The ambition

The Royal Society is one of the world’s most renowned and respected scientific institutions. Its mission is “to promote excellence in science and the application of science for the benefit of humanity”. The Royal Society delivers this mission through three linked, but distinct, roles:

1. As a Fellowship (and Foreign Membership), the Royal Society is a diverse, representative, and engaged network of excellence, comprised of the world’s most pre-eminent scientists, and respecting scientific excellence in all its forms.

2. As a National Academy, the Royal Society represents the UK and collaborates with international partners to advocate for science and its benefits. This includes the Royal Society and its Fellowship continuing to be a critical source of expertise and evidence for informing policy through science.

3. As a charity, the Royal Society ensures that its activity is focussed on public benefit, either delivered directly through its activity or indirectly through its influence.

To succeed in these roles, the Royal Society requires a resilient, robust, and effective governance system that aligns with current best practices and which reflects the unique history and character of the organisation.

The Royal Society commissioned Firetail, alongside our partner PG Collective, to conduct an independent review of their governance effectiveness. The objectives were to:

1. Review the effectiveness of the Royal Society Council and Audit Committee structures.

2. Review the integration of these structures with the wider governance system of the Royal Society subcommittees and other governance structures.

3. Recommend options to maximise the effectiveness of the Royal Society’s governance by enhancing strengths, and addressing any issues, identified in the review.

Our approach

The Royal Society is an historic and unique organisation, playing a crucial leadership role in the scientific endeavour in the UK and internationally.

We worked in close consultation with the Royal Society President, Council and Chief Executive to look at the effectiveness of the governance system across the three roles the Royal Society’s fulfils, while recognising the unique character and context of the organisation.

Thinking about governance as a system helps organisations to take a broader perspective, by considering the structures, roles, relationships, processes, and information flows required for effective governance.

To do this, we drew on Julia Unwin’s 5S model as a robust and modern framework for reviewing governance effectiveness. This model looks at the effectiveness of a governance system across 5 themes:

Strategy

To develop and set strategic direction. Those fulfilling this role make strategy. They consult the experts and their stakeholders but, in the end, they set the direction and make the big decisions.

Support

To provide direct support to the staff team and in support of the mission. Those fulfilling this role don’t just encourage, but also enable, the organisation to run well by ensuring that the infrastructure of the organisation works, that systems work, and that staff are employed and looked after.

Scrutiny

To challenge and scrutinise plans, ensuring a robust decision-making process. Those fulfilling a scrutiny function examine the propositions put to them, constructively challenging and holding them to account, and ensuring the process by which decisions have been taken is clear.

Stewardship

To protect the assets, long-term sustainability, and manage key risks. Those fulfilling stewardship functions guard the assets of the organisation. They protect the assets, the reputation, and manage risk and compliance.

Stretch

To stretch the organisation to aim for greater impact. Those fulfilling stretch function take a broader look and ask challenging questions around whether more could be done to advance the mission or fulfil the strategy.

The impact

Firetail provided a comprehensive set of findings on the Royal Society’s governance effectiveness, identifying areas of particular strength as well as opportunities for improving effectiveness. These findings informed recommendations designed to preserve existing strengths while implementing practical improvements to increase the effectiveness of the Royal Society’s governance.

This balance was achieved by ensuring that the recommendations:

1. Recognised and protected the unique strengths of the Royal Society and its Council, especially the stewardship it provides to the Fellowship and the leadership it provides for the scientific community in the UK and internationally.

2. Maintained the primacy of scientific excellence in the governance of the Royal Society to protect the critical leadership role the Society plays in promoting excellence in science for the benefit of humanity.

3. Protected the time for Council to be proactive in setting strategic direction for the Royal Society and providing leadership for the scientific endeavour.

We also delivered recommendations that were able to identify creative mechanisms for increasing governance effectiveness within the boundaries of the existing Royal Society charter.

These practical, actionable, and well-evidenced recommendations that this review delivered were all accepted by the Royal Society President and Council and are now being rolled out across the Society.