A year of growth
2011 Annual Report
The Annual Report of the Institute of Physics 2011
1Th e A n n u A l R e p o R T o f T h e I n s T I T u T e o f p h y s I c s 2011
Introduction 3
Report of the trustees for the year ended 31 December 2011 4
Achievements and performance during the year 6
Research 6
Application 7
Education 8
Scientific Communications 10
Advocacy and Awareness 11
Membership 12
Capability 13
Objectives for 2012 15
Activities in Scotland 16
Financial review 17
Summarised accounts 19
Administrative details 22
Contents
3Th e A n n u A l R e p o R T o f T h e I n s T I T u T e o f p h y s I c s 2011
Introduction
Looking back on 2011, the Institute has had another good year.
To begin with, we have influenced two significant changes in government policy
in England. The first was the introduction of separate quotas for trainee teachers of
physics, chemistry and biology, rather than combining them all under the umbrella
of “science”. The second, following lobbying from IOP, was the creation of a new
PGCE course of teaching physics with maths.
The government also recognised the Institute’s work in supporting non-specialist
teachers by extending the funding of the Stimulating Physics Network to March
2014, as well as adding a further £0.5 m to the project.
The volume of journal papers increased by 3% on 2010 to 27,000 articles, coming
to around 260,000 pages of research. Media releases on journal articles increased
by 50%.
A new series of topical research meetings kicked off in June with an event on
graphene attracting 120 participants. A series of reports highlighting the use
of physics in non-physics industries was launched with a publication on the
computer-games industry.
Members are at the heart of the Institute, and by the end of 2011 total
membership had increased to 45,000 people – an increase of 12% compared with
the end of 2010.
All of the Institute’s successes during 2011 came under the supervision of its
chief executive, Bob Kirby-Harris, who stood down for medical reasons in January
2012 before his retirement in June. On behalf of the Institute’s staff and its
members I would like to thank Bob for all his work with IOP.
And on behalf of Council, I would like to thank members who have contributed to
the Institute’s many activities through branches, groups and other programmes,
as well as IOP staff, who have all continued to provide excellent service both to the
Institute and to physics.
Prof. Stuart Palmer FREng CPhys FInstP
Honorary secretary, Institute of Physics
Introduction – a message
from IOP’s honorary secretary
Report of the trustees for the year ended 31 December 2011
Th e A n n u A l R e p o R T o f T h e I n s T I T u T e o f p h y s I c s 20114
Structure, governance and management
Organisation
The trustees of the Institute of Physics are the mem-
bers of the Council. They are elected and appointed in
accordance with the Royal Charter and Bylaws.
The president serves a two-year term plus the year
immediately preceding as president-elect and a year
following as past-president. The honorary treasurer and
honorary secretary serve a four-year term, renewable for
one further four-year term. All other elected members of
Council serve a single four-year term.
Council is supported by a wide range of boards and
committees, reflecting the size and complexity of the
Institute. By delegating a significant proportion of
the business of the Institute, Council is better able to
ensure that the required time and attention are applied
to overseeing that business. In addition, by widening the
membership of boards and committees beyond Council
members, greater representation can be achieved in the
consideration of the Institute’s business. Furthermore,
boards and committees are able to obtain, where neces-
sary, specialist advice within or beyond the membership
of the Institute.
The key roles of Council, boards/committees and the
executive can be summarised as follows.
●● Council – develops, approves and monitors overall
strategy and resource allocation.
●● Boards – develop, approve and monitor strategy in
areas of activity.
●● Committees of Council – fulfil governance
requirements and/or approve and monitor
Institute-wide activity.
●● Executive – implements and reports on strategy.
The main boards of the Institute are Business and
Innovation, Education, Finance and Investment, Mem-
bership and Qualifications, and Science. The main com-
mittees are Audit and Risk, Awards, Diversity, External
Engagement, Group Co-ordination, Honorary Fellows,
International Development, Nations and Branches, Nom-
inations, and Remuneration.
