The maintenance of human health depends critically on the ability to make accurate diagnosis, and deliver precise treatment in which reliable measurement is essential. This also supports an industry worth hundreds of billions of dollars worldwide. For many years we have focussed on radiation dosimetry and radionuclide activity measurements and we continue to improve the uncertainties in the dissemination of the international reference standards for radiotherapy measurements in particular. This is challenging and every small improvement has a direct and beneficial effect on the safety and care of patients who are treated in millions of hospitals in all countries of the world.

We have recently broken new ground working with the International Federation of Clinical Chemistry (IFCC), the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) in the development of an infrastructure of consistent and traceable measurements in laboratory medicine. This will have profound implications for the accurate diagnosis and health monitoring for us all, whether we stay at home but especially as we travel.

The ability to make accurate measurements, traceable to fundamental standards of parameters important in monitoring environmental science is essential in monitoring air quality and changes in the environment such as global warming and climate change. These are areas where we rely on metrology to take sound and reliable decisions which affect us all. We are working with the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and its worldwide Global Atmosphere Watch programme to deliver traceable references for these hugely important issues for our future and the future of our planet.