lord, Simon Pinfield (Royal Geographical Society), David Preece (Teach First), James Rae (University of St. Andrews), Charles Tracy (Institute of Physics).
## **House Committee**
Derek Swannick (Chair), Paul Hardaker (Treasurer), Radan Huth (Chair of Scientific Publishing Board), Hilary Weller,
## **Events Committee**
Edmund Henley (Chair), Ioana Colfescu, Steve Colwell, Greg Dewhurst, Eddie Graham, Natalie Harvey, Will Hodder, Fran Morris, Rachel Perks, Mark Rodwell.
## **Membership Development Board**
Sarah Hewitt (Chair), Sarah Dennis, Richard Griffith, Katherine Latham.
## **Science Engagement Committee**
Hayley Fowler (Co-Chair), Michelle Cain (Co-Chair), Clair Barnes, Chloe Brimicombe, Ella Gilbert, Clare Heaviside, Candice Howarth, Ben Hutchins, Katie Jenkins, John Marsham, Dann Mitchell, Regan Mudhar, Matthew Priestley, Helen Roberts, Peter Stott, David Warrilow OBE, Matthew Wright.
## **Scientific Publishing Board**
Radan Huth (Chair), Chris O’Reilly and Massimo Bollasina (Co-Editors, ASL), Rachel Warren and Kristie Ebi (Co-Editors, CRS), Qingxiang Li and Anirudh Prabhu (Co-Editors, GDJ), Chris White and Enric Aguilar (Co-Editors, IJOC), Cristina Charlton-Perez and Dino Zardi (Co-Editors, Met Apps), Adrian Matthews and Antje Weisheimer (Co-Editors, QJ), Ben Maybee and Regan Mudhar (CoEditors, Weather).
## **Strategic Planning Board**
Brian Golding (President and Chair), Hayley Fowler (Chair of Science Engagement Committee), Paul Hardaker (Treasurer), Emily Shuckburgh (Vice President), Derek Swannick (General Secretary and Chair of House Committee), Keith Williams (Vice-President).
## **Weather and Climate Conference Organising Committee**
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Simon Lee (Chair), Tim Banyard, Ruth Geen, Bria Grange, Jim McQuaid, Matthew Priestley, Andrew Russell, Lorenzo Tomassini, John Thuburn, David Warrilow.
## **Early Career and Student Conference Organising Committee**
Eve Grant (Co-Chair), Josh Blannin (Co-Chair), Yvonne Anderson, Viv Atureta, Laura Byrne, Callum Dinnett, Toby P. Jones, Marcelo Aron Fetzner Keniger, Alejandro Romero Prieto, Kathryn Vest.
## **Local Centres**
## East Anglia Centre
James Lester (Co-Chair and Secretary), Bernadette McCaffrey (Co-Chair and Treasurer), Chris Bell (UEA liaison), Morrison Gooch (IT Coordinator), Anna Flynn
East Midlands Centre
Michael Steven (Chair), Roger Phillips (Editor: Weather Front), Alan Jones, Mike Longman, Richard Severn, Joyce Imara Humphrey (incoming Chair).
North East Centre
Vacant
North West Centre
Vacant
## Scottish Centre
Greg Wolverson (Chair), D Fowler, G Gunn, G G Meldrum, M G Roy, J A Smith (Secretary), D Stevenson, S Tett, V Thompson, A G McDonald (Treasurer), F McLay, G H Johnston, Z Mulk (Student Ambassador)
South East Centre
Rob Thompson (Chair), Jake Bland, Jake Keller.
South West Centre
Dick Bateman (Chair).
Welsh Centre
Vacant
West Midlands
Dr Ian D Phillips (Chair).
Yorkshire Centre
Arundhati Kalyan (Chair), Ezri Alkilani-Brown (Secretary), Amethyst Johnson (Treasurer), Doug Parker, Steven Dobbie, Mark M. Simmons, Ben Pickering
## **Special Interest Groups**
Atmospheric Chemistry
Dr Ryan Hossaini and Dr Paul Griffiths (Co-Chairs).
