2025-03-31-accounts - British Society For The History Of Philosophy

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www.bshp.org.uk

Charity Number 299041

Annual Report and Financial Statements

Year ended 31[st] March 2025

British Society for the History of Philosophy

REFERENCE AND ADMINISTRATIVE DETAILS

Registered Charity Number 299041 Trustees Listed on page 5 Contact address Kings College London Strand London WC2R 2LS Independent Examiner Mark Heaton FCCA FCIE KM, Chartered Accountants 1st Floor, Block C, The Wharf, Manchester Rd, Burnley, BB11 1JG Bankers Metro Bank

Bri�sh Society for the History of Philosophy

TRUSTEES ANNUAL REPORT

ended 31st March 2025.

OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES

The objects of the charity as set out in its cons�tu�on are to promote and foster all aspects of the study and teaching of the history of philosophy.

ACHIEVEMENTS AND PERFORMANCE

As usual, the Management Commi�ee met twice during the year, once in November 2024 at the �me of the Society’s Antognazza Lecture, and again in April 2025 at the Society’s annual conference.

The Antognazza Lecture was held at the University of Edinburgh, where Professor Pauline Kleingeld from the University of Groningen spoke on ‘Republican Themes in Kant's Moral Theory’. The year culminated in a successful interna�onal conference at the University of Cambridge, on the theme ‘Animals and Environment in the History of Philosophy’.

Over the course of the year, the Management Committee assessed applications for Research Fellowships, Research Grants, and Conference Funding.

Examples of the awards made are:

ROGERS PRIZE – Best Article in 2023 - £1,000

Winner: Jack Beaulieu (Tornonto), Raghunātha on seeing absence

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09608788.2022.2164250

BEANEY PRIZE - Best Contribution to Widening the Canon in 2023 - £1,000

Winner: Domenica Romagni (Colorado State), “ Of the octave the relation 2:1”: how an exemplary case of formal causation turned against the Neo-Aristotelians

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09608788.2023.2185876

GRADUATE ESSAY PRIZE 2023 - £1,000

Winner: Norah Woodcock (Princeton), The Parthenogenesis Problem: Wind-Eggs in Aristotle’s Generation of Animals.

Fellowships:

A Postdoctoral fellowship of £6,000 to Ellie Robson – Aristotelian Naturalism in Stebbing and Midgley

A Postdoctoral fellowship of £4,000 to David Harmon - Spinoza and the Efficacy of Oblique Collision

Two pre-doctoral Scholarly Awards

Conference grants to the value of £17,489.

Book Series

New Texts in the History of Philosophy (the book series we sponsor with Oxford University Press and of which Professor Mogens Laerke is the Chief Editor) is making good progress. Six volumes were published in 2024-25 and several more are forthcoming. The series publishes less well-known texts in the history of philosophy with the aim of broadening the canon.

In accordance with their objectives for this year, and with due regard to the published Charity Commission guidance on the operation of the Public Benefit requirements of the Charities Act 2006, the trustees have undertaken appropriate activities in furtherance of these aims for the public benefit.

Reserves Policy

The Society continues to overspend its income. (See Treasurer’s Report.) This is partly because, since the end of covid when we were once again able to fund public events, we have increased our expenditure. But our income has also decreased. The royalties we receive from Taylor and Francis for our journal, the British Journal of the History of Philosophy, have dropped slightly, as has the income we receive in membership fees.

At the Management Committee meeting in April, we agreed to reduce our deficit of £7,390 by taking the following measures:

Reduce the Beaney and Rogers Prizes to £500 each. Savings of £1,000.
Award one fellowship pa, alternating between the postdoctoral and postgraduate fellowships. Savings of £5000.
Stop awarding Scholarly Activity Grants. Savings c. £1,000.
Reduce conference grants spending by at least £1,000.

We shall also take steps to increase income, but it will take another year to assess their effects.

How does the charity operate?

Management Commi�ee are Trustees of the Society and are responsible for its ac�vi�es and finances. Because we are a small organisa�on it is easy for Officers to consult the Commi�ee as ma�ers arise, but there is of course some devolu�on of responsibility. Some members have specific areas of responsibility, such as the membership, the website, or the book series. Others are responsible for organising events or awards, such as the Annual Conference or Postgraduate Fellowships. They all report back to the Commi�ee as a whole. In accordance with the cons�tu�on, members of the Management Commi�ee (including officers) are appointed for a fixed term by the Society’s members.