Formal induction is given to all new trustees. In addi-
tion, all officers and vice-presidents attend a series of
meetings with relevant Institute staff and advisers as
part of the induction process.
Risk management
The Institute maintains a register of significant risks
and maintains systems to control and manage them.
This is reviewed by an Audit and Risk Committee, which
reports to Council on a regular basis.
The Audit and Risk Committee has appointed PKF to
carry out the internal audit function on behalf of the com-
mittee. Its reports are reviewed at the first available com-
mittee meeting and acted on appropriately.
Management and staffing
The day-to-day management of the Institute and its
activities are delegated to the chief executive, sup-
ported by six directors, responsible for communication
and external relations, education and science, finance,
human resources and corporate services, information
technology, and membership and business. Publishing
is delegated to the managing director of IOP Publish-
ing Ltd who is not a director of the Institute. The chief
executive leads a staff of 130 people.
Council’s responsibilities
Under the Royal Charter and Bylaws of the Institute of
Physics, Council is required to prepare financial state-
ments for each financial year, which show a true and fair
view of the state of affairs of the group and the Institute
at the end of the year and of the financial activities
of the group during the year then ended. In preparing
those financial statements, Council is required to:
●● select suitable accounting policies and then apply
them consistently;
●● make judgements and estimates that are
reasonable and prudent;
●● state whether applicable accounting standards
and statements of recommended practice have
been followed, subject to any material departures
disclosed and explained in the financial statements;
●● prepare the financial statements on the
going-concern basis unless it is inappropriate to
presume that the charity and the group will continue
in operation.
Council is required to act in accordance with the Royal
Charter and Bylaws of the Institute of Physics within the
framework of charity and trust law. It is responsible for
keeping proper accounting records that disclose with rea-
sonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the
group and the Institute and that enable them to ensure
that the financial statements comply with the Charities
Act 2011 and accord with applicable accounting stand-
ards, including the Statements of Recommended Prac-
tice 2005 Accounting and Reporting by Charities. It is
also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the group
Report of the trustees for the year
ended 31 December 2011
Report of the trustees for the year ended 31 December 2011
5Th e A n n u A l R e p o R T o f T h e I n s T I T u T e o f p h y s I c s 2011
and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention
and detection of fraud and other irregularities.
Objectives and activities
Summary of aims and objectives
The Institute of Physics was established in its current
form by Royal Charter dated 17 September 1970. The
Royal Charter and Bylaws set out the object of the Insti-
tute and the framework within which it conducts its
affairs. The object of the Institute as stated in the Royal
Charter is “to promote the advancement and dissemina-
tion of a knowledge of and education in the science of
physics, pure and applied.”
The Institute has seven goals. They are:
Research: To ensure the strongest research base in phys-
ics within universities, industry and other institutions –
so as to advance science and develop skilled physicists
and other scientists and engineers.
Application: To ensure the strongest application of
knowledge in physics by industry government universi-
ties and other institutions, and the most productive links
between these sectors – so as to create economic value
and resolve major societal challenges.
Education: To enable access for all to physics education
of the highest quality – so as to develop skilled scientists
and engineers, expand personal opportunities, and cre-
ate an informed population for the benefit of the econ-
omy and society at large.
Scientific Communications: To enable access for all
involved in the physics community to professional scien-
tific communications of the highest quality and provide
assurance of their objectivity and rigour – so as to sup-
port the exchange of knowledge and facilitate scientific
research, application and education.
Advocacy and Awareness: To engage with all policy mak-
ers and the public developing awareness and under-
standing of the central importance of physics – so as
to influence decision makers, respond to concerns and
shape the agenda.
Membership: To engage with physicists from all sectors
and all those interested in physics providing relevant
services and opportunities to become involved in phys-
ics, attracting a larger broader and more diverse mem-
bership, and contributing to the development of the
profession.