Atmospheric Electricity
Giles Harrison (Chair), Martin Füllekrug, Karen Aplin, Alec Bennett, Keri Nicoll.
Aviation Meteorology
Bob Lunnon (Chair), Mike O'Donohoe, Piers Buchanan, Frank Barrow, Phil Nicol-Gent, James Morrison.
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## Climate Dynamics
## Doug Smith and Adam Scaife (co-Chairs)
Data Assimilation
## Inactive
## Energy
Dafni Sifnioti (co-Chair), David Brayshaw (co-Chair), Amelia Adcroft, Daniel Drew, Daniel Massey, David Hone, David Martin, Emily Wallace, Francis Mosley, Hannah Bloomfield, Joseph Eimermann, Joseph Howe, Josephine Rogers, Laiz Souto, Mark Dunk, Matthew Priestley, Matthew Wright, Peter McAward, Philip Selwood, Regan Mudhar, Samuel Fisher, Stephen Haben.
History of Meteorology and Physical Oceanography
Vladimir Jankovic (Chair), Julian Mayes (Secretary, Newsletter Editor), Chris Folland (Coordinator - Pen Portraits of Past Presidents), Sarah Pankiewicz and Catherine Ross (Representatives from NMLA), Norman Lynagh, John Gould, Richard Griffith, Peter Rowntree, Richard Cornes, Mat Collins (co-opted for 2024)
## Insurance
Katherine Latham (Chair), Aidan Brocklehurst, Alec Vessey, Alex Baker, Caroline McMullan, Chris Webber, Hannah Bloomfield, Hayley Fowler, Jason Lowe, Kelsey Mulder, Len Shaffrey, Marie Ekstrom, Matthew Priestley, Matthew Wright, Oliver Halliday, Regan Mudhar, Richard Dixon, Stefan Doerr, Tom Perkins, Vikki Thompson.
Meteorological Observing Systems
Steve Colwell (Chair), Mike Brettle (Treasurer & Secretary), Steve Turner (Newsletter Editor), Dave Bullock, Stephen Burt, Mark Dutton, Mike Molyneux, Katie Muchan, Keri Nicoll, Katharine O’Boyle, Ian Strangeways, Claire Witham
## Youth and Early Career
Ayesha Tandon, Daniel Skinner, Ella Gilbert, Elliot Sainsbury, Euan McNaughton, Florence ShannonVines, Fran Morris, Frederick Otu-Larbi, Hannah Bloomfield, Hannah Findley, Kanzis Mattu, Kit Marie Rackley, Laura Byrne, Matthew Priestley, Matthew Wright, Megan Pearce, Ned Williams, Phoebe Fulcher, Rachel Yan, Regan Mudhar, Simon Clark, Simon Lee, Tim Banyard.
## **Journal Editorial Boards**
Atmospheric Science Letters
## _**Editors:**_
Chris O’Reilly and Massimo Bollasina.
## _**Associate Editors:**_
J Booth, I Coifescu, J Curio, T Diomede, D Faranda, S Hardiman, I Hoteit, Z Labe, L Lei, H Letu, C Li, C Liu, O Martinez-Alvarado, J McQuaid, A Miller, A R Mohebalhojeh, S Pal, R Parfitt, H Reider, T Stein, A Subramanian, S Undorf, M Valipour, D Woolf, G Zappa.
Climate Resilience and Sustainability
## _**Editors:**_
Rachel Warren and Kristie Ebi.
## _**Associate Editors:**_
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H Ali, E Attoh, E Avemegah, A Bhave, V Boult, M Ekstrom, H Fraga, B He, P Hudson, S Jarillo, K Jenkins, G Koren, S Mohammed, A Ogunyiola, A Omri, R Torelli, G Wang, C Weaver, Y Zheng.
