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2022-12-31-accounts

Charity Number: 241990 Company Number: RC000353

ROYAL MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETY

REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS For the year ended 31 December 2022

ROYAL MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETY

REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS – For the year ended 31 December 2022

Contents Pages
Legal and administrative information 1 - 2
Report of the Board of Trustees 3 - 22
Auditor’s Report 23 - 25
Statement of Financial Activities 26
Balance Sheet 27
Cash flow Statement 28
Notes to the Financial Statements 29 - 41

ROYAL MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETY

Legal and administrative information

Charity Registration No: 241990 Company Registration No: RC000353 Registered Office: 37/38 St Clements Street Oxford OX4 1AJ

Council of Management: Professor Grace Burke President Dr Peter O’Toole Vice President Professor Susan Anderson Vice President Professor Michelle Peckham Executive Honorary Secretary Mr Rod Shipley Honorary Treasurer Professor Rik Brydson Honorary Secretary Science – Physical (to 29 September 2022) Professor Andy Brown Honorary Secretary Science – Physical (from 29 September 2022 Professor Maddy Parsons Honorary Secretary Science – Biological Dr Kerry Thompson Honorary Secretary Education Professor Asa Barber Professor Stan Botchway (to 29 September 2022) Dr Liz Duke (to 29 September 2022) Mrs Kim Findlay (to 29 September 2022) Professor Paul French Mr Paul Gunning Dr Karen Hogg Dr Martin Jones Professor Oleg Kolosov Professor Roland Kroger Dr Donald MacLaren (from 29 September 2022) Professor Gail McConnell Dr Dogan Ozkaya Dr Julia Parker (from 29 September 2022) Professor Klaus Qvortrup (to 29 September 2022) Dr Liam Rooney Dr Alex Sossick (from 29 September 2022) Professor Paul Verkade (from 29 September 2022) Dr Theresa Ward Professor Claire Wells (from 29 September 2022)

The following members retired from Council at the AGM on 29 September 2022: Professor Rik Brydson, Professor Stan Botchway, Dr Liz Duke, Mrs Kim Findlay and Professor Klaus Qvortrup.

Chief Executive: Ms Allison Winton Solicitors: Spires Legal Limited Oxford House Parkway Court, John Smith Drive Oxford Business Park Oxford, OX4 2JY Auditors: Cooper Parry Group Limited Cubo Birmingham Office 401, 4[th] Floor Two Chamberlain Square Birmingham B3 3AX

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ROYAL MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETY

Legal and administrative information

Bankers: Royal Bank of Scotland Plc Minns Business Park 7 West Way Oxford OX2 0JB Investment Managers: Investec Wealth and Investment Limited 30 Gresham Street London EC2V 7QN

The members of the Board of Trustees present their report and accounts for the year ended 31 December 2022 for Royal Microscopical Society (also referred to as RMS or Society).

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Report of the Board of Trustees for the year ended 31 December 2022 Foreword to the 2022 RMS Annual Report

Professor Grace Burke, RMS President

After two years of upheaval due to Covid-19, it is with great delight that I am able to report a return to something much more like ‘business as usual’ across all RMS activities during 2022 – though the evolving landscape across the sciences, and the associated, ever-changing needs of the global scientific community that we serve, means nothing truly stands still for long. It is part of what makes our work so exciting, and on a personal level, one of the many reasons I consider it such a privilege to serve as President of the Society.

Our long-desired return to in-person meetings came mid-way through the year, though we continued to offer a range of online and hybrid meetings where appropriate – and this is one Covid-induced development which appears here to stay. We fully recognise the benefits of hosting virtual events in terms of increased accessibility, inclusivity and sustainability – not to mention the ability to directly connect with our international members as well as with those working in similar fields across the world. As such, we will continue to consider online options wherever appropriate and possible – in addition, of course, to facilitating the sort of interactions and networking opportunities that only an in-person meeting, conference or course can deliver. A great example of this new approach came with our Annual General Meeting in London in September; not only were we able to reconnect with friends and colleagues in person – including three of our most recent Honorary Fellowship recipients, Professors Ed Boyes, Barry Carter and David Williams – but also the meeting was live-streamed, enabling the widest possible RMS audience to catch up on the latest developments across all Society activities.

A number of new events and initiatives have gathered momentum throughout the year, including the International Microscopy Lecture Series in collaboration with our international colleagues in IFSM, Canada, Israel and Brazil. We now have a full programme of speakers lined up for 2023 and hope to see this partnership continue to flourish in the coming months. Speaking of partnerships, in 2022 we joined our colleagues at BioImagingUK as joint signatories of the Technicians Commitment . This is an important UK initiative aiming to ensure visibility, recognition, career development and sustainability for technicians working in higher education and research across all disciplines. More information setting out the practical steps being taken by both the RMS and BioImagingUK towards this aim can be found on our website.

In 2022, the RMS once again recognised outstanding achievements in microscopy – both in science and technique development, as well as in the applications of microscopy that have led to significant advances in our understanding for the life sciences and physical/material sciences. We also announced new Honorary Fellowships, plus a number of other awards recognising achievements in education and outreach, technical support, and outstanding contributions to the RMS. These achievements are acknowledged in this report, and more information is available on our website.

Our RMS publications, the Journal of Microscopy, and members’ magazine, in focus , have enjoyed another successful year under the superb leadership of their respective Editors, Professor Michelle Peckham, and Dr Leandro Lemgruber. We are extremely grateful for their dedication and hard work, and further details about these publications are contained in this report. I should, however, mention our plans for in focus becoming a fully online publication in 2023. This is a very exciting development which will secure a sustainable future for the magazine and offer our readers new ways to engage with its content. RMS members should also note with pride that the Journal of Microscopy is the oldest microscopy-based scientific journal in continuous publication (since 1841), and I encourage you to support our excellent Journal!

The rolling back of Covid restrictions this year has enabled the welcome return of a number of RMS Outreach activities – including the free loan of our Microscope Activity Kits to Primary Schools. This ongoing project has now reached nearly 135,000 children – providing the majority with their very first taste of microscopy as a result. Another highly successful project – the Hitachi High Tech America STEM Education Outreach Programme, led by Dr Alex Ball and Dr James Perkins – has also gone from strength to strength this year, with portable scanning electron microscopes now having been loaned to approximately 30 secondary schools and two museums. I am also very pleased to note that seven candidates are working towards the completion of their RMS Diplomas, and three undergraduate students undertook microscopy-based research projects as part of the RMS Summer Studentship scheme. This year also saw the launch of an RMS mentoring scheme, conceived by the Professional Development and Training Focused Interest Group. This is a great new venture, enabling those working in the microscopy field to gain or provide both technical and career-based support.

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Report of the Board of Trustees for the year ended 31 December 2022 (Continued)

Our Science Sections, Committees and Focused Interest Groups continue to do a magnificent job in addressing the interests of our members. It is also wonderful to know that the RMS has such a superb and dedicated group of young members in the Early Career Committee, and I look forward to seeing them grow into our future RMS leaders. Amid all the work that they do, it is sometimes easy to forget that all our committee members are volunteers, giving up their valuable time and energy to further the science of microscopy, flow cytometry, imaging and analysis. Needless to say, the Society simply could not survive without their passion and commitment.

I wish to express my sincere gratitude to the RMS Executive Committee, Council, Sections, Committees and FIGs for all their ongoing hard work. I also want to offer my great appreciation to our wonderful RMS Staff, for it is only with their help that the Society can continue moving forward. I know I speak for all RMS members in formally recognising our Chief Executive, Allison Winton, and all the RMS Staff for their great work, dedication, and commitment. I also thank all RMS members for continuing to support our Society!

Governing Document

The Royal Microscopical Society’s governing document is its Royal Charter. The Supplemental Royal Charter was obtained 9 October 2008.

Objectives

The Royal Microscopical Society’s objects are constituted in Supplemental Royal Charter, they are:

Recruitment of Trustees

All members of Council (except the chairs of the sections) must be elected at the Annual General Meeting and re-elected after three years in office. Every year the longest serving members of Council must retire according to the agreed rotational pattern. They are not eligible to serve on Council during the year following their retirement.

A notice inviting nominations from the Fellowship is published on the RMS website and in in focus magazine at least four calendar months before the Annual General Meeting.

At a meeting not less than three calendar months before the Annual General Meeting, Council nominates qualified persons (ensuring a balance in experience, scientific expertise, and gender) for election as Officers and Ordinary Members.

The list of Council nominations is published to all members of the Society not later than three weeks before the Annual General Meeting. This list also contains the names of any nominations from the members of the Society, if there are any, along with the name of the nominating member.

If no candidates have been nominated by the membership, the persons nominated by Council shall be judged to be elected, and no ballot shall be held.

Training of Trustees

New Trustees (Council Members) are sent an Introductory booklet about the Society, which contains general information about the operations of the charity, including a specific section for trustees. In addition to this, all new Trustees receive a more detailed trustee Training Document. Further Trustee training takes place at Council meetings every few years.

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Report of the Board of Trustees for the year ended 31 December 2022 (Continued)

Pay and Remuneration

The pay of RMS staff is agreed by a remuneration committee consisting of the President, Honorary Treasurer and Executive Honorary Secretary. The salary scales are based on a University salary scale, and the staff members pay grades are linked to the most appropriate scale where the breadth of responsibilities are similar.

Organisation & Governance Structure

The Executive Committee, on behalf of the Trustees, has responsibility of the day-to-day management of the Society. The Executive Committee consists of the President, the Vice-President(s), the Executive Honorary Secretary, the Honorary Treasurer and the Honorary Secretaries. The Executive Committee normally meet quarterly. The Chief Executive is the senior permanent officer of the Society and is responsible to Council initially through the Executive Honorary Secretary and the Honorary Treasurer jointly. The Chief Executive is responsible to the members of the Society for ensuring that the actions of the Council are in accordance with the Society’s Charter and By-laws. To facilitate effective operations, the Chief Executive, along with the Finance Director and Event Director, has delegated authority for operational matters including finance, employment and facilitating the event programme.

Principal Risks and Uncertainties

The trustees have a risk management strategy which comprises:

This work has identified that financial sustainability is the major financial risk to the charity. A key element in the management of financial risk is a regular review of available liquid funds to settle debts as they fall due, regular liaison with the bank, and active management of trade debtors and creditors balances to ensure sufficient working capital.

The RMS is aware that the Journal of Microscopy revenue is likely to decrease due to open-access journal submissions. A procedure and plan has been put into place to reduce our overheads if this risk becomes more apparent. This risk is reviewed at least annually during Executive Committee Meetings, and as part of the overall Strategy Meeting.

Attention has also been focussed on non-financial risks arising from Health and Safety issues, Disaster Recovery and a loss of reputation. These risks are managed by ensuring accreditation is up to date, having robust policies and procedures in place, and regular training for staff.

The RMS is also aware of the data it processes and ensures it complies with the latest security standards. With the implementation of GDPR, fines for data breaches have increased. This poses a heightened risk for the RMS as it is essential to ensure our data is secure. An ISO 27001 accreditation has been achieved to ensure all potential risk is reduced and managed in line with the guideline set out in the standards of the qualification. The Society is also exposed to risks associated with being an employer, eg legislation and litigation.

