Rachel Lambert-Forsyth, CEO of the British Pharmacological Society
2023 was a unique year for the BPS. I would like to begin by thanking the entire staff team, and the members and volunteers who have helped us deliver projects large and small. This collaborative approach has ensured we have achieved the aims set out in our three-year strategy.
In the middle of 2023, we took the difficult decision to restructure the staff team. Council and I took these decisions seriously, and I want to thank everyone for their resilience throughout this period. We have tried our hardest to ensure that the restructure has not disrupted the work of our members, and we remain committed to helping you promote your science through journals, engagement projects, meetings and BPS content, and to offering opportunities for our members to develop their careers through bursaries, grants, prizes and awards. The Society has thrived on members working in partnership with a professional staff team and I have been delighted to see so many projects continue throughout this disruption – a testament to the commitment, passion and participation of all involved.
One of the highlights of 2023 was hosting the 19th World Congress of Basic and Clinical Pharmacology in Glasgow, Scotland. It demonstrated how important it is for us all to connect on a global scale, and how impactful these large networking opportunities can be, especially for early career pharmacologists. It was also one of many meetings we held that reminded us that the BPS knows how to run an effective event – from an unbeatable scientific programme to wonderful social events including a fun-filled Cèilidh, it was great to see delegates enjoying their time in Glasgow.
My thanks to all those involved in organising the Congress – it takes an unseen level of preparation to pull an event like this off and I want to extend my thanks to all those who played their part over the last decade!
We continued to look for ways to engage early career audiences, expand the reach of our journals, run workshops and webinars, and support networking. We are now looking at developing our next strategy, and the work we did in 2023 will help us to produce a plan that brings the pharmacological community even more of those opportunities and creates new ways of working together to advance the discipline.
The Society has our members at its heart, and I would love to hear from you if you have an idea, want to get involved with a project, or simply want to share your enthusiasm for pharmacology – together we can ensure the BPS expands it reach and capitalises on the successes of 2023 resulting in an even stronger Society in the future.
Thank you for being part of our story. If you have any comments or questions about this annual review, please contact us at
communications@bps.ac.uk.
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Message from the President
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Annual Review 2023