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Member survey results: You spoke. We listened.

13 August 2024

It’s been a year since we asked our members to share their thoughts about the IOP and we have been implementing improvements across our organisation and developing new projects and strategies based on your feedback. 

In the most comprehensive IOP member survey this decade and follow-up focus groups we asked for your views on the IOP, suggestions for how we could improve and ideas for what our future priorities should be. In this update, we set out what you told us – and how we are going to continue to make changes. 

Your views of the IOP

Overall, it was encouraging to see the level of support and satisfaction members have for the IOP. 

  • 79% of members (all figures are based on the 2,586 who responded to the survey, unless stated) rate the IOP as ‘good’ or ‘excellent’, significantly higher than the 66% benchmark for similar membership organisations.
  • 85% of members say they are proud to be a member of the IOP and 84% believe that physics is stronger because of the IOP. 

However, there were areas where some members expressed less satisfaction with the IOP and our work. A portion of members feel the IOP could do more to enhance their career (21%). And some feel we don’t make it easy enough for members to contribute views and shape our work (20%), while 16% said they did not feel sufficiently supported by us.  

These areas for improvement have been a key focus for our action plan, which you can read more about below. 

Your future priorities for the IOP 

Encouraging and supporting the future generation should be a top future priority for the IOP, according to 76% of members, along with fighting stereotypes that put off young people (56%) and boosting the number of physics teachers (55%).

Being a voice and champion for physics was members’ second highest overall priority for the IOP, with 70% ranking this as a priority, alongside influencing governments and national stakeholders (64%) and generating positive media coverage for the profession (54%).

The final top priority for members was the IOP’s role as a professional body. Over half (62%) said being a home for the physics community should be a priority, along with supporting members’ professional development (60%), providing networking opportunities (52%) and helping build a thriving, diverse and inclusive physics community (51%).  

When we asked members what benefits and services they most value, Physics World magazine, designatory letters, professional registration, our Special Interest Groups, and Nations and Branches events all ranked highly. 

Taking action

Our new strategy, Physics for our Future, reflects the top priorities you gave us for the future and what you want from us as a professional body.

With its focus on skills, science and society, it sets out how we will encourage the next generation, champion physics science and innovation, celebrate the human impact of physics, and unleash physics’ potential to build a better world. It also outlines a fundamental focus on members and explains how we will continue to develop our offer to our membership.  

Alongside this focus, we have explored what action we can take to improve our offer to you now and in the future. 

Supporting you at each stage of your career

“My career has progressed from physics to engineering covering both industry and government. Being a member of the IOP has certainly supported my career development over the years.” IOP Member 

Many members in our focus groups and responding to our survey talked about how IOP membership has helped their career and development, and this was a key future priority for members. But one in five members felt we could do even more in this area.  

  • We will undertake a review of our Chartered Physicist registration.
  • We will offer a range of CPD activities for members, including a webinar series for professional registrants, and training workshops for students and early career physicists.
  • We will actively look for ways that we can help to improve our members' wellbeing and offer them support. 

Bringing members together

“The IOP has helped me reconnect with people I have not met in five years in different circumstances. I am proud of the community that has been built.” IOP Member 

Members spoke enthusiastically of their experience with the IOP and enjoy the sense of community that has been fostered. But some members felt that they needed more support to shape our work, network with peers, and get more involved in the IOP. Some students and members who worked in industry also requested more events with content tailored to them.

  • We will offer more support to our branches to work locally and regionally to bring members together.
  • We will continue to bring our community together to celebrate our award winners and do that across the regions, and Vice-President visits will coincide with member-led events and regional conferences.
  • There will be a greater focus on career support, professional development, guidance and tailored events to meet the requirements of our members working in industry and improve our offer for PhD students and early career physicists. 

Improving our membership offer

“Scientists, like any community, are most effective showing solidarity and strength in numbers.” IOP Member 

Most members said that they are proud to be a member and that physics is stronger with the IOP. But we need to ensure that our offer for members is relevant, engaging, inclusive and fit for purpose, so that the physics community can actively participate in our work. In doing so, we will grow our membership, strengthening our voice and the expertise within the IOP community.

The top reasons members give for being an IOP member are to receive Physics World magazine and to be part of the physics community. Although awareness is high for most services on offer, we need to improve the awareness of our bespoke training services and to share the benefits of our influencing work.

  • We will review the member offer especially in terms of the value and benefits that members receive according to their grade and career stages and seek balance between the needs of those working across a range of physics-based sectors.
  • We will increase awareness of the benefits of membership with new welcome events and online tools.
  • We will be more transparent with our influencing work such as our general election campaign and share more reports and data with our members.

We would like to thank everyone who took part in our survey and shared their views, so that we can better understand and meet the needs of our members.  

If you would like to find out more about the research and the action we are taking or have any questions about becoming a member or getting more out of your IOP membership, please contact us.