The Royal Microscopical Society continues to closely monitor the implications of Brexit. We would like to take this opportunity to state that we are an International Society, and welcome members from all countries and backgrounds who are working with microscopes and are interested in the science of microscopy. We are aware that funding to attend our activities may be affected by Brexit and will continue to review our current Strategy.

The RMS continues to closely monitor the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. The RMS adapted during this difficult time by running a range of virtual events to benefit the scientific community. The RMS has returned to in-person meeting during 2022 but is still maintaining a virtual presence with online meetings and training courses. The RMS has utilised the availability of technology to facilitate our activities. All activities, including returning to inperson events, have been closely assessed to ensure the RMS act in a covid secure manner.

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Report of the Board of Trustees for the year ended 31 December 2022 (Continued)

Fundraising

The charity does not directly fundraise from the public. The RMS is a self-funded organisation with any funds generated from its own activities reinvested into the scientific community. Occasionally the RMS may carry out fundraising activities for a specific project or to ensure the longevity of the society. The charity does not use any external fundraisers and any fundraising undertaken during the year is monitored by the Trustees. Any fundraising projects would be managed by the staff at the RMS, with guidance from the trustees, who would set out clear guidelines and benefits to the community. The RMS would conduct a full risk assessment prior to the fundraising activity and ensure that all vulnerable personnel are protected. At present the RMS has not received any complaints regarding fundraising activities.

RMS Awards, Medals and Honours 2022

Report by Professor Grace Burke, RMS President

The RMS offers a wide range of award opportunities for individuals making a special contribution within microscopy, flow cytometry and imaging. Each year we invite applications from across the globe, to ensure those making a real difference receive the recognition they deserve.

This year’s awards included the Science Section Awards, Scientific Achievement Awards, The President’s and Vice Presidents’ Awards, the Chris Hawes Award for Outreach and the Pearse Prize.

The RMS takes its awards process very seriously, and careful consideration is given to all applicants and nominees to ensure the most outstanding achievements are given the acknowledgement they deserve.

It was a privilege to announce our award-winners for 2022, and give formal recognition to the work of some of our leaders in microscopy.

My warmest congratulations go to all of the following winners:

Science Section Awards

Celebrating outstanding scientific achievements across all areas of microscopy and flow cytometry. Selected by each RMS Science Section.

Ms Katherine Paine , PhD student, University of York

Mr Chris Hall , Flow Cytometry Facility Deputy Manager, The Babraham Institute, Cambridgeshire, UK

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Report of the Board of Trustees for the year ended 31 December 2022 (Continued)

Scientific Achievement Award-winners:

Celebrating and marking outstanding scientific achievements in any area of microscopy or flow cytometry for established, mid-career researchers.

RMS President's Award

Recognising exceptional voluntary contributions to the work of the RMS.

RMS Council and Former International Secretary; Nanovizz

RMS Vice Presidents' Award

Recognising the critical contributions to microscopy research, technique development or education through this award to a scientist, engineer or laboratory research staff.

Ms Xiangli Zhong, Senior Experimental Officer in the School of Materials, University of Manchester

Chris Hawes Award for Outreach and Education

Celebrating a substantial contribution to the field of education, or to outreach and public engagement, over the course of someone's career.

Dr Elisabeth Bik , Science Consultant, Harbers Bik LLC

The Pearse Prize

Established in 1982 to honour the work of Professor AGE Pearse. A prestigious award recognising significant contributions to histochemisty and life sciences either through the development of a new technique or through the application of existing methods.

Professor Michael P Sheetz, Robert A Welch Distinguished University Chair in Chemistry at University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, USA

More information about the full range of RMS awards and past award-winners is available on our website, www.rms.org.uk

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Report of the Board of Trustees for the year ended 31 December 2022 (Continued) Events

Report by Professor Rik Brydson, Professor Maddy Parsons and Professor Andy Brown, RMS Honorary Secretaries Science during 2022

The Honorary Secretaries Science share the job of overseeing the range and scope of scientific activities undertaken by the Society and are co-chairs of the Microscience Microscopy Congress (mmc) Organising Committee.

The range of meetings, courses and workshops undertaken by the Society is a vital role of the RMS. Happily, we were able to make a long-desired return to in-person meetings during the second half of 2022. We have however continued to offer a range of online and hybrid meetings where appropriate. Indeed, we fully recognise the benefits of hosting virtual events in terms of increased accessibility, inclusivity and sustainability. We will continue to listen to feedback from our event attendees and members and consider this option in our future event planning where appropriate and possible.

During the opening months of the year, the Society hosted online versions of several of its well-established events. These included Flow Cytometry Facilities Meeting 2022; Virtual UK Light Microscopy Facility Meeting 2022; Virtual EM-UK 2022; Virtual Flow Cytometry Data Analysis Course Spring 2022; Virtual Microscopy Characterisation of Organic-Inorganic Interfaces 2022; Virtual EBSD 2022 . The RMS now has extensive experience in hosting online events, and this was brought to the fore again this year.

Our first foray back into the world of in-person events came with the fully booked Cryo Electron Microscopy Course 2022 , which took place at Rothamsted Research in Harpenden. This was followed in July by the Society’s first genuinely ‘hybrid’ event, the AFM and SPM Meeting 2022 , for which several attendees joined the organisers in Sheffield for one of the three days. Two more big conferences followed - flowcytometry UK 2022 and Frontiers in BioImaging 2022 , which both took place at Birmingham’s Edgbaston Park Hotel. Our return to in-person courses came in September, with the Flow Cytometry Course 2022 – back at York for the first time since 2019. Later that month, the Abercrombie Meeting 2022 took place in Oxford, providing an excellent opportunity to review the major advances in our understanding of cell motility and look to the new emerging concepts in the field. All these events provided a welcome opportunity for attendees to come together as a community, and to interact in ways they had been unable to do for some considerable time. It’s also worth noting that for many Early Career microscopists, the online world of the past two-and-a-half years had represented the only ‘normal’ in terms of presenting their research, and that these events therefore provided a first taste of in-person meetings and conferences.

Our Annual General Meeting was held in late September as part of Microscopy: Advances, Innovation, Impact 2022 . Following the successful live-streaming of a number of Science Section AGMs, this event was also live-streamed in order to engage with the widest possible audience. It was particularly pleasing to see several prestigious RMS awards presented in person at this meeting, including three Honorary Fellowships (Professors Ed Boyes, Barry Carter and David Williams) announced in recent years, but not formally bestowed due to interruption from the Covid pandemic.

Events in October included sponsorship of the 2022 NanoSIMS Workshop at Teddington, an important forum to discuss the latest accomplishments in all fields of science leveraging the unique capabilities of Imaging Mass Spectrometry. Following this, we were delighted to support our partners Canada BioImaging (CBI) and BioImaging North America (BINA) in facilitating the Expansion Microscopy User Group Meeting . We also joined up with partners at Melbourne University for an Australian-hosted version of this meeting in November. This important online forum enables researchers to share their experiences and facilitate rapid uptake of this emerging technology.

Among our ongoing online offerings, the International Microscopy Lecture Series continued to draw strong audiences in 2022, with guests including Professors Philip Batson, Dan Shechtman and Jennifer LippincottSchwartz. Most recently, Emeritus CNRS Research Director, Professor Christian Colliex, gave a talk in December, and further lectures are being lined up for 2023. We look forward to our continuing collaboration with our partners: The Microscopical Society of Canada, The Israel Society for Microscopy, and the Microscopy and Microanalysis Society of Brazil. The series also continues to be supported by the International Federation of Societies for Microscopy (IFSM).

The RMS continues to be very fortunate in having many willing and dedicated members who organise, run, and participate in these events and we take this opportunity to thank them for their hard work and significant

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Report of the Board of Trustees for the year ended 31 December 2022 (Continued)

contributions. In addition, the Section Chairs, Honorary Secretaries and Section Committee members have all played a very valuable role in ensuring that we continue to maintain such high standards over a diversity of offerings.

Through the ongoing work and combined efforts of our Focussed Interest Groups in Professional Development and Training (renamed in 2021 to incorporate professional development), Image Analysis (now a fully-fledged Section - Data Analysis in Imaging), Quality Control, Mass Spectrometry Imaging, X-Ray Microscopy, Ion Beam Microscopy and BioImagingUK, we are taking a close look at all our events for 2023 and beyond. We are actively seeking new opportunities to address emerging fields within microscopy.

We look forward to meeting friends and colleagues from across the microscopy community next year, and especially at mmc2023 in Manchester in July.

Membership

Report by Professor Michelle Peckham, RMS Executive Honorary Secretary

The total number of paid-up individual members of the Society is 1,325, broken down as follows:

In 2021 there were 1,349 individual members, 1,304 in 2020, 1,457 in 2019, 1,480 in 2018, 1,495 in 2017, 1,460 in 2016, 1,379 in 2015 and 1260 in 2014 (See graph below).

51 of our individual members subscribe to the Journal of Microscopy.

252 new members have joined so far this year (for comparison, 246 new members joined in 2021, 132 new members joined in 2020 and 163 new members joined in 2019).

One Honorary Fellowship has been awarded this year.

The number of student members represents 14.1% of the total individual membership. Out of the total 187 Student members, 122 have taken advantage of the free year’s membership available to Students.

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Report of the Board of Trustees for the year ended 31 December 2022 (Continued)

We are proud to be a truly International Society and are pleased to be able to offer as a benefit to members, membership of the European Microscopy Society. We are always grateful for the support given to us by our Corporate Members and are pleased to report that four new companies joined us in 2022– Cairn Research Ltd, Sony Europe B.V, Ametek GB Ltd [GATAN UK and EDAX UK] and Protochips, bringing the total number of Corporate Members to 64. The Society aims to increase membership numbers and attends many events to actively recruit new members and we urge all members to encourage anyone who might be interested in joining.

We value and appreciate the support given to us by our members and were pleased to see that of those who did not renew their subscription in 2022, this was largely due to external circumstances and not because the membership failed to provide value to them, so we are confident that RMS Membership continues to offer a real benefit to microscopists worldwide.

Council have agreed to the following membership categories from 1 January 2023 onwards:

Education and Outreach

By Dr Kerry Thompson, RMS Honorary Secretary Education; and Dr Alex Ball, Deputy Chair of Outreach & Education Committee

My sincere thanks once again to Dr Alex Ball for acting as interim committee Chair this year whilst I was on leave. We continue to get to grips with the aftermath of the COVID 19 pandemic and we are starting to once again enjoy in-person events and travel. We have jointly composed this report which will reflect on the committees’ contributions on our three constitutive pillars - School Outreach including the MAK’s, the RMS Diploma or CPD, and the Public Engagement.

Schools Outreach

The MAK scheme relaunched in 2021 with kits being reissued to schools. Our latest records indicate that a phenomenal 134,642 children have gained access and used the MAKs since its inception. As always, we have received wonderful uplifting feedback from the educators and students including the following two examples “We loved the Kit and all the activities. Just perfect and so beautifully organised. This was the most fantastic learning opportunity, and I would not hesitate to recommend it to anyone” and “All children, in every class, loved using real scientific equipment! So many positive comments were overheard - for example, lots of ‘Best lesson ever Miss!’”

The scheme has evolved to include Home Education Kits which due to popularity, are now being loaned out for half terms (6-week periods). Home Education Kits are booked up until July 2023 and we will start to take SeptDec 2023 bookings in January 2023. As always, we continue to work very closely with our partners at Oxfordshire Employment and County Print Finishers whose help and assistance always goes above and beyond. I would like to take this opportunity to publicly thank them for their dedication and hard work. Without Andrew and his staff we could not guarantee the high quality assurance checks that are carried out on the kits prior to their resending to schools, a process which has become all the more challenging since the emergence of Covid-19.