Geoscience Data Journal
## _**Editors:**_
Qingxiang Li and Anirudh Prabhu
## _**Associate Editors:**_
L Brocca, Y Chen, D Franco, V Ferreira, L Janowski, E Hawkins, H Li, H Li, S Mukherjee, M Li, A Radwan, L Profeta, C Reason, N Raia, X Sun, Y Su, Y Wang, C Wang, L Xu, X Wu, H Yu, C Zhang, S Zhang, Z Zhang.
International Journal of Climatology
## _**Editors**_ **:**
Enric Anguilar and Chris White
## _**Associate Editors**_ :
A Argiriou (Deputy Editor), R Wu (Deputy Editor), T Ballinger, A Cherchi, J Marengo, V Moron, M Rostami, M Adnan, O Skrynyk, P Tiwari, L Wang, Q You.
## _**International Advisory Board:**_
L. Alexander, C. Anagnostopoulou, C. Buontempo, C. Giannakopoulos, B.N.Goswami, R.H. Kripalani, D. Maraun, T. Mikami, C. Reason, S.M. Vincente-Serrano.
Meteorological Applications
## _**Editors:**_
Cristina Charlton-Perez and Dino Zardi
## _**Associate Editors:**_
J Bech, H Bloomfield, V Boult, D Brayshaw, M Brunetti, C Cafaro, L Carvalho, E Cattani, A Ceppi, D Chatterjee, X Chen, C Coelho, A Doherty, M Dorninger, R Emerton, E Ferrero, A Fowler, L Giovannini, P Gonzalez, N Harvey, X Huang, C Keil, M Koβmann, S Lerch, W Li, C Mazzoleni, G Petersen, S Orlandini, G Pandithural, V Sinclair, K Strommen, J Talibb, E Tan, S Tian, J Waller, M Yan, Z Zheng.
## _**Early Career Researcher Editorial Board:**_
C Aquistapace, F Barbano, A Bottacin, S Cheng, A Dasgupta, C Manning, PP Leena, R Williams, M Zilli.
Quarterly Journal
## _**Editors:**_
Adrian Matthews and Antje Weisheimer.
## _**Associate Editors:**_
J Amezcua, L Bengtsson, Z Bouallègue, M Calaf, A Chakraborty, P Deb, A Doernbrack, P Griffiths, J Grist, S Havemann, D Hotta, T Janjic-Pfander, F Judt, J Keller, J Kent, G Leckebusch, S Marras, M Miglietta, A Miltenberger, A Mitra, M Mittermaier, S Peatman, V Phillips, J Poterjoy, P de Rosnay, R Scott, G Steeneveld, N Vercauteren, H Weller, C Westbrook, P Xu, Q Yang, Y Zeng.
Weather
## _**Editors:**_
Dr Ben Maybee and Regan Mudhar, Simon Lee (Outgoing)
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## _**Associate Editors:**_
J Carstens, R Dixon, C H B Lo, F Morris, M Priestley, M Rantenen.
## _**Editorial Board** :_
T Banyard, D Harris, D Holley, Z Hutin, M Pearce, G Plumb, D Smart, D Suri, K Thomas. WIREs Climate Change
## _**Editor:**_
Maria Carmen Lemos and Dan Friess
## _**Associate Editors:**_
D Barriopedro, T Carter, M Franchini, M Grasso, B Henley, M Heymann, C Kirchhoff, I Lorenzoni, G Marques di Guilio, L O Naess, J Patterson, S Pulver, R Sapiains, C Singh, Y Zeng.
## **Other organisations**
Representatives of other organisations include:
- UK Flight Safety Committee (UKFSC):
- UK Flight Safety Committee (UKFSC): R Lunnon
- • General Aviation Safety Committee (GASCo): P Nicol-Gent • European Meteorological Society (EMS): D Swannick • Science Council: Chief Executive
The Society depends heavily on the valuable and unstinting work done each year by those who hold voluntary office. The Society would like to record its grateful thanks to all of those who give up their time and who contribute with great dedication to the work of the Society. The Society could not achieve all that it does without the kind support of all of its volunteers – **thank you** .