One must be a member of the Society in order to apply for its funding. The members of the Management Committee are Trustees of the Society for charity law purposes and are responsible for its activities and finances.

Trustees:

Susan James (Birkbeck/KCL), (chair, 2024–2027)

Jeremy Dunham (Durham), 2023-2027 (secretary, 2023-2026)

Antonio Salgado Borges (treasurer, 2024-27)

Caterina Pello (Geneva), 2022-26 (deputy treasurer, membership officer. 2022-2025)

Rachael Wiseman (Liverpool), 2022-26 (communications officer)

Fedor Benevich (Edinburgh), 2022-26

Julia Borcherding (Cambridge), 2024-2028

Angela Breitenbach (Cambridge), 2020-28

John Callanan (KCL), 2023-2027

Lea Cantor (Cambridge/Sheffield) 2024-2028 Clare Carlisle (KCL) 2024-2028 Sophia Connell (Birkbeck), 2017-25 Alexander Douglas (St. Andrews), 2020-28 Zita Toth (KCL), 2023-2027

Sacha Golob (KCL), co-opted, BJHP editor Alix Cohen (Edinburgh), co-opted, BJHP editor Mogens Lærke (CNRS), co-opted, BSHP-NTHP managing editor

Tobias Keiling (Warwick) co-opted

Risk Assessment

The Trustees have carried out a detailed review of the charity's ac�vi�es and produced a comprehensive plan se�ng out the risks to which it was exposed. A strategy has been implemented to establish systems and procedures to mi�gate those risks iden�fied. These will be reviewed annually.

Approved by the trustees on 10th January 2026 and signed on its behalf by:

Prof S James

INDEPENDENT EXAMINER'S REPORT TO THE TRUSTEES OF BRITISH SOCIETY FOR THE HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY

I report to the charity trustees on my examination of the accounts of the charity for the year ended 31[st] March 2025.

Responsibilities and basis of report

As the charity's trustees you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (‘the Act’).

I report in respect of my examination of the charity’s accounts carried out under section 145 of the Act and in carrying out my examination I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act.

Independent examiner's statement

I have completed my examination. I confirm that no matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believe:

(1) accounting records were not kept in respect of the charity as required by Section 130 of the Act; or
(2) the accounts do not accord with those records.

I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.

Mark Heaton FCCA FCIE KM, Chartered Accountants 1[st] Floor, Block C The Wharf Manchester Road Burnley BB11 1JG

12 January 2026

British Society for the History of Philosophy

RECEIPTS AND PAYMENTS ACCOUNT

For the year ended 31[st] March 2025

RECEIPTS Subscriptions Royalties Donations Other Total Receipts PAYMENTS Special Project Support Prizes Fellowships Grants to conferences Other Total payments Net receipts less payments Balances brought forward Balances carried forward	Unrestricted funds (£) 8,744 19,915 5,000 3,879 37,538 900 3,975 10,926 17,489 11,637 44,927 (7,389) 79,480 72,091	Previous Year (£) 11,084 22,320 - - 33,404
		900 1,975 17,000 16,261 12,202 48,338
		(14,934) 94,414
		79,480

STATEMENT OF ASSETS AND LIABILITIES AS AT 31ST MARCH 2025

Bank balance as at 31/3/2025	£72,091
Liabilities: Independent examination	£ 900

These accounts were approved by the trustees on 10 January 2026 and signed on their behalf by:

Prof Susan James – Trustee

British Society for the History of Philosophy

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

1 Basis of preparation

These accounts have been prepared on the Receipts and Payments basis in accordance with the Charities Act 2011.

2 Fund Accounting

Unrestricted funds are those that can be expended at the discretion of the trustees in the furtherance of the objects of the charity.

3 Taxation

The charity is not liable to tax on its charitable activities.

The charity is not registered for VAT. Irrecoverable VAT is included in the expense to which it relates.

4 Transactions with trustees

No remuneration nor expenses were paid to trustees or any persons connected with them during the period.