All of the partner academic societies, including the Scottish Microscopy Society and the Microscopy Society of Ireland, continue to avail of and participate in the scheme. All partners continue to provide invaluable feedback and help immensely with the provision of education in the field of microscopy to junior scientists. We have also

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Report of the Board of Trustees for the year ended 31 December 2022 (Continued)

continued to work to support members of other professional or academic societies to develop their own microscopy related outreach and education packages and welcome future interactions and collaboration.

The second level programme using portable scanning electron microscopes (SEMs) properly known as the Hitachi High Tech America STEM Education Outreach Programme, led by Dr Alex Ball and Dr James Perkins, is a collaboration between four parties: The RMS, Hitachi High Tech America, Oxford Instruments and The Institute for Research in Schools (IRIS). Over the past two years the programme has been a stomping success and has delivered loans to 27 schools and two museums leading to well over 8,000 project users. Over 800 student projects have been completed and students have presented their data at two IRIS conferences (spread over 4 venues and online).

Furthermore, participants have made submissions to the Big Bang Fair where a student from Liverpool Life Sciences was awarded Young Scientist of the Year award. In addition, over 120 teachers and science technicians have learned to use the microscopes. Distinct differences between state and public-school usage of the instruments have been observed, with state schools largely focussing on their own students and maximising the amount of teaching and research time, whilst the private schools have tended to focus on outreach with other schools. The pilot programme is currently still running, but Hitachi will unfortunately withdraw the most sophisticated SEM back to the USA at the end of 2022. Currently 18 schools are on a waiting list to take part. The projects teams’ next mission is to secure funding to advance and carry on the programme, and to enable the independent purchase of instruments to continue its success.

RMS Diploma and CPD

The current 7 RMS Diploma candidates are progressing well through their studies. Professor Susan Brookes, and Dr Marie Kokolski of the RMS Qualifications Committee along with Mrs Kate Wooding, met with the candidates during the summer for them to virtually share their progress updates. The standard of work presented was very high and again we would like to that the mentors and supervisors for their continued support. We are thrilled to be presenting Craig Halliday with his Diploma and congratulate him on his completion. We wish him every success in his future career and hope he stays in touch.

Three summer studentships were awarded to projects this year in the fields of life and physical sciences. Projects took place once again in labs across the country. We hope to see some of the project reports published in in focus over the next few months. Well done to all the participants and their supervisors.

The Professional Development and Training Focussed Interest Group has launched an RMS mentoring scheme. Applications are now being invited for participation in either the Personal Mentoring or Application Coaching stream. Prospective mentors and mentees are encouraged to come forward with more information available on the website. I would like to congratulate all involved for getting this fantastic initiative off the ground. Please look at the RMS website for updates on future events, training courses and activities.

Public Engagement

As we continue to emerge from the global pandemic we sincerely hope to be able to increase our presence and participation at public engagement events over the coming 12 months. This reporting period continues to be affected by the global pandemic but we are confident we will being to take part once more with the reawakening of in-person festivals and events.

On behalf of Alex and I, I would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who was giving of their time and enthusiasm to events over this period – specifically all the members who continue to contribute to this vibrant committee and all the RMS staff, who continue to be such wonderful support and tremendous to work with.

The Journal of Microscopy

Report by Professor Michelle Peckham, Editor of the Journal of Microscopy

The Journal of Microscopy has published 72 papers in 2022 so far, made up of 33 original articles, 3 invited reviews, 1 review, 1 technical note and 34 themed issue papers. The December issue is due to feature 6 themed issue papers.

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Report of the Board of Trustees for the year ended 31 December 2022 (Continued)

The number of submissions to the Journal of Microscopy has remained stable in comparison to the same period last year; 147 have been submitted in comparison with 146 in the previous last year. There have been 73 papers accepted for publication in 2022, which is a 10% decrease on the previous year (81 papers accepted on the same period in 2021).

The Journal of Microscopy provides a flexible open access platform for authors. 34 Online Open papers have been published in the Journal in 2022, which is an increase in comparison to 2021 (28). Three invited reviews have been published in 2022 and two more invited reviews are currently being revised by the authors. There are around 10 more invited reviews due to be submitted in 2023.

The following themed issues have been published in 2022: a ToScA meeting themed issue, a themed issue for the meeting “18th Euro-seminar on microscopy applied to building materials” and a festschrift for former General Editor of the Journal Professor Tony Wilson. An issue featuring submissions by Early Career Researchers entitled “A Lens on the Future: Next Generation Microscopy by Next Generation Microscopists” is due to be published as the December 2022 issue. There are plans for the following special issues in 2023/2024: Women in Microscopy; Microscopy Core Facility Management; Botanical Microscopy; Ptychography; Imaging ONEWORLD and an issue from the Data Analysis in Imaging RMS committee.

The Journal pages on the Royal Microscopical Society’s website continue to be regularly updated and feature Journal news, details of the current issue, reviews published by the Journal, a sample issue, links to highly cited and most accessed papers and information on submitting papers to the Journal. The web pages also have links to follow the Journal on Facebook and Twitter.

The Journal page on Facebook has 2,390 followers and on twitter, the Journal has 3,783 followers (these have risen by 22% and 11% respectively over the last 12 months). They are regularly updated with Journal news, updates, and interesting and useful links.

The ISI Journal Citation Report 2021 reports the Journal of Microscopy’s impact factor is 1.952 which is an increase on the 2020 impact factor of 1.758.

The Journal of Microscopy thanks the Scientific Editors for their hard work in 2022: Dr Kurt Anderson (Francis Crick Institute, UK), Dr Bert Hecht (University of Würzburg, Germany), Professor Carolyn Larabell (University of California, San Francisco, USA), Dr Richard Leapman (National Institutes of Health, USA), Professor Jian Liu (Harbin Institute of Technology, China), Professor Gail McConnell (University of Strathclyde, UK), Professor Pete Nellist (University of Oxford, UK), Dr Ulla Neumann (Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research, Germany), Professor Jens Randel Nyengaard (Aarhus University, Denmark) and Professor Mark Rainforth (University of Sheffield, UK).

infocus Magazine

Report by Dr Leandro Lemgruber, in focus Scientific Editor

In the year to December 2022 (including our December 2022 issue), in focus Magazine published four issues as standard, totalling more than 400 pages, all with colour images and attractive page layouts. There was a total of 18 Feature Articles and 27 Reports and other features, plus the Calendar, News, Journal of Microscopy information, new RMS Member Details and Corporate Member Profiles, New Product Information and Company News.

There was a total of 41 advertisements in 2022, which is in line with recent calendar years (47 – 2021, 44 – 2020, 36 – 2019, 33 – 2018, 36 – 2017, 38 – 2016, 36 – 2015, 40 – 2014).

Three of our 2021 Summer Studentship reports were included in the March 2022 issue, and the remaining four (including one report held over from 2020) featured in our June 2022 issue.

Our last three issues have also seen the return of ‘in-person’ event reports as face-to-face meetings, conferences and courses have resumed.

A wide range of other articles has been featured throughout the last 12 months, including a number of ‘general’ or ‘human interest’ articles such as interviews, historical pieces, commercial perspectives and more. Our series of interviews with microscopists who have a long association with the RMS also continues, with Dr Lynne Joyce featured in our March 2022 issue, and Past President Dr Gillian Bullock featured in our September 2022 issue.

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Report of the Board of Trustees for the year ended 31 December 2022 (Continued)

We are also nearing the completion of our ‘Meet the Staff’ feature, with almost all staff members now having featured. This provides members with an insight into the administration of the Society, and the roles, responsibilities and perspectives of the RMS staff. Additional content to promote the Journal of Microscopy is also regularly included, including the ‘Paper of the Quarter’ feature flagging up a particular paper of interest from a recent edition of the Journal.

During the summer, an online Readers’ Survey was conducted, seeking feedback from members about what they liked best about the magazine, and how they felt it could be improved. The submitted comments were overwhelmingly positive (more than 70 per cent), and a number of suggestions for new types of content are currently being followed up by the editorial board.

Preparations for in focus going fully online in March 2023 are now well advanced, with a full, online version of the magazine already available to view on our website. A series of newsletters has gone out to members, encouraging them to familiarise themselves with the new format, and informing them of the upcoming change. We have also sought to explain the background behind the decision to go online, and the financial and environmental benefits of doing so. While there has been some negative feedback regarding the loss of the printed magazine, there is also substantial support among RMS members for an online magazine. Of those who chose to comment on this issue in the Readers’ survey, the majority did so to raise concerns over the financial and environmental sustainability of continuing to produce a printed magazine.

Discussions with the magazine’s designer and printer, ImageWorks, are also progressing, in terms of how to deliver the best possible online experience for readers. This includes maximising the potential for ‘smart links’ (within e.g. article references and adverts) and video content. We are also working with our designer to make the online content as accessible as possible to readers who may be visually impaired. This includes embedding a ‘logical reading order’ for any members using a screen reader, ‘ALT’ descriptions for images, and appropriate colour schemes within the page design.

During the summer, we welcomed two new members to the editorial board; Trevor Almeida (Engineering, Physical and Materials Sciences Committee) and Hilary Sandig (Flow Cytometry Committee). We also said goodbye to Emily Eden, who decided to step down after several years on the Board, and Rhiannon Heard, who joined as Early Career Representative in 2020. We look forward to working with Trevor and Hilary in the coming months, and thank Emily and Rhiannon for all their input over the last few years.

The current in focus Editorial Board is as follows:

RMS-Wiley Handbook Series

Report by Professor Susan Brooks, Book Series Editor

The RMS-Wiley Handbook Series continues to be well received. Despite book sales in print being impacted by COVID-19, online usage of content is holding up well at this time, and e-book sales have seen an uplift as people access more content electronically rather than in print.

Dr Joelle Goulding is currently working on a project to update and republish the original RMS Book Series Handbook – Dictionary of Light Microscopy. This collaborative project is in the editing stage and discussions are being undertaken as to the final form of the publication.

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Report of the Board of Trustees for the year ended 31 December 2022 (Continued)

A number of positive discussions are currently taking place regarding possible further titles, and the Society is appealing via the website, social media and communications with members, for other potential authors to come forward with their ideas.

The series has seen four new books produced since 2017, though no new publications have been released since 2019. That year saw the publication of Dr Bruno Humbel and Dr Roland Fleck’s two-volume set - ‘Biological Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy’, and Mr Jeremy Sanderson’s ‘Understanding Light Microscopy’ - a longawaited and seminal microscopy text. It also saw the release of Correlative Light Electron Microscopy (CLEM) by Professor Paul Verkade and Dr Lucy Collinson (Eds).

Published to date:

Website and Social Media

Report by Lucy Ridler and Owen Morton, RMS Staff

The RMS Website and Social Media presence continue to be increasingly important tools in the promotion of Events, Society News and Outreach Activities.

To date, during 2022, the RMS has welcomed almost 82,000 visitors, which is slightly lower than the same period last year. We are still attracting an international audience with only 34% the visitors to the website coming from the UK. The United States have provided over 30% of our traffic for the year to date and the remaining 36% of traffic has come from all over the world including Germany, India, Israel, Belgium and China.