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## **Annex H: Society Governance and Executive Team**
## **Staffing at the Society**
The Society has a secretariat that supports the day-to-day running of the Society and carries out its executive functions. A detail of the secretariat team and the organisational structure on 31 December 2025 is shown below.
**----- Start of picture text -----**
Chief Executive
Professor Liz
Bentley
Executive Assistant
Pauline Armstrong
Head of Publishing & Head of Business Chief Finance Officer
Scientific Engagement Development John Saul
Alison Brown Ella Clarke
Events Managers Science Engagement Membership Secretary IT Project Manager
Vicky Dickinson Manager Catherine Parker Kathy Maxwell
Cat Bicknell Hannah Mallinson (ML)
Vacancy
Membership &
Events Assistant Abi Hubert Science Engagement Accreditation Manager Sharon Stephens Science Engagement Business Development Manager Chloe Brimicombe Office Manager Alison Dent
Officer
Vacancy Senior Marketing &
Communications Administration
Head of Education Manager Co-ordinator
Professor Sylvia Knight Nathan Reece Britta Jarvis
Education Officer MetMatters Editor
Eleanor Pinches Kirsty McCabe
Digital Marketing
Executive
Kathryn Wolak
WPOTY Communications
Project Manager
Sarah Lacey UNDERPINNING
SCIENTIFIC SUPPORT
SOCIETAL BENEFITS
PUBLISHING BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
**----- End of picture text -----**
Chloe Brimicombe worked at the Society in 2025 to cover the Science Engagement Manager role during Hannah Mallinson’s maternity leave. The following member of staff left the Society during 2025: Beth Woodhams.
## **Background to the Society**
The British Meteorological Society was founded in 1850 and was incorporated by Royal Charter in 1866. In 1883 the name was changed to the Royal Meteorological Society. A separate Scottish Society had existed from 1855, but in 1921 was merged with the Royal Meteorological Society. The Society is a United Kingdom Charity with a national and international reach and reputation.
The Royal Charter states that the Society was established “for the advancement of Meteorological Sciences”. That remains the aim of the Society along with the advancement of applications of the science and related sciences, including climatology and climate science, the interaction between the atmosphere and the oceans, and environmental awareness. Copies of the Society’s Charter and ByLaws are available on request.
The Society’s Annual Report and Annual Accounts are submitted to the Annual General Meeting by the Trustees, the Society’s Council, who are elected or re-elected each year at the Annual General Meeting. The Annual Report illustrates activities during the year, which reflect Council’s policies in pursuit of the aim of the Society.
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## **Trustees' responsibilities statement**
The trustees are responsible for preparing the Trustees’ Annual Report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).
The law applicable to charities in England and Wales requires the trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charity and of the incoming resources and application of resources of the charity for that period.
In preparing these financial statements, the trustees are required to:
- select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently;
- observe the methods and principles in the Charities Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP) 2019 (FRS 102);
- make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent;
- state whether applicable accounting standards have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements;
- prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charity will continue in operation.
The trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records that disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charity and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Charities Act 2011 and the provisions of the trust deed. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charity and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.
The trustees are responsible for the maintenance and integrity of the charity and financial information included on the charity’s website. Legislation in the United Kingdom governing the preparation and dissemination of financial statements may differ from legislation in other jurisdictions.
