most popular in-house publication was "Careers with Biology" that ran to several editions and tens of thousands of copies. Other highly successful titles have included "Safety in Biological Fieldwork" (three editions) and "Biological Nomenclature" (four editions). From its second decade through to the end its fourth, the Institute was noted for its co-publishing ventures with commercial academic publishers. In particular its short book series 'Studies in Biology' with Edward Arnold beginning in 1960 ended up at the height of its popularity with 149 titles. This series was then with Cambridge University Press up to 2007. Over the years literally hundreds of thousands of copies from this series have been sold. Other successful publishing ventures in the 1980s and 1990s included those with Unwin Hyman, Chapman & Hall, and Westlake Publishing. In the late 1990s through to 2003 its joint publishing ventures with Hobsons saw bioscience university course guides go each year to every secondary school in the UK. The Institute regularly organised scientific symposia. These were organised by either its regional branches or by its scientific committees ('divisions') that related to biomedicine, education, agriculture and environment (these last two were merged in 2007). Prior to 2000, these provided the raw material for the aforementioned 'proceedings'. The regional branches also regularly organised other scientific as well as social events and included topics of fundamental research as well as socio-political interest. One example of a then controversial topic was the proceedings arising out of the 1989 symposia 'AIDS: A Challenge in Education' the proceedings of which were jointly published by the Institute with the Royal Society of Medicine so reaching both clinicians, the biological community as well as school teachers. From 1995 to 2003 the Institute increasingly became the 'Voice of British Biology' (its then strategic goal) following the creation of the Affiliated Societies out of the former Biological Council. Between 1995 and 2003 it responded to over 120 science policy consultations invariably with some informal input from Affiliated Societies and occasionally formally jointly with some of these Affiliated Societies on a wide range of topics. The Institute's Education Department also produced a similar number of responses, again some with Affiliated Societies. During 2003, the IoB merged with the Biosciences Federation (BSF) re-inventing "a single authority within the life sciences that decision-makers are able to consult for opinion and information to assist the formulation of public policy". The IoB participated in the