The page views analytics show how the current most popular pages are our event calendar, specific event pages, and increasingly the login and membership pages.

With the CRM system now firmly established, we are continuing to see users log into the website to access restricted content like the online version of in focus magazine.

Alongside our main website, we have several mini-sites running: www.mmc-series.org.uk (which we are beginning to repopulate with information about the 2023 event) www.emc2020.org.uk (which holds the abstract database from the Virtual Early Career European Microscopy Congress 2020 event held in November 2020) and www.elmi2021.org, (which operated successfully in the lead-up to and during the event in June 2021).

We also have a mini-site for ACEM (for the Association of Clinical Electron Microscopists), which is designed and ready to go live, alongside a membership package as part of the CRM.

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Report of the Board of Trustees for the year ended 31 December 2022 (Continued)

The RMS, the Journal and mmc-series all have active social media accounts with Twitter being the most popular platform in terms of followers, compared with Facebook and LinkedIn. The RMS Twitter account has grown considerably in popularity during 2022, and continues to attract large numbers of new followers.

The total number of followers now stands at 6,191 (as at 28/11/22) – an increase of more than 1,000 followers over the last 18 months. A large number of posts was published on 29 September to celebrate the winners of the latest RMS awards. This led to a huge upsurge in engagement with the RMS twitter account and a large number of new followers over just a few days.

Numbers for the mmc-series Twitter account have levelled out due to inactivity, but this account has recently come back into use once again as we start the promotional push for mmc 2023. Meanwhile the RMS LinkedIn account’s audience has grown to 3,101 followers, and the RMS Facebook has enjoyed a recent upsurge, with a total of 2,497.

The Society Instagram account launched in July 2018 and now has more than 4,100 followers, with individual posts regularly receiving around 50 - 100 ‘likes’ and numerous comments.

Financial Review

Report by Mr Rod Shipley, Honorary Treasurer

Foreword

These accounts have been prepared in accordance with the Charity Commission Statement of Recommended Practice which was updated in 2019. In accordance with these guidelines, indirect or support costs are allocated to each charitable activity based on the percentage of income provided by the particular charitable activity, eg if an activity generates 20% of the annual income, then 20% of indirect costs will be apportioned to the activity. In this way an accurate representation of the costs of activities can be presented.

A flagship event (Microscience Microscopy Congress – mmc) is staged every two ‘odd’ years, so whilst a comparison of income between years is straightforward, a comparison of expenditure requires a level of understanding and interpretation. This is because the percentages used to apportion indirect costs change from year to year, i.e. expenditure on ‘meetings and courses’ will include a larger proportion of indirect costs in a non mmc year.

Overall

The Society received incoming resources of £1.402M compared to £1.160M in 2021. The Investec managed portfolio of listed investments had a value at the end of 2022 of £3.463M (2021: £3.949M). The overall value of the Society’s funds, including the property and other investments at the end of 2022 was £5.193M (2021: £5.768M).

When viewing the 2022 accounts, the following points should also be noted:

During the course of the year, the designated funds (portions of the Society’s free reserves that are ring-fenced) were used to support activities in the area of its Outreach programme. The value of the designated funds and the expenditure charged to them appears in the accounts and provides the reader with a picture of expenditure in these areas (see note 18).

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Report of the Board of Trustees for the year ended 31 December 2022 (Continued)

Generated funds

The Society owns the St Clements building in Oxford and leases the ground floor to a restaurant. During 2015 a new lease was negotiated which expires in 2039. Rent receivable has increased from £11K in 2021 to £24K in 2022 as rent relief was provided to support tenants and the restaurant during the Covid-19 Pandemic.

Investment income in 2022 was £92K (2021: £67K) which includes bank interest and interest from the charity property fund of £4,702 (2021: £62). The cost of generating these funds was £43K (2021: £44K).

Charitable activities

Meetings and Courses

During the year, the RMS returned to in-person events following the Covid-19 pandemic. The RMS managed to support the community with a combination of in-person and virtual events with a full calendar of RMS events. The total income from Meetings was £142K (2021: £125K), and income from courses was £69K (2021: £31K). Expenditure on Meetings was £367K (2021: £210K). Expenditure on Courses was £111K (2021: £26K), please note, this expenditure includes an allocated contribution to RMS salaries and overheads.

The Society’s policy on meetings and courses is that the income from a meeting should at least meet the direct costs of that meeting, and courses should try to return a surplus on direct costs (but excluding direct staff time). Once the indirect costs are apportioned, meetings and courses made a deficit with expenditure exceeding income by £267K (2021: £80K deficit). A breakdown of direct and indirect costs for meetings and courses can be found in Note 8 of the accounts.

Subscriptions

Income from membership subscriptions increased to £111K (2021: £108K) during 2022. We are grateful for the support given to us by our Corporate Members.

Publications

The Society publishes the internationally recognised Journal of Microscopy and the membership magazine, in focus . In addition, we have back issues of the Journal of Microscopy dating from 1841 available through Wiley online. Together they generated income of £651K (2021: £654K) with expenditure of £554K (2021: £467K). For many years the RMS has relied on the funds generated from the Journal of Microscopy to financially support the activities of the Society. The drive towards Open Access (OA) has put the Society at risk of a reduction in revenue from the Journal of Microscopy. The Society is now experiencing a steady decrease in income from the Journal, which could decrease to approximately 255K by 2026. The Executive Committee have produced working groups to review the following areas:

Outreach

Outreach income of £510 (2021: £697) was received which is largely generated by the sale of microscopes to enthusiasts. These microscopes are donated to the Society by organisations and universities when they become surplus to requirements. They are then restored and sold on by Dr Peter Evennett Hon FRMS, Dr Chris Hammond FRMS and Mr Chris Kennedy FRMS. The Society continues to be indebted to all of them for their time and expertise in generating this income. Efforts continue, via articles in in focus , to publicise this activity and to encourage organisations to donate redundant and unwanted microscopes to the Society.

Donations and grants

The level of donations and grants expended was £313K (2021: £18K), which includes expenditure on the Microscope Activity Kits and travel bursaries awarded to members. The considerable increase in comparison to

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Report of the Board of Trustees for the year ended 31 December 2022 (Continued)

2021 is because in 2022 the RMS awarded BioImaging Business Interaction Vouchers totalling £291K, which was a scheme funded by BBSRC.

Governance costs

Governance costs were £52K (2021: £28K), comprising costs incurred for meetings of Council, professional fees (including the auditors fee), and a proportion of office costs. The 2022 figure is 3.7% (2021: 2.4%) of income.

Investment Policy

General

The Trustees of the Royal Microscopical Society have appointed Investec Wealth and Investment to manage the portfolio of the Society on a discretionary basis. This Investment Policy provides a framework under which the appointed investment managers should operate. The Investment Managers should take into account the general nature of the Royal Microscopical Society and its principals and not knowingly make investments that may compromise the position of the Society.

Objective

The objective of the investment portfolio is to provide a return over and above UK inflation as measured by UK RPI (Retail Price Index) over a long-term time horizon in addition of 10 years. The Trustees authorise the use of multiple asset classes in order to achieve these returns in a risk adjusted manner.

Weighting

In line with the medium risk mandate the Trustees would expect the investment manager to be within the following weightings, except under exceptional circumstances;

Medium risk Balanced

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Fixed Interest
Equities
Commercial
Property
Alternative
Investments
Cash
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
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The above chart details the asset classes in which the portfolio is to be invested and the likely weightings within each asset class. As markets are dynamic we will employ two types of asset allocation. The strategic asset allocation is the default neutral position for the portfolio weightings which we would adopt when conditions are normal or when there is no anticipated advantage in moving away from this position. This is represented by the middle line in each bar. As we rarely experience normal economic conditions then we employ a second much shorter term asset allocation called tactical asset allocation. The tactical position can be set either side of the strategic position but within the maximum and minimum boundaries set out above in each asset class.

Risk

The Trustees are comfortable with a moderate risk profile and are aware that the portfolio will be subject to short term volatility given the exposure to capital markets. The diversification between asset classes should provide a smoother medium to long term risk adjusted return and lower volatility.

Liquidity

It is the expectation of the Trustees that the portfolio will remain invested in liquid assets which are either quoted on a regulated exchange, UCITS (Undertakings for the Collective Investment in Transferable Securities) compliant or readily realisable in an orderly manner. Should there be a future reduction in other income streams,

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Report of the Board of Trustees for the year ended 31 December 2022 (Continued)

the Society would rely on increased income from the portfolio to support future charitable activities of the Society, and there would then be a change of emphasis between capital growth and income.

Benchmarks

The Trustees would like to be provided with two measures from which to judge the portfolio performance. Firstly the MSCI WMA (Morgan Stanley Capital International Wealth Management Association) balanced index and secondly UK RPI plus 2.5%.

Performance & Reporting

The investment manager should provide live, online access to the Trustees, provide quarterly valuations and attend the appropriate meetings of the Trustees where required. At least annually the strategic asset allocation should be visited and its suitability confirmed by the Trustees. A review of the long-term performance should be undertaken every five years.

Voting

The investment manager will exercise, where considered appropriate, voting rights on behalf of the Trustees taking into account the general nature of the Charity.

Investment Performance

As at the 31 December 2022 the total value of the Society’s investments were £3,782,695 (2021: £4,268,505), the majority of this is held in an Investec managed mixed portfolio and £320,000 represents the value of the Charity’s freehold property let out to a third party. A breakdown of the investment portfolio can be found within note 14.

Reserves Policy

The current reserves policy is:

“The reserve will be sufficient to confront the risks (recorded within the Risk Register) that the Society is exposed to. These include those associated with the charitable activities. In addition to expenditure commitments for the annual meetings and courses, The Society makes a major commitment two years in advance of its flagship meeting Microscience Microscopy Congress (mmc), so that in any one year the sum approaches £1,000,000.

The Society is also exposed to risks associated with being an employer, e.g. legislation and litigation.

The Society relies on sources of significant income (the Journal of Microscopy and its investments) that are particularly vulnerable to external factors.

The Society has a risk register and acknowledges the financial risk to the Society from reduced and/or curtailed income sources, e.g. Journal of Microscopy, investments and events (fewer people attending conferences as a result of a poor economic climate).

The Journal provides an operating surplus of approximately £480K so if there were to be a loss of revenue from the Journal in the future due to changes in publication models for scientific journals, provision should be made for this additional amount each year from investments to cover the potential loss.

The Society’s reserves therefore need to be sufficient to allow it to operate and adapt for a minimum of twenty-four months in the event of cessation of income from these sources and thereafter if it ceased to be financially viable to meet its commitments to staff. Twenty-four months running costs equate to around £1.62 million (not including direct costs on activities). Running costs including all direct costs less Journal income would be approximately £2.47 million.

Increasing our Reserves to thirty-six months has been discussed at various Executive meetings. This will continue to be reviewed at the annual Executive Strategy meeting.

In 2022 - 2023 the Society’s commitment to growth – described within its rolling five-year strategy – will continue with its ambitious Outreach & Education projects and will continue to draw on some of its reserves. The rolling strategy also requires us to make improvements to the building and also the IT and infrastructure.

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Report of the Board of Trustees for the year ended 31 December 2022 (Continued)

Plans for the future include marketing the Societies expertise in organising conferences and exhibitions, increase membership, making investments in growing the appeal of in focus magazine and running of the 100 Microscope Activity Kit loan scheme for the foreseeable future at a cost of approximately £25K per year.”

