The trustees present their report and financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2021.
The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the accounting policies set out in note 1 to the financial statements and comply with the charity's Memorandum and Articles of Association , the Companies Act 2006 and "Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) (effective 1 January 2019)".
The charity's object ive s are to promote and protect the physical and mental health of sufferers of lung disease and its related risks, primarily in Europe; to advance the education and understanding of the public about lung disease and its related risk factors; to promote research into lung disease for the public benefit.
The European Lung Foundation aims to bring together patients and the public with respiratory professionals. The charitable company works to communicate and translate into European languages the work of respiratory professionals to those outside the respiratory field. The European Lung Foundation also works to ensure that people with lung diseases and the general public have the opportunity to influence respiratory research and guidelines at the European level .
The trustees have referred to the guidance contained in the Charity Commission 's general guidance on public benefit when reviewing the charity's aims and objectives and in planning future activities . All the activities are undertaken to further the charity's charitable purposes for the public benefit .
The European Lung Foundation has achieved its charitable objectives by educating people across Europe about lung health and disease , as is proved through its website and social media statistics and media and press clippings. It has also increased the accessibility of health professionals and the scientific community to patients through its engagement of patient organisations in the work of the European Lung Foundation.
Specific achievements of the European Lung Foundation during the year were as follows:
General
MEP Lung Health Group formed
New ELF Chair in place
ELF strategy developed and finalised
ELF Award presented to all healthcare workers in the fight against COVID-19 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Npj3NbmW3eQ
COPD art contest run (with >50 submissions)
ELF board modified – now a 50/50 split ERS leadership/patients
Website
Website stats - 1.6 m sessions / 1.4 m users
Social media followers and interactions increased
Launched Instagram
New ELF website launched
Factsheets
7 factsheets produced in 24 languages
Number of factsheet downloads over year 53,218
EU Projects
Involved in 8 applications
3 successful (UNITE4TB, OPTIMA, EURISE-REST)
5 ongoing (3TR, BETTER-B, DiscovAIR, FAIR, DRAGON)
Patient Input
United Patient Advisory Group (UPAG) set up (one representative from each PAG) and first meeting run
4 new PAGs in COVID-19, PCD, PF and Aspergillosis
Patient involvement in more than 35 ERS projects, including 20 Task Forces and 15 CRCs
Involved in 11 publications
Patient Priorities
Sarcoidosis patient priorities website launched (April 2020)
Lung cancer treatment decision aid launched in German and English
Survey on journey to diagnosis and airway clearance for people with bronchiectasis
Survey on research priorities for paediatric bronchiectasis with healthcare professionals
Involved in 3 publications
Patients At Congress
Successful first Virtual Patient organisation networking day
First patient conference held on bronchiectasis
Patient speakers in ERS virtual congress 2020
EPAP
119 learners enrolled in EPAP with 288 fully completed modules: 227 EN, 7 FR, 42 NL, 0 DE, 11 IT, 1 ES.
Content review undertaken.
HLfL
New materials developed for HLfL during COVID-19
First Virtual Congress challenge held to raise funds for HLFL
First round of HLfL Global Grants given (35 applications) - events held in: Pakistan, Africa, Nigeria, UK
Second round of grants given (60 applications) - events held in: Nepal, Pakistan, Bulgaria, Croatia, Tanzania
Fundraising
Created fundraising strategy
Created documents and process
New Support Us section on website created
The charity's total income for the year was £ 6 6 2 , 735 (20 20 : £ 9 6 2 , 792 ). Expenditure amounted to £ 630 , 647 (20 20 : £6 12 , 019 ) leaving a surplus of £ 32,088 (20 20 : £ 350 , 773 ). Restricted funds totalled £137,793 (2020: £ 16,475) and unrestricted funds £699,711 (2020: £ 788 , 941) , of which £ 679 , 604 were freely available.
It is the policy of the charity that unrestricted funds which have not been designated for a specific use are maintained at a limited level. Generally speaking, reserves are aimed to be kept at around 6-9 months of expenditure - such that they are of sufficient size to act as a buffer zone for any unforeseen costs to ensure the charity can continue its current activities in the forthcoming year. Due to the financial pressures incurred by ERS in 2020/21 in relation to the inability to hold its annual congress, the ELF repaid some reserves.
