Update from the Scottish Section

Dr Derek Ball, Secretary, Scottish Section

In parallel with all members of the Society, the Scottish section has been challenged by the continued effects of the pandemic. Consequently, the Section has had to deal with the postponement of a short meeting that was to be held in September and mitigate the potential effects on the planned Spring Conference in 2021. The Committee is now working hard to ensure that the Spring Conference planned for 30-31 March 2021 will go ahead as a hybrid conference that will offer delegates the opportunity to attend either on a face-to-face basis or through as an online virtual participant. The topic of the meeting is “The Gut Microbiome” and will focus on matters related to the gastrointestinal tract and explore the application of animal models to understanding human gut health and the interaction with nutrition. The Scottish Section acknowledges the expert input from Dr Spiridoula Athanasiadou (SRUC) for her hard work in pulling together the programme. As we start planning for the 2022 Spring Meeting, several different topic areas have been identified by the Scottish Section committee that will be presented to the Science Committee in early 2021.

Membership of the Scottish Section committee continues to be a fluid environment. In the last twelve months three members of the committee have left, and on behalf of the section and Society I extend my thanks to Dr Janice Drew (Rowett Institute, University of Aberdeen), Dr Viren Ranawana (formerly Rowett Institute now University of Sheffield) and Dr Olly Witard (formerly Stirling University now King’s College London) for their valued input to the committee and their support in the organisation and running of the Spring Conferences. I also want to thank our two students members that have come to the end of the term on the committee, Celia Alvarez-Campano and Marietta Sayegh, as well as two of our committee members who agreed to extend their time on the committee; these are Dr Karen Barton (Dundee Abertay University) and Dr Stuart Gray (Universty of Glasgow). The Committee extends a warm welcome to our two new student members of the Scottish Section committee, Ms Catriona Thomson (University of Glasgow) and Mr Matevz Arcon (Rowett Institute, University of Aberdeen). We are always looking to engage with our membership: if you are keen to join the committee or you have ideas for future symposia topics get in touch (http://www.nutritionsociety. org/membership/sections/scottish-section).