The Society’s unrestricted funds consist of the accumulated fund and the capital fund. The accumulated fund represents the Society’s reserves that have not been assigned to any other funds. At 31 December 2022, the balance of this fund was £624K (2021: £696K). The capital fund represents the society's interest in investments and the freehold property. The cost of investment management is shown as a charge against the capital fund and similarly the depreciation cost on freehold property has been charged to the capital fund. At 31 December 2022, the balance of this fund was £4.449M (2021: £4.962M).

The Society’s designated funds consist of the Building Fund £29.5K (2021: £24K), Outreach Fund £19.5K (2021: £24K) and IT Fund £52K (2021: £47.5K). The Building Fund was set up to fund future repairs, maintenance and improvements to the offices, flat and restaurant. The Outreach Fund was set up to support any activities in the area of its Outreach program. The IT Fund was set up to fund future improvements to IT database.

The Society currently has sufficient funds available to meet the requirements set out in the reserves policy, and a proportion of the Investment Portfolio can be made available if required. The unrestricted funds available currently stand at £5.174M which exceeds the running costs set out in the reserves policy. The running costs do vary on an annual basis and can increase with the commitment to the organisation of a large conference. For example, the running costs within the reserves policy, prior to the impact of the covid-19 pandemic, stood at £3.98M. The Executive Committee is also monitoring increasing the reserves to 36 months, which is reviewed at the annual Executive Strategy Meeting, as the commitment to secure a large venue is usually required up to four years in advance.

The Society has two restricted funds detailed in Note 19.

Public Benefit

The Trustees’ Annual Report describes the activities undertaken to further the Society’s charitable purposes for the public benefit. Particular highlights of the Society’s public benefit activities include the provision of the Microscope Activity Kits, which are lent to Primary Schools for a school term at a time, free-of-charge, and include microscopes and activities which are linked to the school curriculum. These kits are booked out up to a year in advance and so far have benefited nearly 135,000 primary school children, encouraging them to have an interest in science at an early age. The Society has also supported the logistics and transportation of two tabletop SEMs and X-Ray Microanalysis Equipment to Secondary Schools around the UK in a scheme which is also supported by the Natural History Museum, Hitachi Scientific, Oxford Instruments and IRIS (The Institute for Research in Schools).

At the other end of the scale the Society organises a wide range of training courses and scientific meetings for research scientists. The courses provide training to scientists to enable them to get the best possible results from using their microscopes, image analysis software and flow cytometers in their research, in teaching at various Universities, and in Industry. The Scientific Meetings provide a forum for cutting edge science networking and discussion, which attendees take back to their colleagues to work on and further develop their scientific research. The Society provides bursaries to enable scientists to attend these meetings.

The Trustees have considered the Charities Commission’s requirement in respect of Public Benefit. In their view the charity meets, in full, the criteria to satisfy the test. The Trustees’ annual report further describes the activities undertaken to further its charitable purposes for the public benefit.

Covid-19 Continued Impact and Response

Since March 2020, the Trustees have been naturally concerned about the impact on the employees, members, sponsors and suppliers of the Society and have been assessing what those impacts might be on an ongoing basis. The charity is well placed in terms of business continuity, being ISO 27001 accredited, and initiated several actions to enable RMS staff members team to continue working safely, such as working from home and using technology to hold virtual meetings rather than face-to-face meetings.

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Report of the Board of Trustees for the year ended 31 December 2022 (Continued)

We have continued to closely monitor the impact of Covid-19 on all of our activities and returned to ‘in-person’ events in the Summer of 2022. In addition to the return of in-person events we are continuing to provide virtual meetings to enable participation from all around the world. Some events have also been ‘hybrid’ and our AGM in

September 2022 was attended by the same number of people virtually as ‘in-person’, as part of an excellent ‘hybrid’ experience. We continue to review alternative vehicles for all our meetings to ensure we continue to meet the needs of the microscopy, imaging and flow cytometry community.

Plans for the Future

General

The Society’s finances are inextricably linked with the performance of its investments, the Journal of Microscopy and its other charitable activities. Our Strategy Meetings continue to explore the impact and mitigate the potential income loss of the anticipated move of the Journal to open access, as well the uncertainty of the financial markets which have been affected by the war in Ukraine. Ways of increasing income and decreasing expenditure continue to be explored by the Trustees.

The long-term strategy is to keep the number of Microscope Activity Kits to a maximum of 100 to enable us to ensure that the high standard of distribution procedures and the quality of the Kits can be maintained. A group are reviewing the Kits to see where any improvements can be made to what the Society provides.

We will also continue to run a broad range of topical meetings, both virtual and ‘in-person’, to raise our profile within the scientific community and provide additional resources to improve the public understanding of science and microscopy. Our commitment to Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Accessibility (EDIA) has become part of our everyday activities with the launch of our EDIA policy in September 2022, and this policy will continue to evolve in the future.

Generated funds

The restaurant will be leased to the existing tenant until 2039 and rent for the restaurant will continue to be charged at the market rate with regular rent reviews. The flat is not rented out through a letting agent, but may be rented on an ad hoc basis.

On-going repairs and maintenance to the building will continue to be funded from the designated Building Fund. The Society will continue to explore ways of maximising investment income (within the boundaries of the Investment Policy) and will work closely with its investment manager and bankers to maximise returns on cash holdings.

Charitable activities

During 2023 there will be both ‘in-person’ and virtual events taking place. The LM Facility Managers Meeting, Flow Cytometry Facilities Meeting and EM-UK will all take place ‘in-person’ for the first time since January 2020. The Electron Backscatter Diffraction (EBSD) Meeting, Botanical Microscopy Meeting and Microscopy of Semiconducting Materials Meeting will all take place ‘in-person’ in the Spring of 2023 in Leeds, Norwich and Cambridge respectively. We will also continue to run the virtual International Microscopy Lecture Series in collaboration with our international colleagues in IFSM, Canada, Israel and Brazil.

We are running the virtual Facility Managers Training Course in March and a new hybrid ‘All things Cryo’ Course will be taking place in Nottingham and also online. The LM Summer School, Confocal Course and EM Spring School will all take place ‘in-person’ for the first time since 2019, and we’re very much looking forward to these courses all starting again! A Flow Cytometry Course will also be taking place ‘in-person’ in the Autumn.

The Microscience Microscopy Congress and EMAG (mmc2023 and EMAG) will be making a very welcome return to Manchester Central in July 2023, with RMS committee members, scientific researchers, exhibiting companies all anticipating a successful event and reunion of the microscopy, imaging and flow community.

The Society has also won a bid to organise elmi in Liverpool in 2024 which is a great opportunity to showcase the expertise the Society has in organising events.

We will try to increase our current membership numbers by keeping subscription rates low, with just a very small increase in rates for 2023. We have also introduced some new membership categories as well as a reduced rate

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Report of the Board of Trustees for the year ended 31 December 2022 (Continued)

for developing nations. As in focus will be online only from March 2023, the membership benefits will be more easily available to members from all around the world. We will also continue to encourage Early Career Researchers to join the Society. With the return to more ‘in-person’ events we will be recruiting new members at our own events, and attending other events to promote both RMS membership and the Society in general. Membership benefits will continue to be reviewed on a regular basis.

The quality of the Journal of Microscopy has enabled us to maintain income similar to previous years, though this has started to reduce. On-line subscriptions will continue to replace hardcopy subscriptions and the digitized back issues of the Journal continue to be popular though at a reduced level, but still providing in the short term an additional income stream. Developments in Open Access publishing will continue to be monitored carefully by the Trustees and Wiley the publishers.

The well-established in focus will be online only from March 2023 and we will concentrate on including more scientific, technical and tutorial articles. We are continuing to promote in focus to organisations as a vehicle to advertise scientific instruments via online weblinks etc.

We have been putting additional resources into Social Media as it is proving to be a tool widely used within the scientific community to communicate more effectively and in a more instantaneous way. Our followers on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn increase steadily each month and this helps us to promote the Society, engage with our members and the wider community. Our website has been updated, which has already improved functionality and made it more interactive. The membership CRM has been successfully implemented and works alongside Pixl8 (the RMS website company), ensuring an efficient and customer-friendly online registration system for all RMS events.

During 2023 it is hoped that there will be a return to ‘in-person’ outreach activities, and the Learning Zone at mmc2023 will be part of this. We will continue to work with third parties to broaden the reach of the Kits and the tabletop SEM further. The Diploma programme will continue to be supported to ensure that all candidates receive a good experience as they work towards achieving the qualification. A Chartered Microscopist status will also be explored further and hopefully developed for implementation in 2024.

The Society has had another very busy and challenging year in 2022 and in addition to running events and other charitable activities during the continuing Covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine, has continued to implement improvements to the IT and infrastructure on which it relies.

Having been awarded the ISO27001 standard, we will ensure that sufficient resources are available to maintain this, by ensuring that policies and procedures are followed to ensure continued best practice in providing adequate data security to protect the Society from breaches in cyber security. With the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) being implemented on 25 May 2018, we adapted our working practices to ensure that all new requirements are being met. We will continue to improve the ISO 27001 system and ensure compliance with GDPR.

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Report of the Board of Trustees for the year ended 31 December 2022 (Continued)

Trustees’ responsibilities in relation to the financial statements

The trustees (who are also directors of The Royal Microscopical Society for the purposes of company law) 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).

Company law 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 charitable company and of the incoming resources and application of resources, including the income and expenditure, of the charitable company for that period. In preparing these financial statements, the trustees are required to:

The trustees are responsible for keeping adequate accounting records that disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charitable company and enable them to ensure that the financial statements

comply with the Companies Act 2006. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charitable company 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 corporate and financial information included on the charitable company’s website. Legislation in the United Kingdom governing the preparation and dissemination of financial statements may differ from legislations in other jurisdictions.

In so far as the Trustees are aware:

Approved by the Trustees on 3 May 2023 and signed on their behalf by:

Professor G Burke President

ROD SHIPLEY

ROD SHIPLEY (May 13, 2023 11:09 GMT+1)

Mr R Shipley Honorary Treasurer

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ROYAL MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETY

Independent Auditor’s Report to the Members of Royal Microscopical Society

Opinion

We have audited the financial statements of Royal Microscopical Society (the ‘charitable company’) for the year ended 31 December 2022 which comprise of the statement of financial activities, balance sheet, cash flow statement and notes to the financial statements, including a summary of significant accounting policies. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including FRS 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:

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’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements section of our report. We are independent of the charitable company 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 charitable company’s ability to continue as a going concern for a period of at least 12 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 trustees are responsible for the other information. The other information comprises the information included in the report of the trustees, other than the financial statements and our auditor’s report thereon. Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information and, except to the extent otherwise explicitly stated in our report, we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon.

In connection with our audit of the financial statements, 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 audit or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If we identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, we are required to determine whether there is a material misstatement in the financial statements or a material misstatement of the other information. 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.

We have nothing to report in this regard.

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Independent Auditor’s Report to the Members of Royal Microscopical Society

Opinions on matters prescribed by the Companies Act 2006

In our opinion, based on the work undertaken in the course of the audit:

Matters on which we are required to report by exception

In the light of our knowledge and understanding of the charitable company and its environment obtained in the course of the audit, we have not identified material misstatements in the trustees’ report.