The Royal Meteorological Society (Registered Charity No 208222):
|Address:|104 Oxford Road|||
|---|---|---|---|
||Reading RG1 7LL|||
|Telephone:|0118 2080 142|||
|E-mail:|info@rmets.org|||
|Web:|www.rmets.org|||
|Bankers|Lloyds Bank plc|Solicitors|Blandy & Blandy|
||PO Box 1000||1 Friar Street|
||BX1 1LT||Reading|
||||RG1 1DA|
|Auditors|UHY Ross Brooke|Investment Advisors|Rathbone Investment|
||Suite1, Windrush Ct.||Management Ltd|
||Abingdon Business Park||1 Curzon Street|
||OX14 1SY||London|
||||W1J 5FB|
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## Investment Powers:
By-Laws (July 2011) 82 and 83 read:
- 82 The monies of The Society which are not subject to any specific trust purpose, and which are not required to meet current expenditure, may be invested in any securities quoted in the official list of any recognised Stock Exchange or placed on deposit with a reputable organisation. Council may only delegate its powers to select and make investments to the extent permitted by the provisions of The Royal Charter and the relevant legislation governing responsibilities of Trustees and Charities[2] .
- 83 The Society’s premises shall not be sold or disposed of except with the sanction of a General Meeting of The Society.
## **THE RESERVES POLICY OF THE SOCIETY**
## Principal Objectives
The principal objectives of the Society’s reserves are to maintain and make use of capital reserves to:
- Ensure the viability of the Society in the short/medium term.
- Provide an assurance against significant financial risks and unforeseen costs.
- Enable the medium to long-term development of the Society’s aims and objectives in line with its Strategic Plan.
Background and Introduction
The Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP) for charities requires a statement of a charity’s reserves policy within its annual report which should explain to existing and potential members, donors and other stakeholders that the level of reserves set in this policy is considered to be required to ensure financial stability. The setting of a reserves policy forms an important part of the financial management of a charity and helps trustees to fulfil their charity trustee duties.
The Society derives its primary annual income from a combination of members’ subscriptions, publishing royalties, partnership income and income from investments. The Society holds three types of fund: Tangible Assets (the Society headquarters at 104 Oxford Road), a Designated Legacy Fund and a General (free) Reserve. Council first approved the policy on management of the last two items on 5 December 2001 and this is kept under regular review, and at least annually.
Historically the only major demand (> £100,000) on the reserves has been in relation to the purchase of the Oxford Road Headquarters. Other demands have been comparatively small (~£60,000 spread over several years) relating to upgrade of the IT equipment and the replacement of the office heating system (~£30,000). Any world economic instability highlights a need for increased resilience to support assured future financial stability and therefore increased levels of reserves.
The medium and long-term investment strategy of the Society has been formulated by Council, is overseen by the Society’s House Committee and is being implemented by the Chief Executive, who reports to Council three times a year. This policy statement provides guidelines on how the reserves may be used inter alia to fund non-recurring costs resulting from proposals on strategic development projects of the Society and to mitigate the major risks of the Society. Individual items of expenditure are presented for Council approval in the normal way.
The Annual Budget
> 2 Reference should be made to Part IV, Section 11(3) of the Trustees Act 2000.
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The annual budget covers the income and expenditure of the Society in all its activities, including the reserves. Council sets the budget for the Society and at each quarter receives a forecast of out-turn against the budget. The management accounts format is broken down into the four business areas of Publishing, Societal Benefits, Membership and Accreditation, and Underpinning Support.
Overall, the budget shall normally be set at break even, with the exception of expenditure on strategic development projects, which may fall across some or all of the business areas. The budget for strategic development projects may be funded from previous years’ reserves surplus, which may have been specifically identified as ringfenced for this purpose. The budget shall be set by taking into account the gains on investments available for furthering investment in the Society’s charitable objectives.
## The Reserves - Tangible Assets
Tangible assets, which comprise the premises, the furnishings and equipment are essential for conducting the business of the Society. These shall be routinely maintained primarily through the annual budget at a level appropriate to provide accommodation and facilities to support the normal operational activities of the Society. This includes committee meetings, but not necessarily the regular Society meetings and conferences. Major changes to tangible assets would be funded on a case-by-case basis through the General Reserve and could include external contributions (e.g. on appeal).
