Tuesday 31 March 2009
Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester

1. Apologies for absence
   None received. 28 members were present
   
   
2. Minutes of the 2008 AGM
   The minutes have been circulated and posted on the website. These were approved as an accurate record.
   
   
3. Chairman's Report
   Feedback from the 2008 meeting at the University of Oxford. 88 responses were received. Virtually all responders rated the meeting as excellent or good. There was continued support for the Skin Club and guest speakers, with most rating these events as successful.

   BSID Membership and Annual Meeting 2009. The membership stands at 340, including new members, compared with 337 in April 2008. Four members resigned and 27 were removed from the membership list (no subscription received for >4 years and not contactable). There were 160 individuals registered for the 2009 meeting. There are 28 oral and 39 poster presentations, as well as keynote, local, trainee and educational speakers, 4 Skin Club lectures and a British Photodermatology Group (BPG) guest speaker. The following companies are involved in the BSID 2009 meeting: Schering Plough, Janssen-Cilag, MerckSerono, Wyeth, Unilever, Abbott Laboratories Ltd, Typharm and XcellR8. Dr Graham Ogg thanked the local organiser, Dr Clive Archer and the facilitators Dr Tess McPherson and Dr Felicity Edwards.

   Association with other societies. We are currently within a five year agreement with the BPG (2009-2014) to offer a guest lectureship slot during the meeting. Feedback for this lecture has typically been good.

   Publication of BSID abstracts within the British Journal of Dermatology (BJD). Dr John English and the editorial team at BJD have worked extremely hard to include the BSID abstracts within the BJD, so that they are available online at the time of the meeting. Dr Graham Ogg expressed his thanks to the BJD team for their continued support.

   Location of future meetings. The BSID meeting in 2010 will be in Edinburgh (12-14 April) and in 2011 it will be held in Manchester (11-13 April).

   BSID Medal for Contributions to Dermatological Research. Members were reminded of the new award and the mechanism of nomination. The award will be offered initially annually or in alternate years. Nominations should be received from the membership by 24 April 2009 and the decision on the successful recipient will be taken by the committee shortly afterwards. The successful nominee will be invited to give a presentation at the 2010 BSID meeting.

   Travel awards. For the 2009 meeting, these were awarded to: Dr Noor Almaani, Alasdair Anderson, Dr Hsien Chan, Monika Cichon, Dr Suzanne Clements, Dr Caterina Ferreli, Dr Emma Hiscutt, Dr Ute Laggner, Dr Joey Lai-Cheong and Dr Marta Polak.
   

4. Treasurer's Report
   This was presented by Professor Edel O'Toole. The Oxford BSID 2008 meeting had a total income of £52,307.53 (£31,707.53 from registration and £20,600 from sponsorship [including £1,000 from the BAD]) and a total expenditure of £48,524.50 giving a profit of £3,783.03. Professor Eugene Healy suggested that the officers investigate whether the BSID savings account should be split in to two separate accounts, to minimise financial risk.
   
   
5. New Members
   Thirty two individuals applied for membership during the course of the year.   The nominations were exhibited to the membership and were accepted.
   
   
6. Committee Membership
   Dr Graham Ogg has served six years on the committee, of which the last three years were as Chairman. He thanked the Society for its support and stated that he was grateful to have had this opportunity to serve the Society in this way. Dr John Mee has served three years on the committee. Dr Penny Lovat and Dr John Mee applied to be considered for election/re-election. After presentations from the applicants, the membership discussed their applications and they were elected/re-elected. The committee support the office of Chair being taken by Professor Edel O'Toole and that of Treasurer being taken by Dr Richard Weller following the 2009 meeting.
   
   
7. International Investigative Dermatology Conference (IID), Edinburgh 2013
   The membership welcomed the information that the next IID conference would be held in Edinburgh in 2013. It was agreed that it would be important not to compromise either the IID meeting or the BSID that year and so a separate BSID meeting will be cancelled. However, the incoming Chair of the BSID would discuss the possibility of a BSID talk or session at the IID with the IID organising committee.
   
   
8. Proposed change in constitution
   The membership had been previously contacted about potential ambiguities regarding length of committee tenure related to clauses 3.8 and 3.9 of the constitution. After discussions with past Chairs of the BSID, Brachers were asked to re-draft clause 3 in line with modern charities law. The proposed change in constitution was provided for the members again and was discussed and accepted unanimously.
   
   
9. Any Other Business
   Professor Nick Reynolds suggested that awardees of external fellowships should be encouraged to state such awards on their lecture slides or at the end of the abstracts.   Alternatively, it might be possible to include dedicated sessions at which such awardees might present their research. Professor Eugene Healy reminded members of the forthcoming ESDR conference in Budapest in September 2009. Professor Healy also thanked Dr Graham Ogg for his work on the committee and as Chairman of the society.
   
   
10. Date of Next Meeting
    The next meeting will take place on Tuesday 13th April 2010 at the University of Edinburgh.