We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the Companies Act 2006 requires us to report to you if, in our opinion:

Responsibilities of trustees

As explained more fully in the trustees’ responsibilities statement set out on page 22, the trustees (who are also the directors of the charitable company for the purposes of company law) 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 charitable company’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 charitable company or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.

Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements

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 specific procedures for this engagement and the extent to which these are capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud is detailed below:

Our assessment focussed on key laws and regulations the charitable company has to comply with and areas of the financial statements we assessed as being more susceptible to misstatement. These key laws and regulations included but were not limited to compliance with the Companies Act 2006, Charities Act 2011, Charities (Protection and Social Investment) Act 2016, taxation legislation, data protection, anti-bribery and employment legislation.

24

ROYAL MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETY

Independent Auditor’s Report to the Members and Trustees of Royal Microscopical Society

Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements (continued)

We are not responsible for preventing irregularities. Our approach to detecting irregularities included, but was not limited to, the following:

Whilst considering how our audit work addressed the detection of irregularities, we also considered the likelihood of detection based on our approach. Irregularities arising from fraud are inherently more difficult to detect than those arising from error.

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 Financial Reporting Council’s website at: www.frc.org.uk/auditorsresponsibilities. This description forms part of our auditor’s report.

Use of our report

This report is made solely to the charitable company’s members, as a body, in accordance with Chapter 3 of Part 16 of the Companies Act 2006. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the charitable company’s members 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 charitable company and the charitable company’s members as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.

Glen Bott FCA

Senior Statutory Auditor for and on behalf of:

Cooper Parry Group Limited

Statutory Auditor Cubo Birmingham Office 401, 4[th] Floor Two Chamberlain Square Birmingham B3 3AX

Date: 3 May 2023

25

ROYAL MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETY

Statement of financial activities for the year ended 31 December 2022

Note
Income and endowments from:
Donations and legacies
3
Charitable activities
4
Other trading activities
5
Investments
6
Total
Expenditure on:
Raising funds
7
Charitable activities
8
Other expenditure
Total
Gains/(Losses) on investment
assets
14
Net income/(Expenditure)
Gains on revaluation of fixed
assets
Net movement in funds
Reconciliation of funds
Total funds brought forward at 1
January 2022
Total funds carried forward at
31 December 2022		 Unrestricted
funds
£
8,081
973,158
24,007
92,027

1,097,273
42,758

1,179,422
1,884

1,224,064

(451,679)

(578,470)

-

(578,470)

5,752,799

5,174,329		 Restricted
funds
£
-

305,103

-

-


305,103

-

301,242

-

301,242
-

3,861
-

3,861
15,303

19,164		 2022
Total
£
8,081
1,278,261
24,007
92,027
1,402,376
42,758
1,480,664
1,884
1,525,306
(451,679)
(574,609)
-
(574,609)
5,768,102
5,193,493		 2021
Total
£
7,327
1,073,234
11,696
67,419
1,159,676
43,701
1,048,880
2,183
1,094,764
434,810
499,722
384,226
883,948
4,884,154
5,768,102

The statement of financial activities includes all gains and losses recognised in the year.

All incoming resources and resources expended derive from continuing activities.

The notes on pages 29 to 41 form part of these Financial Statements.

26

ROYAL MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETY

Balance sheet at 31 December 2022

Company Number: RC000353

Note
Fixed assets
Tangible assets
13
Listed investments
14
Current assets
Debtors
15
Cash at bank and in hand
16
Creditors
Amounts falling due within one year
17
Net current assets
Net assets
The funds of the charity
Restricted income funds
19
Unrestricted income funds
18
Total charity funds		 2022
£
666,309
3,782,695
4,449,004
332,764
806,538
1,139,302
(394,813)
744,489
5,193,493
19,164
5,174,329
5,193,493		 2021
£
693,291
4,268,505
4,961,796
194,698
755,516
950,214
(143,908)
806,306
5,768,102
15,303
5,752,799
**5,768,102 **

Approved by the Council on 3 May 2023 and signed on their behalf by:

Professor G Burke President

ROD SHIPLEY

ROD SHIPLEY (May 13, 2023 11:09 GMT+1)

Mr R Shipley Honorary Treasurer

The notes on pages 29 to 41 form part of these financial statements.

27

ROYAL MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETY

Cash flow Statement at 31 December 2022

Note
Cash flows from operating activities
25
Cash flows from investing activities
26
Change in cash & cash equivalents in the
reporting period
Cash & cash equivalents at the beginning of
the reporting period
27
Cash and cash equivalents at the end of
the reporting period
27		 2022
£
(65,842)
116,864
51,022
755,516
806,538		 2021
£
41,902
100,946
142,848
612,668
755,516

28

ROYAL MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETY

Notes to the Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2022

1. Accounting policies

Charity information

Royal Microscopical Society is a Charity registered in England and Wales No.241990. The Society is incorporated as a Royal Charter company (RC000353), domiciled in England and registered in England and Wales. The Charity’s principal address is: 37/38 St Clements Street, Oxford, OX4 1AJ.

a) Basis of preparation

The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention, modified to include the revaluation of certain fixed assets. The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the Statement of Recommended Practice: Accounting and Reporting by Charities (SORP 2019) effective from 1 January 2019, preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) and the Charities Act 2011.

The society meets the definition of a public benefit entity as defined by FRS 102 so has applied the specific “PBE” prefixed paragraphs of FRS 102. Assets and liabilities are initially recognised at historical cost or transaction value unless otherwise stated in the relevant accounting policy note(s).

The financial statements have been prepared for the Society as a single entity.

The financial statements are denominated in sterling, which is the Society’s functional currency, and are rounded to the nearest whole pound.

The preparation of financial statements in compliance with FRS 102 requires the use of certain critical accounting estimates. It also requires management to exercise judgement in applying the Society’s accounting policies (see note 2).

b) Going concern

During 2022, the RMS returned to in-person meetings following the global Coronavirus pandemic which had a significant economic impact globally throughout 20/21. The Society has adapted its approach to meetings and running a combination of in-person and virtual events during 2022. During the pandemic, the virtual events allowed the RMS to reach a number of countries and increased its global reach. This virtual presence has been maintained to ensure this global reach is not lost.

A war has broken out between Ukraine and Russia which is impacting the global community. It is clear there will continue to be a significant level of uncertainty in all markets around the world for a sustained period of time. However, the Trustees believe the society is well placed through the uncertain times caused by the Coronavirus pandemic and war due to the revenue generated from the Journal of Microscopy and Membership, which is unaffected by these factors. The war in Ukraine has impacted the cost of living with inflation increasing to record highs during 2022.

The Royal Microscopical Society has a strong cash position, and the majority of its funds are unrestricted funds. The society reviewed its expenditure during 2020/21 to reduce the cost base where feasible, which offset the majority of the reduction in income.

On this basis the trustees are confident at present that the society has adequate resources to continue in operation and, accordingly, have adopted the going concern basis in preparing the financial statements.

c) Listed investments & investment properties

Listed investments are stated at market value at the year end.

Gains and losses on disposal and revaluation of investments are charged or credited to the SOFA. Realised gains and losses on investments are calculated as the difference between sales proceeds and opening market value (or purchase date if later). Unrealised gains and losses are calculated as the difference between the market value at the year end and opening market value (or purchase date if later).

Investment properties are measured at fair value at each reporting date with changes in fair value recognised through the Statement of Financial Activities.

d) Tangible fixed assets

Fixed assets over £1,000 are capitalised at cost. Depreciation is provided on all tangible fixed assets to write off the cost, less estimated residual value of each asset, over its expected useful life.

29

ROYAL MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETY

Notes to the Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2022 (Continued)

The rates used for this purpose are as follows:

Freehold property : 2% straight line Flat fixtures and fittings : 20% to 33 ⅓% reducing balance Office equipment and fittings : 20% to 33 ⅓% straight line Microscopes : 10% straight line

Heritage assets

The society possesses an historical collection of microscopes and allied equipment. Any market valuation of the collection is indeterminable due to the age and a lack of accurate financial information relating to the individual items making up such a collection. Therefore, no value has been included in the tangible fixed assets included in these financial statements in relation to this collection. The collection is presently in the care of the History of Science Museum within the University of Oxford.

e) Pensions

The Society contributes to a defined contribution pension scheme. The assets are held separately from those of the society in independently administered funds. The contributions are charged to the statement of financial activities on a payable basis. The contributions paid are shown in note 12.

f) Fund accounting

The society maintains various types of funds as follows:

General funds are unrestricted funds which are available for use at the discretion of the trustees in furtherance of the objectives of the charity and which have not been designated for other purposes.

Designated funds comprise unrestricted funds that have been set aside by the trustees for particular purposes.

Restricted funds are funds which are to be used in accordance with specific restrictions imposed by donors or which have been raised by the society for particular purposes.

g) Income

All incoming resources are recognised once the charity has entitlement to the resources, it is probable that the resources will be received and the monetary value of incoming resources can be measured with sufficient reliability.

Deferred income represents amounts received for future periods and is released to incoming resources in the period for which it has been received.

h) Resources expended

Liabilities are recognised as resources expended as soon as there is a legal or constructive obligation committing the society to the expenditure. All expenditure is accounted for on an accruals basis and has been classified under headings that aggregate all costs related to the heading.

Expenditure on raising funds are those costs involved in attracting voluntary income and those associated with the management of the investment portfolio.

Expenditure on charitable activities includes expenditure associated with the production of publications, organisation of meetings and courses and the processing of grants.

Governance costs include those incurred in the governance of the society and its assets and are primarily associated with constitutional and statutory requirements.

Support costs represent the costs incurred by staff directly providing support for the production of publications, meetings and other activities that further the charity’s objects. Support costs that cannot directly be allocated to activity cost categories are then apportioned on a basis consistent with the proportion of incoming resources for charitable activities.

i) Foreign currencies

Transactions in foreign currencies are recorded using the rate of exchange ruling at the date of transaction. Monetary assets and liabilities denominated in foreign currencies are translated using the rate of exchange ruling at the balance sheet date and the gains or losses on translation are included in the income and expenditure account.

30

ROYAL MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETY

Notes to the Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2022 (Continued)

j) Operating leases

Rentals payable in respect of an operating lease are charged on a straight line basis over the term of the lease.

k) Financial instruments

The charity only has financial assets and financial liabilities of a kind that qualify as basic financial instruments. Basic financial instruments are initially recognised at transaction value and subsequently measures at their settlement value.

2. Judgements

In preparing the Financial Statements, trustees are required to make estimates and assumptions which affect reported income, expenses, assets, liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities. Use of available information and application of judgement are inherent in the formation of estimates, together with expectations of future events that are believed to be reasonable under the circumstances. Actual results in the future could differ from such estimates.

There are not considered to be any significant judgements or estimates other than the valuation placed on the heritage assets and freehold property (see below). These heritage assets are carried at nil value on the basis that the value of these assets is impossible to estimate, due to their unique nature.

The society carries its freehold property at fair value, with changes in fair value being recognised in the Statement of Financial Activities. The society engaged independent valuation specialists to determine fair value at 31 December 2021. Some of the key assumptions used to determine the fair value of these assets are based on the valuer’s knowledge and experience of the market and values of similar properties, which could be deemed subjective. In between formal revaluations the Trustees assess the carrying value of the freehold property. The society’s property is mixed-use and an apportionment must be made between Investment Property and Property, Plant and Equipment on the basis of square foot used in each activity.

