The Opening of Boyd Orr House

In celebration of The Nutrition Society’s 80th Anniversary, the Society’s headquarters was formally opened on 23 July 2021 by its President, Professor Julie Lovegrove. Originally due to be held in March 2021, the delay in the opening meant Boyd Orr House was officially opened exactly 80 years after the Society was founded.

Andy Slaughter, local MP for Hammersmith, unveiled the building sign. The Headquarters were named in honour of the Society’s first President, Sir John Boyd Orr, later Lord Boyd Orr.

The first meeting of the Society was held in London at the Royal Institution on 23 July 1941. A total of 28 people who represented different disciplines in nutrition attended, with Sir John Boyd Orr as Chair.

80 years on, the Society has grown to a membership of over 3,000, from across 85 countries around the world. The Society continues its mission to ‘advance the study of nutrition and its application to human and animal health’, an ambition which has not changed for 80 years.

Boyd Orr House

Originally purchased in 1990, and expanded in 2009, Boyd Orr House now boasts a state-of-the-art video conferencing suite, a library and meeting room which contains all the Society’s journal publications over the past 80 years, a smaller meeting room on the top floor, and enhanced and comfortable office space for the staff. The four main rooms have been named after eminent nutritional scientists, selected by the Society’s Honorary Fellows. These are Dr Elsie Widdowson; Dame Harriette Chick; Professor John Waterlow; and Professor Robert McCance.

It was a privilege to have Lord Boyd Orr’s granddaughter and great grandson join to celebrate both the building opening and the Society’s 80th Anniversary. Professor Julie Lovegrove’s full speech can be viewed on the Society’s website.