August 2007 - Summary
The Members of Medical Research Scotland met on Friday, 3rd August, 2007. The main points of discussion were as follows:
- Membership - The Chairman welcomed Dr Denise Coia to her first meeting as a Member and also noted with pleasure that Dr Graham Beastall (recently retired from the membership) had been awarded a CBE in HM The Queen's Birthday Honours List for services to laboratory medicine, commenting that the award was very well deserved.
- Funding for Research - the Members formally confirmed the award of the second Tyson Research Fellowship to Dr Anna Sutherland and, after discussion, agreed that the Fellowship had a potentially valuable role and to review it in a further year's time. After consideration and discussion of all the applications received and the referees' reports on them, the Members agreed to award three Research Project Grants. The Members had previously scored a number of Progress and Final Reports submitted by current and recent grantholders and these were discussed. The report of the Scientific Adviser on the Research Open Day held in May was noted.
- Standard Conditions Applying to the Award of Medical Research Scotland Funding - the Members approved the revised version of these and thanked Ms Nicolson and Dr Macnab for the time they had taken discussing the changes with representatives of the Scottish Universities and for reaching this conclusion.
- Annual Report & Accounts - the Members approved for signature the Annual Report & Accounts for the year to 31st March 2007, subject to some minor adjustments to the wording of the text. The Members also reviewed and commented on the proof copy of the proposed Medical Research Scotland Review 2006-07, which is intended will be used for marketing and fundraising purposes. It was noted that although this only contains a short financial summary, the full Accounts will be readily available on request to the Secretaries. Subject to some adjustments in the balance of content, this document was also approved by the Members.
- Investments - the Members received and noted a report from the Investment Managers on investment performance for the three-month period to 30th June, 2007. The Members agreed that henceforward, there should be no direct investment in alcohol-related stock.
- Secretarial/Administrative matters - the Members considered several items, including the continued development of the online applications and review system.
Further information may be available on request.