There is little estimation involved in determining the value of accruals and prepayments, as these are mostly based on supplier invoices etc. Depreciation rates are based on “industry” norms and experience of the life of assets.

3. Income from: Donations and legacies - unrestricted

. Income from: Donations and legacies - unrestricted
Donations
Other government grants – Furlough		 2022
£
8,081
-
8,081		 2021
£
3,041
4,286
7,327

Donations and legacies are the only income that the charity obtains from non-exchange transactions. There are no unfulfilled conditions or other contingencies attaching to resources from non-exchange transactions.

4. Income from: Charitable activities


Publications
Subscriptions
Meetings and courses income (see below)
Outreach
MMC Series
Grant income
Total 2021		 Unrestricted
funds

£
650,651
110,805
211,192
510
-
-
973,158
1,062,726		 Restricted
funds
£
-
-
-
-
-
305,103
305,103
10,508		 2022
Total
2021
Total
£
£
650,651
653,875
110,805
108,262
211,192
82,574
510
697
-
143,370
305,103
10,508
1,278,261 1,073,234
1,073,234

31

ROYAL MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETY

Notes to the Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2022 (Continued)

Meetings and courses income is made up as follows:
Meetings
Courses
5. Income from: Other trading activities - unrestricted
Rents receivable
Other income
6.
Income from: Investments
Unrestricted
funds
Restricted
funds
£
£
Bank interest receivable
4,702
Dividends
87,325
92,027
Total 2021
67,419
7. Expenditure on: Raising funds - unrestricted
Brokers’ management fees
8. Expenditure on: Charitable activities
Support
costs
Direct
costs
£
£
Publication costs
260,429
293,264
Subscriptions
46,051
35,881
Meetings
58,901
308,368
Courses
28,875
82,011
Outreach
211
5,218
MMC Series
-
-
Grants payable (note 9)
-
309,569
Governance costs
51,886
-
446,353
1,034,311
Total 2021:
339,412
709,468		 Restricted
funds
£		 2022
£
141,717
69,475
211,192
2022
£
24,007
-		 2022
£
141,717
69,475
211,192
2022
£
24,007
-		 2021
£
125,432
31,090
156,522
2021
£
11,000
696
11,696
24,007



-
-


2022
Total
£
4,702
87,325
92,027		 2021
Total
£
62
67,357
67,419
2021
Total
£
43,701
2021
Total
£
466,901
75,665
209,797
26,384
3,561
220,865
17,697
28,010
-
- 67,419
2022
Total
£
42,758
1,048,880

Included within Grants payable costs is £290,622 (2021: £Nil) of restricted expenditure which relates to the costs of the Bioimaging Business Interaction Vouchers. Full details of the fund can be found in note 19. Included within support costs is £10,620 (2021: £10,508) of restricted expenditure which relates to the costs of the BioImaging UK Community Network project.

32

ROYAL MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETY

Notes to the Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2022 (Continued)

9. Charitable activities
Grants payable are made up as follows:
Activity kit equipment and logistics
Donations and grants
Bioimaging Business Interaction Vouchers
10. Allocation of support costs
Publications
Subscriptions
& Membership
Meetings
& courses
Microscience Outreach
£
£
£
£
£
Office overheads
Rates
1,376
234
447
-
1
Heating and lighting
4,223
719
1,371
-
3
Insurance
5,145
876
1,670
-
4
Council and committee
general expenses
5,292
901
1,717
-
4
Printing and stationery
541
92
176
-
-
Advertising
991
169
322
-
1
Public Relations
-
-
-
-
-
Postage
201
34
65
-
-
IT Infrastructure
17,719
3,017
5,751
-
14
Telephone
2,731
465
887
-
2
Professional fees
938
160
304
-
1
Audit and accountancy
-
-
-
-
Legal and professional
-
-
-
-
-
Bookkeeping fees
2,211
376
717
-
1
Bank charges
5,522
940
1,792
-
3
Repairs and renewals
-
- Property
1,694
288
550
-
1
- Equipment
4,240
722
1,376
-
3
Depreciation
-
- Office
15,562
2,650
5,051
-
13
- Freehold property
8,691
1,480
2,821
-
8
Input VAT not
recovered
16,571
2,822
5,379
-
13
Catering
2,414
411
784
-
2
Parking
1,606
273
521
-
1
Staff training
1,745
297
566
-
1
Staff travel
415
71
135
-
-
Health insurance
1,353
230
439
-
1
Subscriptions
695
119
226
-
1
Exchange rate gain
(193)
(33)
(62)
-
-
Bad debts
(835)
(142)
(272)
-
(1)
Sponsorship
173
30
56
-
1
Recruitment
5,345
910
1,735
-
4
Other
2,499
426
811
-
2
Wages and Salaries
151,563
27,514
52,441
-
127
260,429
46,051
87,776
-
211
Total 2021:
187,750
32,742
47,338
43,360
212		 9. Charitable activities
Grants payable are made up as follows:
Activity kit equipment and logistics
Donations and grants
Bioimaging Business Interaction Vouchers
10. Allocation of support costs
Publications
Subscriptions
& Membership
Meetings
& courses
Microscience Outreach
£
£
£
£
£
Office overheads
Rates
1,376
234
447
-
1
Heating and lighting
4,223
719
1,371
-
3
Insurance
5,145
876
1,670
-
4
Council and committee
general expenses
5,292
901
1,717
-
4
Printing and stationery
541
92
176
-
-
Advertising
991
169
322
-
1
Public Relations
-
-
-
-
-
Postage
201
34
65
-
-
IT Infrastructure
17,719
3,017
5,751
-
14
Telephone
2,731
465
887
-
2
Professional fees
938
160
304
-
1
Audit and accountancy
-
-
-
-
Legal and professional
-
-
-
-
-
Bookkeeping fees
2,211
376
717
-
1
Bank charges
5,522
940
1,792
-
3
Repairs and renewals
-
- Property
1,694
288
550
-
1
- Equipment
4,240
722
1,376
-
3
Depreciation
-
- Office
15,562
2,650
5,051
-
13
- Freehold property
8,691
1,480
2,821
-
8
Input VAT not
recovered
16,571
2,822
5,379
-
13
Catering
2,414
411
784
-
2
Parking
1,606
273
521
-
1
Staff training
1,745
297
566
-
1
Staff travel
415
71
135
-
-
Health insurance
1,353
230
439
-
1
Subscriptions
695
119
226
-
1
Exchange rate gain
(193)
(33)
(62)
-
-
Bad debts
(835)
(142)
(272)
-
(1)
Sponsorship
173
30
56
-
1
Recruitment
5,345
910
1,735
-
4
Other
2,499
426
811
-
2
Wages and Salaries
151,563
27,514
52,441
-
127
260,429
46,051
87,776
-
211
Total 2021:
187,750
32,742
47,338
43,360
212		 2022
Total
£
7,968
10,979
290,622
309,569
Governance

£

-

-

-

26,740

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

12,000

3,146

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

10,000		 2021
Total
£
4,134
13,563
-
17,697
Total
2022
Total
2021
£
£

2,058
1,902

6,316
5,199

7,695
7,235
34,654
2,075
809
1,019

1,483
1,386

-
536

300
364

26,501
36,122

4,085
4,612

1,403
1,380
12,000
11,500
3,146
4,190

3,305
2,220

8,257
6,539

2,533
4,263

6,341
6,113

23,276
22,296

13,000
13,917

24,785
12,185

3,611
879

2,401
525

2,609
8,160

621
21

2,023
8,574

1,041
859

(288)
8,426

(1,250)
(4,600)

260
1,058

7,994
-

3,738
10,630
241,645
159,827
260,429
46,051
87,776
-
211
51,886		 446,353
339,412
339,412
187,750
32,742
47,338
43,360
212
28,010

The Society allocates its support costs as shown in the table above and then further apportions those costs between the charitable activities undertaken. Support costs are allocated on a basis consistent with the proportion of incoming resources for charitable activities.

33

ROYAL MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETY

Notes to the Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2022 (Continued)

10a. Governance costs

Support costs (note 10)
Wages
11. Net incoming resources
This is stated after charging:
Depreciation
Revaluation gains on tangible fixed assets
Auditors’ remuneration:
Audit services
Amounts payable under operating leases
Amounts receivable under operating leases
12. Staff costs
Staff costs during the year amounted to:
Salaries and wages
Social security costs
Pension costs		 2022
£
41,886
10,000		 2021
£
18,010
10,000
51,886 28,010
2022
£
36,276
-
12,000
3,237
24,000
2022
£
495,717
46,370
45,044
587,131		 2021
£
36,213
384,226
11,500
3,840
11,000
2021
£
484,733
43,724
46,334
574,791

The number of employees whose total employee benefits (excluding employer pension costs) exceeded £60,000 during the year was 2 (2021: 2). The emoluments they received were within £60,000 - £70,000 and £70,000-£80,000 (2021: £60,000-£70,000 and £70,000-£80,000).

The average number of employees analysed by function was:

Charitable activities
Governance
Total full time equivalent staff		 2022
14
3
17
13.5		 2021
14
3
17
14

The members of the Council of Management received no remuneration for their services (2021: £Nil).

During the year, members of the Council of Management were reimbursed for out of pocket expenses incurred during the course of their duties. The amounts incurred in out of pocket expenses and payable at the year end are detailed in note 24.

Key management personnel remuneration, including pension contributions, for the year ended 31 December 2022 totalled £219,652 (2021: £209,999).

Pension costs and liabilities have been assigned entirely to unrestricted funds on the basis that the amount of time spent by staff working on the activities associated with the restricted funds is minimal in proportion of time spent on unrestricted activities.

34

ROYAL MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETY

Notes to the Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2022 (Continued)

13. Tangible assets
Cost or valuation:
1 January 2022
Additions
Revaluations
Disposals
31 December 2022
Depreciation:
1 January 2022
Provided this year
Eliminated on disposals
31 December 2022
Net book value:
31 December 2022
31 December 2021		 Microscopes
£
47,046
-
-
-
47,046
27,827
2,402
-
30,229
16,817
19,219		 Freehold
property
£
650,000
-
-
-
650,000
-
13,000
-
13,000
637,000
650,000		 Office
equipment
and fittings
£
384,373
9,294
-
(143,515)
250,152
363,566
20,221
(143,515)
240,272
9,880
20,807		 Flat
fixtures
and fittings
£
35,863
-
-
-
35,863
32,598
653
-
33,251
2,612
3,265		 Total
£
1,117,282
9,294
-
(143,515)
983,061
423,991
36,276
(143,515)
316,752
666,309
693,291

In respect of certain fixed assets stated at valuations, the comparable historical cost and depreciation values are as follows:-

Net book value at end of year
Historical cost
At 1 January 2022
At 31 December 2022
Depreciation
At 1 January 2022
Charge for the year
At 31 December 2022
Net Historical cost value
At 31 December 2022
At 31 December 2021		 Freehold property
2022
2021
£
£
637,000
650,000
173,559
173,559
173,559
173,559
115,493
112,022
3,471
3,471
118,964
115,493
54,595
58,066
58,066
61,537		 Freehold property
2022
2021
£
£
637,000
650,000
173,559
173,559
173,559
173,559
115,493
112,022
3,471
3,471
118,964
115,493
54,595
58,066
58,066
61,537
173,559
173,559
112,022
3,471
115,493
58,066
61,537

A professional valuation of the freehold property, prepared by an independent chartered surveyor R Sherrott FRICS, was obtained in December 2021 which valued the property at an open market value of £650,000.