## The Free Reserves - The General Reserve
The role of the General Reserve is to provide the financial security to enable the long-term achievement of the Society’s strategic objectives, to mitigate against the major risks of the Society and to provide the financial stability to enable the flexibility to commit to short term expenditure requirements. In line with the Society’s Risk Register and its strategic and development requirements, the General Reserve shall:
- provide some resilience against “single event” failures, e.g. a significant failure of a large conference (~£100,000);
- allow front-loaded strategic spend-to-save measures (~£200,000);
- allow some “one-off” expenditures in the short and medium term (~£100,000);
- allow a recovery period for significant changes in the income/expenditure balance (~£150,000);
- create a margin for medium term market fluctuations (~£100,000).
It is considered that the level of reserves appropriate to meet the above requirements is within the range of 12-24 months of annual expenditure.
## The Reserves - The Legacies Fund
The policy for this fund is for protection and growth of the fund. Subject to this policy, capital gains on investments and investment dividends are used to support, in a sustained manner, the benefits primarily to individuals through Grants, Awards and Bursaries. The number and level of grants and bursaries shall be determined by the level of available funds and by second priority call on the General Fund.
## **THE INVESTMENT POLICY OF THE SOCIETY**
The Management of Investments
The Council, advised by the House Committee, are responsible for overseeing the Society’s investments in ways which align with the Society’s mission and values. In doing so they have a primary commitment to ensure that the Society holds ‘responsible investments’ with a secondary duty to ensure that the financial returns on investments are maximised.
Council expects companies in which they invest to demonstrate sustainable environmental practices, a strong sense of ethical social responsibility internationally, and that they conduct all their operations ethically, with honesty, integrity and openness. Council actively encourages investment in companies which have a firm Net Zero commitment by 2050 and have a good ESG rating. Should Fund Managers or Council become aware that these practices are not adhered to by individual companies they will be
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specifically excluded from the investment portfolio. The Society specifically excludes direct investment in companies involved in arms or weapons, fossil fuels or tobacco.
The management of investments is delegated by Council to a Professional Fund Manager. The portfolio is kept under regular review; in addition, the House Committee formally reviews performance of the portfolio twice a year and Council reviews investments at least annually. The choice of Fund Manager is kept under annual review in line with performance and the Society’s investment requirements.
The Fund Manager is committed to the evaluation and reporting on the environmental, social and governance scores or the direct investments which are held. ESG factors and benchmarking form an important part of this investment policy and strategy.
## Choice of Investments
Within the policy laid out above, investments may be made in cash deposits, bonds, equities, property and other alternatives. This may be done in such proportions as to keep within the Society’s agreed level of exposure to investment risk (The portfolio is currently managed within a risk level of 4 out of 6 – the lower end of medium risk). The Fund Manager shall endeavour to maximise the total return to the Society over the longer term, typically a period of the Society’s Strategic Plan, in order to deliver the required revenues to support the Society’s development programme and to mitigate the Society’s other major risks.
Where investment is made in equity shares no purchase of a single equity should represent more than 5% of the total portfolio value. This guideline excludes shares held indirectly through, for example, Investment Trusts, where there is already an underlying diversity. If anyone holding reaches 20% of the value of the portfolio a partial sale should be considered. The portfolio should be diversified over both market sectors and geographic markets, and no one market sector should represent more than 25% of the total portfolio value.
## Cash Flow Requirements
Council, when considering the budget, shall identify the likely demand for withdrawing funds from the investments over the next financial year and this shall be communicated to the Fund Manager so that they are able to anticipate the requirement for sales of investments whilst maximising profits and minimising losses. Any surplus cash on deposit may also be transferred at any time to the Fund Manager for investment at the recommendation of the Society’s Chief Financial Officer and with the specific approval of The Treasurer.