The principal funding source of the charity continued to be European Respiratory Society (Lausanne). The funds provided have been utilised to further the objectives as described above.
The trustees have assessed the major risks to which the charity is exposed, and are satisfied that systems are in place to mitigate exposure to the major risks.
The major risks include a loss of income from the European Respiratory Society. This is mitigated by a contract between the parties ensuring that European Lung Foundation will have notice of more than one financial year in advance of any changes in planned funding. This time will enable European Lung Foundation to find alternative sources of funding, if required.
Another risk facing the charity is the loss of EU funding. This risk is mitigated by ensuring that the charity is involved in as many project applications as it has capacity using different EU funding streams. EU funding makes up a limited amount of the overall income and so would have limited affect, should funding be lost. ELF has also opened a branch office in Brussels to mitigate any effects of Brexit.
ELF has now employed a full-time fundraiser and recruited a fundraising expert to the board to further investigate funding options, including individuals, foundations and companies.
The aims of the European Lung Foundation in 2021/22 are to continue to translate the work of respiratory professionals to the public and patients to improve knowledge about lung disease specifically: management of the lay press and media activities of the ERS; running and coordinating a global lung awareness campaign called Healthy Lungs for Life in collaboration with the European Respiratory Society; growing the new website; developing patient information.
To improve patient and public influence on respiratory health and medicine, European Lung Foundation will: ensure that its structure is fit for purpose; update, promote and translate its patient training programme (European Patient Ambassador Programme) to facilitate patient and the public to interact with healthcare professionals, politicians and the media; work with scientific guideline groups in Europe to ensure that patient and public input is possible and facilitated; further strengthen its network of patients organisations and the work that they do.
The European Lung Foundation will also continue working on its current EU projects, as well as being involved with a number of new project applications in 2021/22 - fitting into both of the aims of the European Lung Foundation.
During 2020 and 2021, the COVID19 global pandemic occurred. COVID has impacted ELF in the following ways: all staff have been working from home since March 2020; demands on ELF time have increased due to requests and questions from patients; increased need to provide timely and evidence-based information about COVID; inability to travel from meetings and events; unavailability of patients for ELF activities due to shielding. ELF's income is impacted as its primary funder (ERS) has been unable to hold its annual conference face to face, which means that the budget requested from ERS by ELF has been limited.
To mitigate this ELF has been successful in securing some alternative funding: ELF now has a permanent fundraiser who is looking for and applying for grant opportunities on a regular basis.
The trustees, who are also the directors for the purpose of company law, and who served during the year and up to the date of signature of the financial statements were:
The European Lung Foundation Council is the main decision-making body of the charitable company. This is made up of five members of the European Respiratory Society and five other members. Meetings of the Council are held a minimum of 3 times a year and decisions are made via majority vote. Members of the Council include the directors of the charitable company. The Director of the European Lung Foundation makes decisions about the everyday running of the charitable company based on a work plan and budget agreed annually with the European Lung Foundation Council. The Director of the European Lung Foundation may from time to time consult with the European Lung Foundation Chair and Secretary (both of whom are directors) for approval on certain decisions.
All new trustees will meet with the European Lung Foundation Director and Chair immediately after their appointment. In this meeting the functioning of the charity and the trustee's role and responsibilities will be outlined in detail together with an accompanying document. If required, new trustees are invited to the European Lung Foundation office in Sheffield to provide a more in-depth overview of the foundation's activities and to meet the staff.
The pay of key management personnel is reviewed annually in December. The Director of the European Lung Foundation proposes a salary increment and bonus, which is benchmarked against other comparable positions in the UK. Two members of the ERS leadership then assess the level of proposed pay and modify as appropriate before giving their approval.
The trustees' r eport was approved by the Board of Trustees.
The trustees, who are also the directors of European Lung Foundation for the purpose of company law, are responsible for preparing the Trustees' Report and the accounts in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).
Company law requires the trustees to prepare accounts for each financial year which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charity and of the incoming resources and application of resources, including the income and expenditure, of the charitable company for that year.
