Job Opportunity: Chief Executive Society of Biology

The Biosciences Federation (BSF) and the Institute of Biology (IoB) are uniting to form the Society of Biology. This new Society, which will be fully operational in the second half of 2009, will provide a single unified voice for all the biosciences and act on behalf of all those who care about the future of biology whether they be teachers, scientists, leaders of organisations or interested non-scientists.

The Interim Council of the Society of Biology now seeks to recruit the first Chief Executive for the new organisation. This is a unique and exciting opportunity to lead and shape an organisation that must quickly deliver the key aims of:

• representing all who are committed to the practise of biology in academia and industry, and to biological education and research,
• facilitating the promotion and translation of advances in biological science for national and international benefit, and
• helping the wider public to engage with the subject.

The successful candidate will have demonstrated that he/she can lead and manage an organisation with drive and success. He/she will be expected to share the vision for the future of the Society developed by the Interim Council and have the ability to deliver it effectively.

Read the job advert in full.

UK’s leading biology organisations agree to unification

Members of the UK’s two leading biology organisations, the Institute of Biology (IoB) and the Biosciences Federation (BSF), have voted overwhelmingly in favour of unification to form a single organisation, the Society of Biology. This positive development takes the IoB and BSF a step closer to the creation of an organisation that combines the expertise of the learned societies and other biology organisations with the professional skills of the IoB and its individual members. The Biochemical Society is a member of the Biosciences Federation.

Read the press release in full.

Biochemical evolution and the Biochemical Society

In an article in the current issue of the Biochemist, Dr Chris Kirk (the Chief Executive of the Biochemical Society) speculates on the future organisation of UK learned societies in the biosciences sector. He suggests that the advances of the past 50 years have blurred the traditional boundaries between disciplines that were first defined at the beginning of the last century - societies like the Biochemical Society will need to work increasingly together to promote our academic interests. The imminent merger of the Biosciences Federation and the Institute of Biology will create a single body seeking to represent the interests of the entire UK bioscience community to Government, the funding agencies, Europe and beyond. Chris argues that the Biochemical Society should play a major role in the formation of this organisation and in shaping the future of the learned society sector in the 21st century. By doing this, we can build an organisation that will promote and defend the Biosciences just as the Royal Society of Chemistry and the Institute of Physics seek to support their respective disciplines.

What do you think? Use the comments section to tell us your views.

Read the Biochemist article in full.

NEWBIO

As the integration of the Biosciences Federation and the Institute of Biology progresses, a new blog has been set up to enable members of those organisations to have their say on the new draft vision document. Comments will be discussed by the interim council. It is hoped that this integration will create a leading organisation for biology in the UK.

Visit the new blog and have your say.