Capability: To provide the strongest capability required
for the Institute to achieve its strategic goals – including
secure and diverse sources of finance, a skilled and moti-
vated workforce, effective systems, sound governance
and good principles of environmental practice.
Public benefit
The Institute meets the public benefit test set out in the
Charities Act 2011 in the following ways:
●● by the advancement of education in its many
activities to support students, teachers, schools and
curriculum development, to promote opportunities
to benefit from a high-quality physics education,
and of continuing development and learning
by physicists, and those interested in physics,
throughout their careers;
●● by the advancement of science through its role as
a learned society, working with universities and
scientists, supporting, promoting and publicising
research in physics, funding for research, and the
applications of research within the wider economy
and for the wider benefit of society;
●● by the advancement of community development
by supporting branches and subject groups, by
involvement in international physics organisations
and by the encouragement of volunteering within
physics communication and education.
The trustees confirm that they have referred to the
guidance contained in the Charity Commission’s gen-
eral guidance on public benefit when reviewing the char-
ity’s aims and objectives.
More details of many of the specific activities and
achievements are set out in the following section on
achievements and performance during the year.
Achievements and performance
Th e A n n u A l R e p o R T o f T h e I n s T I T u T e o f p h y s I c s 20116
1. In this and the following
sections, income and
expenditure are attributed to
individual goals. Expenditure
may exceed income for
individual goals. However,
for the Institute as a whole,
income exceeded expenditure
by £2.2 m in 2011 (see
summarised accounts, p19).
Income and expenditure1
Total incoming resources for this goal were £1093 k,
with expenditure of £2072 k to give a net expenditure
of £979 k.
Performance against 2011 objectives
Continue to maintain and enhance physics degree pro-
grammes and prepare to expand the programme to
encompass masters degrees. As part of the five-year
rolling accreditation scheme, 10 universities have been
re-accredited and eight universities have had degree
programmes recognised. The accreditation require-
ments for integrated masters have been revised this
year to emphasise and promote the enhanced nature of
the degree. The possibility of expanding the accredita-
tion scheme to taught masters programmes is currently
under discussion.
Continue to support group and division activity and
expand provision of the Research Student Conference
Fund to postdoctoral researchers. The number of meet-
ings organised by our members continues to grow: in
2011 our groups and divisions were involved in organis-
ing around 100 different events, ranging from evening
lectures and seminars to international multi-day confer-
ences and specialist workshops.
The groups continue to support around another 50
externally organised events, and attendance at these
remains high, with audiences of around 30–40 for spe-
cialist one-day meetings, and up to 300 or more for the
larger conferences. The meetings also reflect the inter-
disciplinary nature of physics with many meetings being
organised jointly by a number of groups or with other
learned societies.
There were 150 applications for the Research Stu-
dents Conference Fund (RSCF) in 2011. This increasing
demand has led to an increase in the RSCF for 2012.
Continue to reward excellence in physics research
through medals and prizes. The Institute continues to
have a large number of applications for medals and
prizes. There were more than 100 nominees in 2011,
and 22 awards were made.
Continue to organise professional conferences to sup-
port research at the frontiers of physics and establish
a new series of high-level topical discussion meetings
to enhance the Institute’s reputation for scientific
leadership. A new conference series entitled “Topical
Research Meetings” was established in 2011. These are
discussion-style meetings on major and topical themes
in physics, including applied physics, astronomy and
physics at the interface with other sciences. The inau-
gural event was held in June 2011 on graphene and
attracted more than 120 participants.
Response strategy to the new funding landscape: to ini-
tiate a coherent series of policy and statistical reports,
workshops, seminars and related activity to support
and inform the Institute’s advocacy work in light of
the significant changes to the economic and political
environment. Evidence, a Thomson Reuters company,
was tasked with undertaking a bibliometric analysis
on international comparisons of the strength of the
UK’s physics research base, comparing the UK’s per-
formance in physics to cognate subjects, and against
other nations. The volume of research papers produced
was used as an indicator of research activity; citation
impact (citations per paper), normalised to the world
average for the year of publication and the field of study
(normalised citation impact), was used as an indicator
of research quality.