In preparing these accounts, the trustees are required to:
- select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently;
- observe the methods and principles in the Charities SORP;
- make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent;
- state whether applicable UK Accounting Standards have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the accounts; and
- prepare the accounts on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charity will continue in operation.
The trustees are responsible for keeping adequate accounting records that disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charity and enable them to ensure that the accounts comply with the Companies Act 2006. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charity and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.
Opinion
We have audited the financial statements of European Lung Foundation (the ‘charity’) for the year ended 31 March 2021 which comprise the statement of financial activities, the balance sheet, the statement of cash flows and the notes to the financial statements, including significant accounting policies. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including FRS 102 The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice) .
In our opinion, the financial statements:
We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK) (ISAs (UK)) and applicable law. Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the Auditor's responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements section of our report. We are independent of the charity in accordance with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the financial statements in the UK, including the FRC’s Ethical Standard, and we have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.
In auditing the financial statements, we have concluded that the trustees' use of the going concern basis of accounting in the preparation of the financial statements is appropriate.
Based on the work we have performed, we have not identified any material uncertainties relating to events or conditions that, individually or collectively, may cast significant doubt on the charity’s ability to continue as a going concern for a period of at least twelve months from when the financial statements are authorised for issue.
Our responsibilities and the responsibilities of the trustees with respect to going concern are described in the relevant sections of this report.
Other information
The other information comprises the information included in the annual report other than the financial statements and our auditor's report thereon. The trustees are responsible for the other information contained within the annual report. Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information and, except to the extent otherwise explicitly stated in our report, we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon. Our responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so, consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent with the financial statements or our knowledge obtained in the course of the audit, or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If we identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, we are required to determine whether this gives rise to a material misstatement in the financial statements themselves. If, based on the work we have performed, we conclude that there is a material misstatement of this other information, we are required to report that fact.
We have nothing to report in this regard.
In our opinion, based on the work undertaken in the course of our audit:
the information given in the trustees' r eport, which includes the d irectors ' r eport prepared for the purposes of company law, for the financial year for which the financial statements are prepared is consistent with the financial statements; and
the d irectors ' r eport included within the trustees' r eport has been prepared in accordance with applicable legal requirements.
In the light of the knowledge and understanding of the charity and its environment obtained in the course of the audit, we have not identified material misstatements in the d irectors ' r eport included within the trustees' r eport.
We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the Companies Act 2006 requires us to report to you if, in our opinion:
adequate accounting records have not been kept, or returns adequate for our audit have not been received from branches not visited by us; or
the financial statements are not in agreement with the accounting records and returns; or
we have not received all the information and explanations we require for our audit .
the trustees were not entitled to prepare the financial statements in accordance with the small companies regime and take advantage of the small companies' exemptions in preparing the trustees' r eport and from the requirement to prepare a s trategic r eport.
As explained more fully in the s tatement of trustees' r esponsibilities, the trustees, who are also the directors of the charity for the purpose of company law, are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements and for being satisfied that they give a true and fair view, and for such internal control as the trustees determine is necessary to enable the preparation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error. In preparing the financial statements, the trustees are responsible for assessing the charity’s ability to continue as a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters related to going concern and using the going concern basis of accounting unless the trustees either intend to liquidate the charitable company or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.
Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an auditor's report that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with ISAs (UK) will always detect a material misstatement when it exists. Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these financial statements.
Irregularities, including fraud, are instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations. We design procedures in line with our responsibilities, outlined above, to detect material misstatements in respect of irregularities, including fraud. The extent to which our procedures are capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud, is detailed below .
Based on our understanding of the c harit y and the sector in which it operates, we identified the principal risks of non-compliance with laws and regulations related to the acts by the c harit y, which were contrary to applicable laws and regulations including fraud, and we considered the extent to which non-compliance might have a material effect on the financial statements. We also considered those laws and regulations that have a direct impact on the preparation of the financial statements such as the Companies Act 2006. We evaluated management’s incentives and opportunities for fraudulent manipulation of the financial statements (including the risk of override of controls), and determined that the principal risks were related to inflated revenue and the charity's net income for the year .
