The goals for the Society’s charitable and professional activities in 2023 were focused on a number of key areas to continue working on delivering the strategic aims and meet charitable objectives.

Success is measured through benchmarking key metrics, setting growth targets and gathering data on agreed outcomes and impact to determine trends and improvements.

The completion of the Relevance Project delivered input from across the membership and wider stakeholders on what the Society will have to provide, and where so that it will be relevant to current members, and potential members of the future. The data and analysis will be reviewed to take forward into the next corporate plan.

The review of by-laws was approved by Privy Council and successfully implemented achieving the objective to streamline governance, and benchmarking has been set to measure the extent to which all paying members vote in General Elections.

The Society achieved its goal to be approved for a new L7 Systems Engineer Standard and will develop over the coming year for future delivery.

Building on The Aeronautical Journal’s status as a Transformative Journal, a record number of 357 papers were submitted for review achieving the objective to increase submissions and attract a broader range of research papers.

In terms of delivering of our responsibilities to provide public benefit, technical and policy papers on contrail management and sustainability were published however the Mental Health and Wellbeing paper was delayed until publication in 2024.

The aim of increasing engagement with UK MPs was boosted by research undertaken on recognition of the Society amongst politicians which has increased over the past 2 years.

The Society’s outreach programmes continued to encourage new generations to enter the industry with Phase 2 of the Falcon 2 Flight Simulator programme initiated, and the Education & Skills team participated in National Apprenticeship Week 2023 in March, the Big Bang Fair in June and RIAT in July.

Developing our membership

The Membership Development Team, with invaluable volunteer member support, have continued to be active in their engagement within the aerospace, aviation and space community, online and in person. We work closely with companies and volunteers to deliver a mix of online briefings, workshops and mentoring training, with over 36 of these delivered in 2023, achieving an increase of 20%.

The Membership and Registration webinar programme reached over 392 potential members and registrants.

In 2023, RAeS continued to encourage members to upgrade their membership to a higher grade, which is an essential activity to ensure that the membership reflects the appropriate level of skill and service to the industry.

RAeS continued to see support from Society members through the nomination process, encouraging Members and Fellows to nominate colleagues for membership through a streamlined application route, including over 287 nominations in 2023.

The Membership Team continued to promote and expand knowledge of the Society through attendance at a wide range of exhibitions and conferences covering various disciplines within aerospace, aviation and space. These included Advanced Engineering, the UK Space Conference, Global Air & Space Chiefs' Conference and the RAF’s Engineering Branch Conference.

Over 180 volunteers supported Membership, Registration and Accreditation Committees, Sub Panels and Assessor Groups through activities including assessing applications, conducting interviews, undertaking accreditation visits, and performing assessments.

At the end of 2023 the Royal Aeronautical Society had 25,477 total members, in 115 countries. It also had more than 350 industry, academic and charitable partners around the world.

Promoting professional standards

The Society continued to review academic programmes that provide the recognised level of understanding, knowledge and skills to underpin professional competence to help graduates on their way to registration as Chartered or Incorporated Engineers.

In 2023 we provided 103 Membership and Registration 1-to-1 support calls.

Accreditation

The Society has participated in a full schedule of virtual and in-person visits to review academic programmes and professional development schemes for accreditation, including 11 to Higher Education Institutions and 6 professional scheme visits.

The Society successfully re-accredited academic programmes to maintain accreditation of 35 Universities and Further Education Colleges and 13 Professional Development Schemes.

End Point Assessment

In total, End Point Assessment services were provided to over 75 aerospace, aviation, and advanced science and engineering employers across 5 different Apprenticeship Standards and, with thanks to our team of assessors, in 2023 completed 348 assessments for apprentices in the following disciplines:

• Engineering Technician – ST0457 (Level 3)

• Aircraft Certifying Technician – ST0019 (Level 4)

• Aerospace Engineer – ST0010 (Level 6)

• Aerospace Software Development Engineer – ST0013 (Level 6)

• Post graduate Engineer – ST0456 (Level 7)

We have worked with:

• 20+ Training Providers

• 75+ Employers, 47 of which directly operate within the aerospace and aviation sectors (including supply chain).

Sharing knowledge and stimulating debate

AEROSPACE

AEROSPACE coverage of the Future Combat Air & Space Summit in May made global headlines and significantly boosted the public profile of the Society, adding to the growing debate and discussion on AI and military aviation.

AEROSPACE magazine featured one of the first public interviews with the new RAF Chief of the Air Staff in the summer - as well as a special survey on advanced manufacturing trends, the first report on BAE Systems HAPS UAV flight and an article on Cranfield University's Saab 340 flying lab, to tie in with its official Royal opening.

2023 saw the launch of the new monthly AEROSPACE NOTAM podcast series, which rounds up aerospace, aviation and spaceflight news from the previous month, as well as previewing the upcoming issue of the magazine and future RAeS events.

In 2023 the AEROSPACE team reported from the Paris and Dubai Air Shows, which included a daily Insight blog and wrap-up news podcast, as well as other global events.

The AEROSPACE Insight blog received 378,506 page views in 2023.

The Aeronautical Journal

The Aeronautical Journal achieved a record number of submissions - 357 papers were submitted and a record 104 papers were published.

Papers downloaded from The Aeronautical Journal’s website during 2023 surpassed 200,000 for the first time.

A record 34% of papers were published as full open access.

AEROSPACE app

Approximately 1 in 5 members have now downloaded the AEROSPACE app.

Journal of Aeronautical History

Five new articles were added to the Journal of Aeronautical History.

