The Royal Microscopical Society have announced Allison Winton as their new Chief Executive.

Since 1839, the RMS has been championing microscopy, supporting scientists at all stages of their career and promoting the science to a wider audience. But behind the scenes, a dedicated team of office staff ensure the Society is serving its members and hosting high quality events to scientists all over the world.

Allison Winton, recently appointed Chief Executive of the Society, has been a part of this team for over 30 years and in that time has run more than 15 successful mmc events (previously MICROSCIENCE,) established the Corporate Advisory Board - building a closer partnership between the RMS and microscope companies, and led the organisation of the largest European Microscopy Congress to date, emc2012 in Manchester. Through organising these international events and attending RMS committee meetings for the past eight years, Allison has developed great and influential connections between the RMS and many prominent scientists and trade representatives. It is these networks, relationships and her deep understanding of the Society as a whole that make Allison a great leader for the future of the RMS.

On her appointment, Allison said “I feel incredibly honoured and privileged to be in this role, and I'm looking forward to steering the Society over the coming years. I am extremely lucky to have a very professional, highly motivated, friendly and enthusiastic team of staff in the office as well as an excellent range of scientific sections, outreach, journal and infocus committees and the corporate advisory board, who all have so much enthusiasm for being part of the RMS, and helping to develop and keep it on a secure and successful footing moving forward.”

“The next few years are going to be a busy and challenging time for the Society, and the RMS Office in particular. We are currently implementing a new CRM system, as well as a further upgrade to our website helping us to serve our members more effectively. We have a full programme of RMS events, as well as being appointed as the Professional Congress Organisers for ELMI 2018 in Dublin and the 2020 European Microscopy Congress in Copenhagen. The Society will be assessing microscopy training, and how this can be developed more, by setting up a focussed interest group. It is hoped that we can improve our working relationship with various Research Councils, and become more involved with lobbying as the 'voice' of microscopy. For me, the top priorities for the RMS are to serve the needs of our members and to continue being a facilitator and organiser of microscopy events and networking opportunities, which I feel go hand in hand.”

“My vision is for the Society to become the ‘go to’ place for anyone wanting to know anything about microscopy, imaging and cytometry!”

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