IOP set up a review of the “Health of UK Nuclear Phys-
ics” as a pilot for a more general review of UK physics to
ensure that IOP can influence, in a strategic way, those
who fund UK physics. The review is focused on the aca-
demic community in nuclear physics as funded by STFC
but will ensure that it describes properly that communi-
ty’s interactions and collaborations with the wider group
of nuclear “scientists” and the communities/industries
that use nuclear information, techniques, methods and
knowledge.
Achievements and performance
during the year
Research
Our goal: To ensure the strongest research base in physics so as to advance
science and develop skills.
Achievements and performance
7Th e A n n u A l R e p o R T o f T h e I n s T I T u T e o f p h y s I c s 2011
Income and expenditure
Total incoming resources for this goal were £257 k,
with expenditure of £685 k to give a net expenditure
of £428 k.
Performance against 2011 objectives
Produce a series of short case studies/highlights of
the use of physics in “non-physics” industries to solve
problems and add value, for example lasers or optics
in shops’ checkouts. The Physics Works series was
launched with a report on the place of physics in the
computer-games industry. The report, Physics Works:
How physics is driving the computer games industry,
showed that physicists are at the heart of an industry
generating sales of £2 bn a year, in which the UK is
a world-leader. It describes the skills required for the
industry, and the roles that trained physicists are play-
ing in taking forward new developments. The report was
used as the basis for discussions to help build contacts
between the Institute and the industry.
Further reports in the series are planned. The next
report, on the role of physics in the retail sector, will be
launched in spring 2012.
Create a new web-based service to enable contact and
knowledge exchange between business and research.
Physics Connect is a new online directory of suppliers,
researchers, expertise and services. It will enable and
support knowledge and information exchange across the
physics community by providing easy access to listings
of products and people. The project has been delayed
by supplier issues but is on track for delivery in 2012.
Application
Our goal: To ensure the strongest application of knowledge in physics so as to
create value and resolve challenges.
Achievements and performance
Th e A n n u A l R e p o R T o f T h e I n s T I T u T e o f p h y s I c s 20118
Income and expenditure
Total incoming resources for this goal were £2491 k,
with expenditure of £5041 k to give a net expenditure
of £2550 k.
Performance against 2011 objectives
Continue to support specialist and, particularly, non-
specialist teachers to improve their confidence and
knowledge base by explicit CPD, enhancing our net-
works and by the development of online resources. Our
work in supporting non-specialist teachers has been fur-
ther recognised by the government’s decision not only
to extend the funding of the Stimulating Physics Net-
work (SPN), in collaboration with the Science Learning
Centres (SLCs), until at least March 2014 but also, in a
time of financial austerity, to enhance the funding by an
approximate £0.5 m to allow the project to reach more
schools and also to offer mentoring to newly qualified
teachers. Although the SPN necessarily covers England
only, we have obtained limited funding in Wales to sup-
port a similar scheme and our Teacher Network covers
the whole of the UK and Ireland. Altogether, we carried
out approximately 6000 teacher days of CPD in 2011,
with an average satisfaction rating of 97%. We have
also received smaller amounts of funding to work with
the SLCs on their Triple Science project.
Much of the work in supporting non-specialist teach-
ers is based on our Supporting Physics Teaching
resources. The 11–14 material has now been revised
and fully converted to a web-based resource and a great
deal of material at 14–16 level is also complete. The
talkphysics website was introduced and now has more
than 5000 registered users and we have increased the
numbers of affiliated schools to almost 1700.
Maintain and expand our support for physics-based
teaching in higher education including the promotion
of: greater participation, inclusion and diversity, harmo-
nisation with other European countries and curriculum
innovation. The Institute’s accreditation of degrees con-
tinues to encompass essentially all eligible programmes
within the UK. In addition, the recognition scheme for
degrees with significant physics content is growing in
popularity. The numbers entering higher ed