The trustees reviewed the carrying value of the freehold property at December 2022, in the intervening period between professional valuations. The trustees have concluded that there has been no change in the valuation of the property, subject to annual diminution in line with the Charity's depreciation policy.

35

ROYAL MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETY

Notes to the Financial Statements for the year
14. Fixed asset investments
Listed investments:
Market value 1 January 2022
Additions
Transferred from freehold property
Disposals
Realised losses on disposals
Unrealised gains
Movement in cash awaiting
investment
Market value 31 December 2022
Investments at market value
comprised:
Equities
UK fixed interest securities
Overseas fixed interest securities
Cash deposits
Alternative Assets
Property
Investment Property
Open ended investment fund		 ended 31 December 2022 (Continued)
2022 –
Investment
Property
2022 –
Listed
Investments
2022 –
Total
£
£
£
320,000
3,948,505
4,268,505
-
1,128,508
1,128,508
-
-
-
-
(964,210)
(964,210)
-
(128,169)
(128,169)
-
(323,510)
(323,510)
-
(198,429)
(198,429)
320,000
3,462,695
3,782,695
2022
£
2,256,022
354,745
209,095
38,096
441,023
100,765
320,000
62,949
3,782,695		 2021 –
Listed
Investments
£
3,556,621
573,187
320,000
(785,062)
51,246
383,564
168,949
4,268,505
2021
£
2,427,865
382,394
193,584
236,525
422,681
217,128
320,000
68,328
4,268,505
320,000
3,462,695

The trustees consider individual holdings at 31 December 2022 in excess of 5% of the portfolio value to be material. At 31 December 2022 there were no such holdings.

During 2022, World stock markets have experienced increased volatility and declines as a result of the impact of the Russo-Ukrainian war.

A professional valuation of the freehold property, prepared by an independent chartered surveyor R Sherrott FRICS, was obtained in December 2021 which valued the investment property at an open market value of £320,000. The trustees reviewed the carrying value of the freehold property at December 2022, in the intervening period between professional valuations. The trustees have concluded that there has been no change in the valuation of the property, subject to annual diminution in line with the Charity's depreciation policy.

Listed investments at cost
1 January 2022
Additions
Disposals
15. Debtors
Trade debtors
Prepayments and accrued income		 2022
£
2,645,577
1,128,508
(845,044)
2,929,041
2022
£
229,627
103,137
332,764		 2021
£
2,498,897
573,187
(426,507)
2,645,577
2021
£
174,477
20,221
194,698

36

ROYAL MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETY

Notes to the Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2022 (Continued)
17. Creditors: Amounts falling due within one year
2022
£
Trade creditors
28,411
Accruals
22,417
Deferred income (see Note 17a)
278,744
Other taxes and social security
61,378
Other creditors
3,863
394,813
17a. Deferred income
Membership Meetings
and
courses
2022
2021
£ £
£
£
At 1 January 2022
10,950
35,297
46,247
56,451
Released to incoming
resources
(10,950)
(35,297)
(46,247)
(39,738)
Deferred in the year
14,036
264,708
278,744
29,534
At 31 December 2022
14,036
264,708
278,744
46,247
16. Cash at bank and in hand
2022
£
Bank current accounts
805,788
Petty cash
750
806,538		 2021
£
41,761
24,349
46,247
23,631
7,920
143,908
2021
£
755,206
310
755,516

Deferred income related to membership fees, mmc2023 and meetings and courses income related to future periods, which is invoiced in advance during the year.

18. Unrestricted funds

Accumulated Fund
Capital Fund
Designated Funds:
Building Fund
Outreach Fund
IT Fund		 Balance
1
January
2022
£
695,503
4,961,796
24,000
24,000
47,500
5,752,799		 Movement in resources
Incoming
Outgoing
£
£

1,005,246
(1,071,497)
92,027
(79,034)
-
(21,777)
-
(16,414)
-
(35,342)
1,097,273
(1,224,064)		 Transfer
between
funds
£
(4,927)
(74,106)
27,277
11,914
39,842

-		 Investment
Gains and
Revaluation
of assets
£
-
(451,679)
-
-
-
(451,679)		 Balance
31
December
2022
£
624,325
4,449,004
29,500
19,500
52,000
5,174,329

The capital fund represents the society’s interest in investments and the freehold property. The cost of investment management is shown as a charge against the capital fund and similarly the depreciation cost has been charged to the capital fund.

The Building Fund was set up to fund future repairs, maintenance and improvements to the offices, flat and restaurant.

The Outreach Fund was set up to support any activities in the area of its Outreach program.

The IT Fund was set up to fund future improvements to IT database.

37

ROYAL MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETY

Notes to the Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2022 (Continued) Analysis of movements in unrestricted funds previous year

Balance Movement in resources in resources Transfer Investment Investment Balance
1 Incoming
Outgoing		 between Gains and 31
January funds Revaluation December
2021 of assets 2021
£ £
£		 £ £ £
Accumulated Fund 553,851

1,081,811
(925,894)		 (14,265) - 695,503
Capital Fund 4,212,500
67,357
(79,914)		 (57,183)
819,036		 4,961,796
Designated Funds:
Building Fund 24,000 -
(19,918)		 19,918 - 24,000
Outreach Fund 22,000 -
(16,634)		 18,634 - 24,000
IT Fund 56,500 -
(41,896)		 32,896 - 47,500
4,868,851 1,149,168
(1,084,256)		 - 819,036 5,752,799
19. Restricted funds
Balance Movement in resources Transfer Balance
1 January Incoming Outgoing Between
31		 December
2022 funds 2022
£ £ £ £ £
Pearse Prize Fund 15,303
-		 - - 15,303
Research Council –
Community NetWork - 10,620 (10,620) - -
UKRI-BBSRC - 290,622 (290,622) - -
Plymouth Fund 3,861 - - 3,861
15,303 305,103 (301,242) - 19,164
Name of fund Purpose of fund
Pearse Prize Fund To fund the award of the Pearse Prize Medal.
Plymouth Fund To fund the annual Plymouth Microscopy event and travel bursaries.
UKRI-BBSRC Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council funding for
Bioimaging Business Interaction Vouchers.
Research Council – To fund subcontracted work under the BioImagingUK Community NetWork
Community NetWork
project.
Analysis of movements in restricted funds previous year
Pearse Prize Fund
Research Council –
Community NetWork		 Balance
1 January
2021
£
15,303

-
15,303		 Movement in resources
Incoming
Outgoing
£
£

-
-
10,508
(10,508)
10,508
(10,508)		 Transfer
Between
funds
£
-
-
-		 Balance
31 December
2021
£
15,303
-
15,303

38

ROYAL MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETY

Notes to the Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2022 (Continued)

20. Analysis of net assets between funds

Analysis of net assets between funds
Tangible fixed assets
Listed investments &
investment property
Debtors
Cash at bank and in hand
Creditors		 Unrestricted
funds
£
666,309
3,782,695
332,764
787,374
(394,813)
5,174,329		 Restricted
funds
£
-
-
-
19,164
-
19,164		 2022
Total
£
666,309
3,782,695
332,764
806,538
(394,813)
5,193,493		 2021
Total
£
693,291
4,268,505
194,698
755,516
(143,908)
5,768,102

Analysis of net assets between funds – Prior year

Tangible fixed assets
Listed investments
Debtors
Cash at bank and in hand
Creditors		 Unrestricted
funds
£
693,291
4,268,505
194,698
740,213
(143,908)
5,752,799		 Restricted
funds
£
-
-
-
15,303
-
15,303		 2021
Total
£
693,291
4,268,505
194,698
755,516
(143,908)
5,768,102		 2020
Total
£
655,879
3,556,621
428,338
612,668
(369,352)
4,884,154

21. Capital commitments

There were capital commitments contracted at the year-end totalling £nil (2021: £nil).

22. Financial commitments

Operating leases

At 31 December 2022 the total of the Charity’s future minimum lease payments under non-cancellable operating leases was:

Amounts due within one year
Amounts due between one and five years		 2022
Total
£
3,237
10,483
13,720		 2021
Total
£
3,858
375
4,233

39

ROYAL MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETY

Notes to the Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2022 (Continued)

22. Financial commitments (continued)

At 31 December 2021 the total of the Society’s future rentals receivable under non-cancellable operating leases was:

Amounts due within one year
Amounts due between one and five years
Amounts due after five years		 2022
Total
£
24,000
96,000
288,000
384,000		 2021
Total
£
24,000
96,000
288,000
408,000

The society owns a building of which the ground floor is rented out by a restaurant. This non-cancellable lease runs to 1 January 2039.

23. Financial instruments

Financial assets measured at fair value through SOFA
Financial assets measured at amortised cost
Financial liabilities measured at amortised cost		 2022
Total
2021
Total
£
£
806,538
755,516
229,627
174,477
2022
Total
2021
Total
£
£
116,069
97,661

Financial assets at fair value through the statement of financial activities comprises of cash at bank and on hand. The fair value of this asset is determined with reference to the bank statements at the year end.

Financial assets measured at amortised cost consist of trade debtors and other debtors. The value of these

is the amount expected to be recovered at the year end.

Financial liabilities measured at amortised cost consist of trade creditors, other taxation & social security, pension, other creditors and accruals. The value of trade creditors and other creditors is based on purchase invoices received from suppliers. Invoices denominated in foreign currencies are translated into sterling at the prevailing exchange rate at the year end. Accruals are based on management’s best estimate of the cost of settling the liability.

24. Related party transactions

The only related party transactions that the charity has is with its trustees. Details of trustee remuneration can be found in note 12.

At 31 December 2022 £Nil was owed to the Trustees (2021: £Nil) for amounts claimed in out of pocket expenses but not yet reimbursed. These short term creditors, upon which no interest is incurred, will be reimbursed in the normal course of the Society’s ordinary activities.

Travel and subsistence expenses were reimbursed to 13 members of the Council of Management totalling £6,478 (2021: £2,513 to 7 members).

40

ROYAL MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETY

Notes to the Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2022 (Continued)

25. Cash flows from operating activities
Net income for the year
Adjustments for:
Depreciation charges
Gains on investments
Dividends & interest from investments
Decrease/(increase) in debtors
Decrease in creditors
Net cash used in operating activities
26. Cash flows from investing activities
Dividends and interest from investments
Purchase of property, plant & equipment
Proceeds from sales of investments
Purchase of investments
Movement in cash awaiting investment
Net cash used in investing activities
27. Analysis of cash and cash equivalents
Cash at bank
Petty cash
Cash at bank
Petty cash		 2022
£
(574,609)
36,276
451,679
(92,027)
(138,066)
250,905
(65,842)
2022
£
92,027
(9,294)
964,210
(1,128,508)
198,429
116,864
2022
£
805,788
750
806,538
At start of
year
Cashflows
£
£
755,206
50,582
310
440
755,516
51,022		 2021
£
499,722
36,213
(434,810)
(67,419)
233,640
(225,444)
41,902
2021
£
67,419
(9,399)
785,062
(573,187)
112,560
100,946
2021
£
755,206
310
755,516
At end of
year
£
805,788
750
806,538

41