Audit procedures performed included: review of the financial statement disclosures to underlying supporting documentation, review of correspondence with and reports to the regulators, including correspondence with the Charity Commission, review of correspondence with legal advisors, enquiries of management and review of internal audit reports in so far as they related to the financial statements, and in testing of journals and evaluating whether there was evidence of bias by the trustees that represented a risk of material misstatement due to fraud.
There are inherent limitations in the audit procedures described above and the further removed non-compliance with laws and regulations is from the events and transactions reflected in the financial statements, the less likely we would become aware of it. Also, the risk of not detecting a material misstatement due to fraud is higher than the risk of not detecting one resulting from error, as fraud may involve deliberate concealment by, for example, forgery or intentional misrepresentations, or through collusion.
A further description of our responsibilities is available on the Financial Reporting Council’s website at: http s ://www.frc.org.uk/auditorsresponsibilities. This description forms part of our auditor's report.
Use of our report
This report is made solely to the charitable company's members, as a body, in accordance with Chapter 3 of Part 16 of the Companies Act 2006. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the charitable company's members those matters we are required to state to them in an auditors' report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the charitable company and the charitable company’s members as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.
The statement of financial activities includes all gains and losses recognised in the year.
All income and expenditure derive from continuing activities.
European Lung Foundation is a private company limited by guarantee incorporated in England and Wales. The registered office is 442 Glossop Road, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, S10 2PX.
The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the charity's Memorandum and Articles of Association, the Companies Act 2006 and "Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) (effective 1 January 2019)". The charity is a Public Benefit Entity as defined by FRS 102.
The accounts are prepared in sterling , which is the functional currency of the charity. The Charity also uses Euros as a functional currency. Monetary a mounts in these financial statements are rounded to the nearest £.
The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention. The principal accounting policies adopted are set out below.
At the time of approving the financial statements, the trustees have a reasonable expectation that the charity has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future. In making that assessment, the trustees have specifically considered the impact of the coronavirus on the operations of the charity, alongside actions taken to mitigate that impact. Thus the trustees continue to adopt the going concern basis of accounting in preparing the financial statements.
Unrestricted funds are available for use at the discretion of the trustees in furtherance of their charitable objectives.
Restricted funds are subject to specific conditions by donors as to how they may be used. The purposes and uses of the restricted funds are set out in the notes to the financial statements.
Resources expended are recognised in the year in which they are incurred. Resources expended are allocated to headings in the statement of financial activities based on the actual purpose of the expenditure.
Charitable activities represent the direct costs incurred in the provision of the company's services, and include all support costs.
Governance costs represent costs of managing and administering the charitable company as a statutory vehicle.
Intangible assets acquired separately from a business are recognised at cost and are subsequently measured at cost less accumulated amortisation and accumulated impairment losses.
Intangible assets acquired on business combinations are recognised separately from goodwill at the acquisition date where it is probable that the expected future economic benefits that are attributable to the asset will flow to the entity and the fair value of the asset can be measured reliably; the intangible asset arises from contractual or other legal rights; and the intangible asset is separable from the entity.
Amortisation is recognised so as to write off the cost or valuation of assets less their residual values over their useful lives on the following bases:
Tangible fixed assets are initially measured at cost and subsequently measured at cost or valuation, net of depreciation and any impairment losses.
Depreciation is recognised so as to write off the cost or valuation of assets less their residual values over their useful lives on the following bases:
The gain or loss arising on the disposal of an asset is determined as the difference between the sale proceeds and the carrying value of the asset, and is recognised in net income/(expenditure) for the year.
At each reporting end date, the charity reviews the carrying amounts of its tangible and intangible assets to determine whether there is any indication that those assets have suffered an impairment loss. If any such indication exists, the recoverable amount of the asset is estimated in order to determine the extent of the impairment loss (if any ) .
Recoverable amount is the higher of fair value less costs to sell and value in use. In assessing value in use, the estimated future cash flows are discounted to their present value using a pre-tax discount rate that reflects current market assessments of the time value of money and the risks specific to the asset for which the estimates of future cash flows have not been adjusted.