## Trustee Liability
Charity trustees are responsible for the efficient management of the organisation’s assets and may be held personally liable for the financial state of their charity. Delegation and effective performance monitoring of the management of the funds to suitably qualified professionals adequately discharges that responsibility.
The Society carries trustee indemnity insurance against claims of up to £1m (excluding cases of willful fraud). It is important that all those Trustees and Fellows involved in managing the Society’s funds are seen to take and act upon relevant professional advice and ensure that the Society Investment Policy is adhered to.
## **Risk Management**
Effective risk management is essential to ensuring the Society’s long-term sustainability, resilience and ability to deliver its strategic objectives. The Society maintains a comprehensive risk register, which is regularly reviewed by the House Committee and presented at each Council meeting, with an annual deep dive providing further scrutiny and assurance. This structured approach enables the proactive identification, monitoring and mitigation of risks across all areas of activity, supporting informed decisionmaking and safeguarding the Society’s assets, reputation and operations. By embedding risk management into governance processes, the Society strengthens its ability to respond to emerging challenges while continuing to deliver value to its members and the wider community **.**
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## **Annex I: REPORTS FROM OTHER REPRESENTATIVE BODIES**
## **Science Council**
The Science Council is an association of professional bodies and learned societies across science, bringing together a range of disciplines and sectors to reflect the multi-disciplinary practice of science in today’s society. The RMetS is a member of the Science Council. The Science Council plays an important role in ensuring public trust and confidence in the scientific workforce and transparency in the process of science. The Science Council’s registers (CSci and RSci) provide independent peer-led recognition of achievement and evidence of the profession. The organisation was formed over 20 years ago from an informal network of professional science bodies; the Science Council’s membership now stands at 34 organisations representing over 350,000 scientists. It brings the science community together to harness its collective expertise in the pursuit of professional excellence and uses that expertise to inform public policy. The Science Council set standards for professional registration of scientists and science technicians and fosters debate and the exchange of ideas across the network. It also supports member organisations to be more effective in meeting the needs of the science community and attracting the next generation into fulfilling science careers. The Science Council was established under Royal Charter in October 2003, and the current Chief Executive is Della Freeth. Professor Catherine Ross was elected President in July 2024.
The Science Council has four key themes in its current strategy: registers and licenses; community and membership; policy and influence; and EDI. The Society continues to be a Member of the Science Council, attending its forums and regular meetings. Professor Liz Bentley, RMetS Chief Executive, gave the keynote lecture at the Science Council’s annual Celebration of Science meeting.
## **General Aviation Safety Council (GASCo)**
GASCo is a body aimed at facilitating good communication of relevant safety information amongst private flyers. It comprises umbrella organisations in general aviation, such as the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, British Balloon and Airship Club, British Gliding Association, British Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association. The Society is a member of GASCo. In 2025 the Society continued its engagement with GASCo.
## **UK Flight Safety Committee (UKFSC)**
There were four meetings of the UK FSC in 2025: two online only and two hybrid meetings. Bob Lunnon represented the Society at all four meetings.
At the spring meeting there was some discussion of a near miss between a helicopter and a fixed wing aircraft which took place near Walney Island on 24/7/24. The situation had been exacerbated by a sudden reduction in cloud base which effectively forced reduced vertical separation between the two aircraft. It was said that this had not been forecast and it turned out that the Met Office does not generate TAFs for Walney Airport because it does not generate METARs. However, it was not clear the extent to which the loss of vertical separation was due to the absent forecast.
There was nothing of meteorological interest in the summer meeting.
In the autumn meeting the NATS representative said that they expected the autumn to be windy (meaning that there would be significant numbers of go-arounds and diversions because of low level windshear and/or crosswinds above limits), but some diversions would not be allowed because of the increase in air traffic. An incident had been reported when an aircraft had made repeated attempts to land at multiple airports on 21/12/23. After attempts to land at Manchester and East Midlands the aircraft finally landed at Birmingham with less fuel than the legal minimum. NATS have made plans for days when multiple diversions are likely, but it was admitted that these plans had not been looked at for some time.
