From the Chief Executive
“To continue its success as a welcoming home for all microbiologists, the Society has to adapt to the changing environment...”
W hen the first President, Sir Alexander Fleming, opened the very first meeting of the Microbiology Society, he stressed the founders’ desire to welcome any scientists who were interested in microbes, their
contributions from microbiologists doing exciting research in Ghana, Nigeria and Burkina Faso.
Another major change has been to the working lives of microbiologists in different sectors. Scientists in academic careers have less and less time to devote to anything that does not contribute rapidly and directly to their institutions’ requirements, while those in industry have to work harder to convince their employers of the value of getting involved in community activities with a society like the Microbiology Society. To continue its success as a welcoming home for all microbiologists, the Society has to adapt to the changing environment, focusing on how we sustain the things the community values and build on them. We need to look harder and harder at the financial sustainability of everything we do, how we make efficient use of the time of members of Council and Committees, Divisions and Editorial Boards, and how we communicate effectively both in terms of letting you know what the Society is doing for you and in listening to your voices about what you want from the organisation. So we are constantly reviewing our activities and always on the lookout for improvements in our ways of working. What is crucial is that where we make changes, they are aimed at preserving the core identity, values and purpose of the Microbiology Society – the same things that Alexander Fleming discussed at that inaugural meeting. And a real focus at the moment is ensuring that our journals and open research platform continue to thrive in a changing publishing landscape. As the President explains in his introduction on page 4, our ability to run conferences, give grants, foster collaborations, and communicate with microbiologists and on behalf of microbiologists depends on the income from our journals. So when you submit papers to the Microbiology Society’s titles, you are not just choosing a fantastic place to get your research noticed and to increase your reach, you are supporting your entire microbiological community.
effects and their practical uses, whatever the researchers’ specific interests and whatever their workplace. In
an attempt to describe the range and breadth of members whom he wanted to feel at home in the Society, he listed different taxonomic interests, speaking of bacteriologists, mycologists and protozoologists and introducing a short talk on the importance of studying viruses. He also spoke of particular scientific approaches – biochemistry, for example. He encompassed what he called “fundamental knowledge” and “practical problems” and different sectors of the economy including academic, medical, agricultural and industrial. This broad and general approach has always been one of the Society’s great strengths and it is part of the reason that our Annual Conference is always so vibrant. Last month’s conference in Birmingham was no exception. I always look forward to the event each year because it is so varied and because it allows microbiologists with different backgrounds and diverse primary interests to come together to share their experiences, learn from one another, and cross-fertilise each others’ ideas and research directions. Of course, the world has changed a great deal in the 78 years since Fleming was speaking. The challenges are different, both for the research community and for the Microbiology Society. We need to adapt to new circumstances in all sorts of ways. One of those is the globalised nature of microbiology – the Society has members all over the world, and not all of them can attend an in-person event in the UK. So we need to make sure that there are other ways for our global community to come together, and I really valued our online event for members in West Africa a few months ago, hosted by Phillippe Sessou and Victorien Dougnon in Benin and with
Peter Cotgreave p.cotgreave@microbiologysociety.org
6 Microbiology Today May 2023 | microbiologysociety.org
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