Events

We welcomed 3,323 attendees to events at the Royal Aeronautical Society’s headquarters, No.4 Hamilton Place in London including:

• 834 attendees across 10 conferences and Specialist Group seminars

• 2,489 attendees across 20 talks, briefings, webinars and 8 social and networking events.

We launched AeroSoc Late events, including a Quiz night, Film night and Games night.

The National Aerospace Library

Members had access to over 600 e-books and over 2,000 full-text journals via the e-Library.

20 historic podcasts were released, including Interviews with the civil pioneers – a series of interviews with those who first took passengers and post to the other side of the world and The Fallen Eagle: the demise of the RAF's TSR-2, taken from the joint conference between the Society’s Aviation Heritage Specialist Group and the RAF Museum.

An additional 100 classic RAeS Conference proceedings are now available online.

Working with the FAST Museum and QinetiQ, we have released over 450 Royal Aircraft Establishment reports covering aerodynamics research at the time scientists were trying to get military and civil projects to beat the sound barrier.

Influencing opinion

In 2023 the Royal Aeronautical Society contributed valuable evidence to the House of Commons Defence Committee's paper 'Aviation procurement: winging it'. We were honoured to share insights and be invited to deliver oral evidence at a hearing earlier this year.

The Greener by Design Contrail Management Paper was produced and distributed on behalf of the Greener by Design Group.

The President for 2023-24, Kerissa Khan MRAeS, was invited to be a member of the World Economic Forum Global Future Councils.

Inspirational outreach programmes

Through Project Altitude events we reached at least 2,300 young people, of which at least 500 are low-income and 500 from rural areas.

We supported the Boeing Girls into Engineering Day, bringing girls from three different schools together to learn about aviation and aerospace, taking part in glider making activities and talks.

The Falcon 2 programme saw school children using their creative skills to design a flight simulator to enable able bodied and disabled people to experience the thrill of flying. Over 200 children from 13 schools participated in 2023. 27% of Phase 1 participants identified as SEND.

Cool Aeronautics

We held 11 events including 1 international event for Cool Aeronautics in 2023. Venues included RAF Halton, Manchester Aerozone, Connestoga College in Ontario (Canada), Shuttleworth Collection, Derby Airfield, National Space Centre in Leicester and at No.4 Hamilton Place in London.

Cool Aeronautics reached a total of 1,020 students both here in the UK and internationally.

We welcomed 90 children from London schools to participate in an engaging event with the theme of ‘Future of Flight’, to conclude the President’s Conference in September.

The Futures Awards Committee was formed in March 2023 to oversee the launch and review of the newly created Futures Scholarship Awards.

• 17 individual applications and 4 team applications were received.

• 5 individual applications were given an award with another 2 awards given to team applications.

The careers team attended several external events, including several university careers fairs as well as Further Education colleges and secondary schools to deliver talks and workshops.

The annual Big Bang STEM Fair led by Engineering UK took place at the NEC in Birmingham welcoming over 10,000 children across 3 days.

Working alongside other partners such as The CAA and British Airways, we were able to showcase the Society and host some engaging STEM-based activities for the attendees.

In July we exhibited at the Royal International Air Tattoo (RIAT) at RAF Fairford, led by the RAF Charitable Trust. We had a stand showcasing the Society with activities and were available to provide career advice to those with an interest in embarking on a career in aerospace. We were supported by several apprentices from Boeing and volunteers who were with us for the duration of the event.

Careers in Aviation and Aerospace LIVE welcomed 700 attendees from all age groups. The annual recruitment fair featured 22 exhibitors from different parts of the sector and 20 talks were delivered by industry professionals throughout the day.

University visits

The Society continues to encourage young people to pursue a career in the aerospace, aviation and space industries and support learners through our offer of free Apprentice and Student Affiliate membership with access to mentoring, knowledge resources, networking opportunities, awards and scholarships.

The Society continues to work with UK and international academic institutions to promote the benefits of membership to those at various levels of study, with over 2,900 full-time students joining the Society in 2023.

The Membership and Education and Skills team presented to 37 Universities and Further Education Colleges, through live webinars and in-person visits.

Over 160 Apprentices joined the Society in 2023.

Promoting Equity, Diversity & Inclusion

Our woman-to-woman Alta mentoring programme won the ESRC Impact prize for work on empowering women in aviation The prize is issued by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), the UK's largest funder of economic, social, behavioural and human data science. 

• Over 400 users with 124 live relationships and we welcomed over 50 people to a networking event at the Farnborough Air Show in July

Delivered 4 EDI webinars and events across the year engaging with over 120 participants to shape discussions and policies including the introduction of a new discrimination reporting feedback system.

Recognition and celebration of outstanding achievements

Although increasingly significant projects are delivered by teams there were some individuals who have made specific contributions who we felt should be recognised with Society Medals. No Gold Medals in 2023 were awarded although 1 Silver and 2 Bronze Medal recipients were identified together with 5 Specialist Group Named Award recipients this year. The Medals and Awards Committee was pleased to identify two Silver Team medal recipients for 2023, this reflected the increased in impact and innovation being achieved by teams rather than individuals. The Society were pleased to award the Young Person’s Achievement Award, four Young Person’s Commendations together with the Alan Marsh Award and the Herbert le Sueur Award.

Governance

We gained Privy Council approval, and then agreement from the membership at a Special General Meeting (where proxy voting was enabled for the first time) on changes to our By-Laws. This included the change to enable all paying members to vote in future General Meetings.