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In the winter meeting there was some discussion about a grounding of some AIRBUS A320 family aircraft which had been attributed in the press to a solar radiation event. However, the Space Weather team at the Met Office said the likelihood of a space weather event on the day in question (30/10/25) was very small. In response the AIRBUS representative said that there had been a “black swan” event that day and AIRBUS had focussed on fixing the apparent problem (by a software upgrade) rather than on establishing the cause of the problem.
## **European Meteorological Society (EMS)**
EMS Membership and RMetS Representation
The European Meteorological Society (EMS) is an Association of 37 Meteorological Societies representing about 10,000 individual members across Europe. In addition, EMS has 31 Associate Members made up of National Meteorological Services, international institutions, research and education institutions, and commercial companies.
The Society is a permanent member on the EMS Council. The RMetS Chief Executive is the current EMS President taking up the 3-year term of office in September 2023, and the RMetS General Secretary is the Society’s representative on the EMS Council. The aim of the EMS is to advance the science, profession and application of meteorology, and of sciences related to it, at the Europe-wide level, for the benefit of the whole population.
The EMS General Assembly convenes representatives of all the Member Societies at least once a year and decides on constitutional and financial matters of the EMS, hears the report of the Council and the statement of the EMS’s auditor.
The following EMS Council meetings took place in 2025:
- 54th Council Session, 27-28 March, Paris, France (hybrid)
- 55th Council Session, 8 July, online meeting.
Professor Liz Bentley, RMetS Chief Executive, chaired both the meetings as the EMS President, and Derek Swannick attended both meetings representing RMetS.
EMS Annual Meetings and EMS2025
The theme for the recent 2025 EMS Annual Meeting in Ljubljana, Slovenia, was _Growing use of AI/ML in atmospheric sciences and meteorological applications with a particular focus on flooding and warnings_ . The meeting was attended by more than 700 participants from 49 countries: 90 of these participated online from across the globe. Of these, 300 people attended an EMS Annual Meeting for the first time. The EMS has a sustainable meetings policy EMS Sustainable Meetings Policy.
The forthcoming EMS2026 in Utrecht, The Netherlands, will focus on _Delta Climate: weather, water and warnings_ .
EMS Silver Medal Award
**Florence Rabier** , ECMWF, received the EMS Silver Medal 2025 to recognise her ground-breaking scientific, academic and leadership career, marked by pioneering contributions to variational data assimilation of satellite observations in NWP, and her proactive role positioning ECMWF at the forefront of the machine learning revolution.
EMS Journal - JEMS
The EMS launched the Journal of the European Meteorological Society, or JEMS, in 2024. Two special issues have already been published: one to mark the 25-year anniversary of the EMS and one to honour the late Professor. Dr. Ehrhard Raschke.
EMS Webinars
The EMS launched a webinar series in 2024 and between 4 to 6 webinars are hosted online each year. The webinar topics vary, and can include presentation of books, results from the photo competition, or discussion of relevant topics.
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## EMS Pledge to Net Zero
At the 26[th] General Assembly of the EMS, which met on 1 September 2024, the representatives of EMS Member Societies agreed that the EMS should make a **pledge to become Net Zero by 2040** relative to the baseline year of 2023.
The EMS has developed a Net Zero Transition Plan, which will form part of its strategic plan, and aims to guide the EMS on its net zero journey, setting out how it will reduce emissions. The EMS will aim to draw on the knowledge and support from across the community in reaching net zero.
The EMS will be transparent in reporting its emissions data and plans to publish this data in the EMS Annual Report. The EMS recognises that net zero is a common goal of all EMS Members and an opportunity to work together on a common goal. The EMS can also benefit from knowledge across the community of science-based evidence and the opportunity to promote research across Europe.
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