FROM THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE

Jon Poole Chief executive, IFST

Over the last few months we have been doing a lot of looking forward. In November we launched our Membership Survey, which provides us important insights every two years, into what you, our members, expect from your Institute in terms of the services and support we offer.

During December we invited all our members to contribute to our horizon scanning survey and this was followed in January by a fascinating horizon scanning workshop aimed at teasing out and understanding some of the critical points raised by our members in that survey. This has been the first such process IFST has undertaken, sponsored by both our Scientific and External Affairs Committees. The outputs from this exercise will help inform some of the Institute's future scientific and policy activities. We are also planning on publishing an externally facing report, which we believe will provide hugely valuable insights for food professionals and the food sector as a whole.

In January we held our annual strategy planning session with our board and incoming trustees – this is the start of a planning process that will inform our business plan, which comes into place from 1 October 2021.

We cannot ignore, of course, the current huge challenges for food professionals and the whole food supply chain resulting from the combined impacts of COVID, EU Exit and recurring bad weather conditions – what some people have referred to as the ‘perfect storm’. These continue to be a major focus for all of us right now. But it has also been extremely beneficial to take time to look up from the ‘here and now’ and consider how we will need to re‐invent ourselves for the world as it will be as we move out of this current paradigm.

We have two significant events in the Institute's calendar to look forward to over the next couple of months. Our Members’ Week events are taking place between 2‐4 March. This year we have put together a wide‐ranging programme aimed at providing you, our members, with an opportunity to ‘meet’ with fellow members and learn more about how to get the most from your Institute.

We are also putting the final touches to our Spring Conference, which will take place virtually from 26 April ‐ 7 May. You will find more on both these events online and in this issue. Most of all, we look forward to meeting again with you, our members, in better times and in person!

中文翻译：

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总裁和IFST新闻

从行政长官

乔恩·普尔（Jon Poole），IFST首席执行官

在过去的几个月中，我们一直在做着很多期待。11月，我们启动了会员调查，每两年向我们提供重要的见解，以了解您，我们的会员对贵机构在我们提供的服务和支持方面的期望。

在12月，我们邀请所有成员为我们的视野扫描调查做出贡献，随后在1月举行了一次有趣的视野扫描讲习班，旨在讲解和理解我们的成员在该调查中提出的一些关键点。这是IFST在我们的科学和对外事务委员会的共同赞助下开展的第一个此类过程。此练习的输出将有助于为研究所未来的一些科学和政策活动提供信息。我们还计划发布一份面向外部的报告，我们相信该报告将为食品专业人员和整个食品行业提供宝贵的见解。

1月，我们与董事会和新任受托人举行了年度战略计划会议，这是计划流程的开始，该流程将为我们的业务计划提供依据，该计划将于2021年10月1日生效。

当然，我们不能忽视由于COVID，欧盟出口和反复出现的恶劣天气等综合影响而给食品专业人员和整个食品供应链带来的巨大挑战，有些人将其称为“完美风暴”。这些仍然是我们所有人目前的主要关注点。但是，花些时间从“现在和现在”进行查找并考虑当我们脱离当前范式时，我们将需要如何为世界重新发明自己，这也是非常有益的。

该研究所的日程安排中有两项重大活动，希望在未来的几个月中继续进行。我们的会员周活动将于3月2日至4日举行。今年，我们制定了广泛的计划，旨在为您（我们的会员）提供与其他会员“会面”的机会，并了解更多有关如何从您的研究所获得最大收益的信息。

我们还将为春季会议（即将于4月26日至5月7日举行）进行最后的修改。您将在网上和本期中找到有关这些事件的更多信息。最重要的是，我们期待与您和我们的成员在美好的时光里再次见面！