The 2021 Queen’s Birthday Honours list was recently released and I was delighted to see many familiar names amongst those recognised, including our Elected Trustee (Industry) Steve Rees, who was awarded an OBE, Society Fellow Professor Sir Andrew Pollard, who received a knighthood, and Professor Suzanne Cholerton, who was awarded an OBE. Visit our news story for more details of awards for Society members and partners.
It is heartening to see so many scientists (23% of recipients), both within the pharmacology community and beyond, rewarded for their extraordinary efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic. In our 2021 membership survey, we asked how you have contributed to the COVID-19 response. It was humbling to learn how many of you contributed and the vast range of ways you helped.
The COVID-19 pandemic has exemplified science as a team effort. The open collaboration across disciplines and inclusion of diverse perspectives were key factors helping us to respond rapidly to this global problem. In order to share different viewpoints and learn from each other, we need opportunities to meet, and our Meetings and Events Team are working hard on our programme of events for 2021 and beyond, to ensure you can do just that. Until we can meet in person, don’t forget you can always connect with colleagues and meet other pharmacologists on our Community platform.
June is Pride month – a month dedicated to celebrating LGBTQ+ communities across the world. Firstly, I would like to wish a happy Pride to our members and everyone celebrating. In our vision for equality, diversity and inclusion we said that pharmacology is for everyone, and we are committed to representing and supporting our LGBTQ+ members year round.
In honour of Pride month, I would like to tell you about some work we’ve started in this area. Later this year, we will be introducing the first part of a series of content exploring representation and inclusion in academia, science and healthcare, across a range of communities. The series has become known as ‘Identity+’ and the first part of the series is an LGBTQ+ themed issue in our digital magazine, Pharmacology Matters. In this themed issue, we are inviting expert opinion and guidance on topics relating to healthcare inequalities. We also want to use the themed issue to celebrate LGBTQ+ pharmacologists and give members of our community an opportunity to share their work and experiences. We hope that sharing these stories will help build and strengthen networks, and support important conversations both within the workplace and about research itself. That is why we are calling for your stories. If you are interested, please read our call for contributors for more information. We hope to hear from you.
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