If the recoverable amount of an asset is estimated to be less than its carrying amount, the carrying amount of the asset is reduced to its recoverable amount. An impairment loss is recognised immediately in income/(expenditure) for the year , unless the relevant asset is carried at a revalued amount, in which case the impairment loss is treated as a revaluation decrease.
Recognised impairment losses are reversed if, and only if, the reasons for the impairment loss have ceased to apply. Where an impairment loss subsequently reverses, the carrying amount of the asset is increased to the revised estimate of its recoverable amount, but so that the increased carrying amount does not exceed the carrying amount that would have been determined had no impairment loss been recognised for the asset in prior years. A reversal of an impairment loss is recognised immediately, unless the relevant asset is carried in at a revalued amount, in which case the reversal of the impairment loss is treated as a revaluation increase.
Cash and cash equivalents include cash in hand, deposits held at call with banks, other short-term liquid investments with original maturities of three months or less, and bank overdrafts. Bank overdrafts are shown within borrowings in current liabilities.
The charity has elected to apply the provisions of Section 11 ‘Basic Financial Instruments’ and Section 12 ‘Other Financial Instruments Issues’ of FRS 102 to all of its financial instruments.
Financial instruments are recognised in the charity's balance sheet when the charity becomes party to the contractual provisions of the instrument.
Financial assets and liabilities are offset, with the net amounts presented in the financial statements, when there is a legally enforceable right to set off the recognised amounts and there is an intention to settle on a net basis or to realise the asset and settle the liability simultaneously.
Basic financial assets, which include debtors and cash and bank balances, are initially measured at transaction price including transaction costs and are subsequently carried at amortised cost using the effective interest method unless the arrangement constitutes a financing transaction, where the transaction is measured at the present value of the future receipts discounted at a market rate of interest. Financial assets classified as receivable within one year are not amortised.
Financial assets, other than those held at fair value through income and expenditure, are assessed for indicators of impairment at each reporting date. Financial assets are impaired where there is objective evidence that, as a result of one or more events that occurred after the initial recognition of the financial asset, the estimated future cash flows have been affected.
If an asset is impaired, the impairment loss is the difference between the carrying amount and the present value of the estimated cash flows discounted at the asset’s original effective interest rate. The impairment loss is recognised in net income/(expenditure) for the year.
If there is a decrease in the impairment loss arising from an event occurring after the impairment was recognised, the impairment is reversed. The reversal is such that the current carrying amount does not exceed what the carrying amount would have been, had the impairment not previously been recognised. The impairment reversal is recognised in net income/(expenditure) for the year.
Financial assets are derecognised only when the contractual rights to the cash flows from the asset expire or are settled, or when the charity transfers the financial asset and substantially all the risks and rewards of ownership to another entity, or if some significant risks and rewards of ownership are retained but control of the asset has transferred to another party that is able to sell the asset in its entirety to an unrelated third party.
Basic financial liabilities, including trade and other payables, are initially recognised at transaction price unless the arrangement constitutes a financing transaction, where the debt instrument is measured at the present value of the future receipts discounted at a market rate of interest. Debt instruments are subsequently carried at amortised cost, using the effective interest rate method.
Trade payables are obligations to pay for goods or services that have been acquired in the ordinary course of operations from suppliers. Accounts payable are classified as current liabilities if payment is due within one year or less. If not, they are presented as non-current liabilities. Trade payables are recognised initially at transaction price and subsequently measured at amortised cost using the effective interest method.
Financial liabilities are derecognised when the charity’s contractual obligations expire or are discharged or cancelled.
The cost of any unused holiday entitlement is recognised in the period in which the employee’s services are received.
Termination benefits are recognised immediately as an expense when the charity is demonstrably committed to terminate the employment of an employee or to provide termination benefits.
Payments to defined contribution retirement benefit schemes are charged as an expense as they fall due.
Transactions in currencies other than pounds sterling are recorded at the rates of exchange prevailing at the dates of the transactions. At each reporting end date, monetary assets and liabilities that are denominated in foreign currencies are retranslated at the rates prevailing on the reporting end date. Gains and losses arising on translation are included in net income/(expenditure) for the period.
In the application of the charity’s accounting policies, the trustees are required to make judgements, estimates and assumptions about the carrying amount of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. The estimates and associated assumptions are based on historical experience and other factors that are considered to be relevant. Actual results may differ from these estimates.
