Council, the Society's trustees, met on 21 June for the second Council meeting of the 2023 session.
Andrew introduced Sarah Cumbers to the Council, welcoming her as the new RSS CEO. Sarah will start in post in early September.
Andrew welcomed Omar McCarthy to his first meeting as a Council member. The Council also welcomed two guests to the meeting, Jennifer Visser-Rogers the Chair of the Strategic Planning Advisory Committee who gave an update on the development of the Society’s new strategic plan, and Stephen Kitching, the Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee who presented the committee’s annual report.
The Council received an update on the President’s activities since the last meeting which included working with the membership team to make improvements to the Honours process, working with the governance team to fill vacancies across the Society’s governance structure, convening the new Climate Change taskforce and working with Jon Forster to finalise the RSS’s response to the CEM’s Academy of Mathematical Sciences. Andrew also updated on the President Nominating Committee candidate recommendation which the Council approved as part of their closed session at the end of the meeting. The RSS will announce the nomination in July.
The Senior Management Team delivered their management report on the Society’s finances and activity since March 2023, which included an update on membership recruitment and retention, the status of the migration of journal content to OUP and an IT security update.
The Trustees undertook a review of the society’s Annual Report and Financial Statements which forms part of their obligations in the role of Charity Trustee for the Society. The Trustees formally approved the signing of the statutory accounts that will be submitted to the Charity Commission.
In preparation for the 2023 annual general meeting (AGM), the Council members reviewed and approved the 2024 membership subscription fees which will be discussed at the meeting in September.
The Council undertook its annual review of the governance structure of the Society and received an update on the 2023 Council member elections which are due to take place in September 2023. The list of candidates running in the election will be added to the RSS webpage over the summer and included in upcoming membership newsletters.
Nominations for the 2024 Council member elections are now open. Members are asked to submit names via the Council member nomination form.
Furthermore, the Society will be appointing four officers to Council for the start of 2025 due to the current post holders concluding their four-year term:
- Christl Donnelly – Vice President for External Affairs
- Johanna Hutchinson – Honorary Officer for Staffing
- Scott Heald – Honorary Officer for Conferences & Events
- Blaise Egan – Honorary Officer for Sections & Local Groups
The Council are keen to receive nominations for the roles and ask that members
submit names via the Officer nomination form.
The Council are pleased to announce that the following appointments were approved at the meeting:
- Kevin Barnes – Honorary Treasurer (second term) until June 2028
- Richard Samworth – Vice President for Academic Affairs (January 1st, 2024 – December 31st, 2027)
- Simon Day – Honorary Officer for Discussion Meetings (January 1st, 2024 – December 31st, 2027)
- Tricia Dodd – Honorary Officer for Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion until December 31st, 2025
- Clare Morris – Vice President for Professional Affairs (January 1st, 2024 – December 31st, 2025)
The Council received an update on the recent campaigning activities and the Data Science projects which included submitting evidence to the Covid-19 Inquiry and the progress made on the Statistics Under Pressure and Data Technician projects, progress made on the development of a new Data Science Journal, the Alliance for Data Science Professionals, and the
Real-World Data Science Platform.
The Council meets again on 22 November 2023.
If you have any questions or comments please contact the Society’s Governance Manager, Jo Fishwell