We have been able to make a donation this year of £700 to the BSRA, our chosen charity. I have received the following update from Neil Martin, their Treasurer, about their 2022 activities. It is good to know that our donation goes pretty directly to support students and researchers working on ageing research projects.
Dear Seavets members,
Seavets2022 was a year of change for the BSRA as we welcomed Dr David Weinkove, who replaces Professor Claire Stewart as chair of the board of trustees, along side several other new trustees, all of whom hit the ground running and have already made a substantive impact to the society. Under the guidance of Dr Weinkove, the board of trustees are working hard to increase public awareness of the BSRA. We have made good use of social media campaigns, led by new trustees and have increased our membership to more than 100 members. The overarching aims of the society are to fund, support and disseminate high quality research into the biology of ageing and the principle ways in which we aim to do this are through funding researchers and running our annual scientific meeting. This year, two early careers researchers (~£1000) were awarded small grants to conduct work related to our societies aims. We also work with the Chernajovsky Foundation to administer a larger award to one of our members based at the University of Birmingham. This award funds a PhD researcher to undertake research looking at new therapeutics for age-related bone loss https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/2020/chernajovsky-foundation-support-two-phd-scholarships-to-develop-novel-therapies. For 2023, we updated our funding schemes to offer more flexibility and opportunities (and more money) to our members to support their research and we look forward to getting these off the ground soon. Our annual scientific meeting was hosted at the University of Kent this year, and was a great success. We welcomed 92 delegates from across the country, and were treated to some excellent presentations from world leading experts in ageing biology. We also awarded the Korenchevsky Prize; a £1500 prize awarded to an early career researcher (i.e. student) for giving the best presentation. The prize is used to pay for the student to travel to America and present their work at the American Ageing Association annual meeting. Last years’ Korenchevsky prize winner presented her research in America this year and had a fantastic experience https://bsra.org.uk/news/my-experience-at-age-2022/ . Research into the biology of ageing has captured the imagination of the public in recent years, driven by exciting new discoveries and investment across the world. It is therefore a fantastic time to be in the field, and we at the BSRA continue to represent and promote reputable and trustworthy information in the field and the continued support of the Seavets helps us to do that. We are extremely grateful.
Best wishes
Neil Martin
Treasurer for British Society for Research on Ageing