The estimates and underlying assumptions are reviewed on an ongoing basis. Revisions to accounting estimates are recognised in the period in which the estimate is revised where the revision affects only that period, or in the period of the revision and future periods where the revision affects both current and future periods. There are no judgements or estimates which have a significant risk of causing a material adjustment to the carrying amount of assets and liabilities.
The company received unrestricted income under a service agreement of £367,181 (2020 - £726,001) from European Respiratory Society during the year.
In addition, the company received restricted grants during the year as follows:- 3TR - £17,991 (2020 - £20,300); DiscovAir £22,583 (2020: £nil); Dragon Project £167,266 (2020: £nil); FAIR Project £976 (2020: £nil).
Rental income
Publishing costs
Media and marketing costs
Allowances and honorariums
Recruitment and training
Staff travel
Entertaining
Rent and service charges
Telephone
Computer costs
Legal and professional
Bank charges
Exchange rate variance
Subscriptions
Insurance
Governance costs includes payments to the auditors of £1,650 (2020: £1,600) for audit fees and legal and professional fees includes payments to the auditors of £1,650 (2020: £1,600) for other services carried out during the year.
None of the trustees (or any persons connected with them) received any remuneration during the year, but one of them w as reimbursed a total of £ 63 in expenses , in relation to travelling and subsistence ( 2020: two were reimbursed £ 3,989 ).
The average monthly number of employees during the year was:
Contributions totalling £3,418 (2020: £3,296) were made to a defined contribution pension scheme on behalf of the employee whose emoluments exceed £60,000.
The charity operates a defined contribution pension scheme for all qualifying employees. The assets of the scheme are held separately from those of the charity in an independently administered fund.
The charge to profit and loss in respect of defined contribution schemes was £12,728 (2020: £10,740) and all relates to the single activity carried out by the charity. Amounts charged to restricted funds relate to the pension costs incurred for staff working on the relevant restricted funding projects.
3TR is a large research project funded by the Innovative Medicines Initiative 1 (IMI2). It is the largest project in the field of immunology ever funded by IMI2 to date. It will provide important new insights and information about why a large number of patients suffering from the following seven diseases do not respond to treatment: asthma, COPD, Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, multiple sclerosis, systemic lupus erythematosus and rheumatoid arthritis. In this project, ELF is responsible for involving asthma and COPD patients throughout the project and also in dissemination and communication of the project to patients and the public.
The donation received for the Healthy Lungs for Life was used to help pay grants to individuals and organisations under that programme. These were paid in July 2020.
The Dragon Project is an IMI funded project, using artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to deliver a decision support system for the precise coronavirus diagnosis using CT scanning. ELF is involved in patient input and communication and dissemination. ELF hosts the website (europeanlung.org/dragon/).
DiscovAir is a HORIZON2020 funded project that will develop a lung cell atlas. This will be a 3D reconstruction of how the cells in the lungs interact with other cells, certain medications and how the lungs in people with lung diseases are difference from those without disease. ELF is helping getting the patient and public perspective on the project and involved in communication and dissemination.
Better-B is an HORIZON2020 funded study involving international breathlessness experts from respiratory, palliative care and rehabilitative specialisms. The project will test whether an antidepressant can be repurposed to help in managing breathlessness where non-drug treatments cannot be effectively used. ELF is involved in communication and dissemination together with the ERS.
FAIR is an EU-funded project aiming to assess an adjunct to antibiotic therapy as an emerging concept to overcome AMR in pneumonia. The research focusses on the unique immunomodulator flagellin that enhances airway epithelial innate immune defences, and the development of airway-specific aerosol delivery by nebulisation. ELF is involved in communication and dissemination together with the ERS.
The remuneration of key management personnel is as follows.
The ultimate controlling party is European Respiratory Society, which is based in Switzerland. It is unknown whether any individual has control over that organisation. European Respiratory Society (being the smallest and largest group of which the charitable company is a member for which group financial statements are prepared) prepares group accounts and copies can be obtained from 4 Ave Sainte-Luce, CH-1003, Lausanne, Switzerland.
The charity had no debt during the year.