Types of Fellowship
Each year, Royal Society Fellows elect up to 109 new Fellows (including up to 24 via the Foreign Membership route). The main criterion for election of Mainstream Fellows is scientific excellence, and candidates must have made a substantial contribution to the improvement of natural knowledge, including mathematics, engineering science and medical science. They are also expected to be able to contribute substantially to the work of the Society or the advancement of its purposes.
Mainstream Fellowship candidates as well as General Fellowship candidates (those whose cases are reviewed primarily on the basis of their wider contributions to science, engineering or medicine through leadership, organisation, scholarship or communication) can hold any nationality and be resident in any part of the world.
Scientists who do not hold nationality of any Commonwealth country or Irish nationality and who have not been resident in a Commonwealth country for more than three years immediately prior to being proposed are able to apply under either of these categories via the Foreign Membership route.
The Society also has a category for Applied and Innovation candidates, who are reviewed primarily for having applied scientific knowledge to the invention or development of new devices, constructions, products or processes, or to the advancement of human health, welfare or the environment.
Honorary Fellowship is intended for those who have given distinguished service to the cause of science, or who have brought great benefits to science, but who do not have the scientific achievements of the kind required of those who could be elected as Fellows. In addition, the Society’s Council can recommend members of the UK Royal Family for election as Royal Fellows.
Nomination
There is no limit on the number of new nominations made in any year, but all need to be submitted by the end of September. Each candidate for Fellowship must be nominated by two Fellows of the Society, who are responsible for informing the candidate of their nomination and for supplying and keeping up to date all information relevant to their nomination in the e-Lect election system. The Society does not provide details of the identities of nominated candidates to anybody outside of the Fellowship, except those consulted with in confidence during the refereeing process.
Once nominated, candidates remain eligible for election for seven years. If not elected within this period, an individual may be proposed as a candidate again after a break of at least three years and then remains eligible for election for a period of three years. This three-year cycle may be repeated without limit.
Every effort is made to encourage nominations of more diverse candidates, including candidates from the emerging disciplines. To this end, the Society occasionally sets up Temporary Nominating Groups or longer-term search panels with the aim of identifying outstanding candidates from areas under-represented in the Fellowship. The President of the Royal Society may additionally encourage suggestions for candidates from Vice-Chancellors of universities and Chairs and Chief Executives of Research Councils.
Selection
The selection process is overseen by the Royal Society’s Council, and the Biological and Physical Secretaries are responsible for its smooth running. The Council appoints 11 subject area committees, known as Sectional Committees (SCs), to recommend the strongest candidates for election to Fellowship. Each candidate is considered by the relevant SC on the basis of a curriculum vitae, details of their research achievements, a list of all their scientific publications and a copy of up to 20 of their top scientific papers (five for those applying via the Foreign Membership route).
The SCs meet in January to make a preliminary assessment of the strength of the candidates they have been asked to consider and to prepare a longlist of candidates, for whom references are then sought from individuals acquainted with their work. SCs meet again in March, when their members vote to produce a shortlist, to be submitted to a meeting of the biological or physical sciences half of Council.
In addition to the SCs, there are also three specialist committees that review the cases for General candidates, Honorary Fellowship candidates, and Applied & Innovation candidates.
Of the up to 85 candidates nominated via the Fellowship routes, up to 27 Fellowships can be allocated to candidates drawn from Physical Sciences, up to 27 from Biological Sciences, up to 20 from Applied & Innovation sciences, up to eight General candidates and up to three Honorary Fellowship candidates. The (up to) 24 candidates via the Foreign Membership route can be allocated in any proportion between Physical Sciences, Biological Sciences and the General category.
Election and admission of new Fellows
The final list of up to 109 Fellowship candidates is confirmed by Council in March and is circulated to the Fellowship in April/May as a confidential online ballot. A candidate is elected if they secure two-thirds of votes of those Fellows voting.
Fellows are formally admitted to the Society at the Admissions Day ceremony in July, when they sign the Charter Book and the Obligation of the Fellows of the Royal Society.
The Society’s current Fellows can be found in the Fellowship Directory and information on the lives and scientific achievements of former Fellows is available in our Biographical Memoirs.