Membership of the Anatomical Society
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In order to apply for membership, you will need to complete an electronic application form and the support of two existing members. If you do not know any existing members, please see our FAQs page.
Please note: You should not pay your membership fees until you have secured referees
The Anatomical Society welcomes enthusiastic and engaged members from all over the world who wish to contribute to the growth of the Anatomical Sciences.
We are pleased to welcome new members from academia and from related fields outside academia.
The Society considers the Anatomical Sciences to include any subject in which morphology at macroscopic, microscopic or ultrastructural level is important. Thus, as well as traditional medical and veterinary anatomy it includes cell and tissue biology, neuroscience, development, biomechanics, physical anthropology and evolution.
The Membership is managed by a Membership Officer who chairs the Membership Committee, whose remit is to provide a friendly and efficient interface between the Society and the Membership.
We have a cosmopolitan representation of our Membership which covers a large number of countries.
Our Membership is distributed in different categories and each category has a range of benefits.
Our Membership spans from eminent and very well established long standing anatomists to undergraduate students who are starting developing their interest in Anatomy.
We have an inclusive policy and would encourage any person with a professional interest in Anatomy to become a member of the Anatomical Society.
Membership Grades
There are several grades of membership. You can apply to membership as Early Career Member or as a Full Member, and, you can do it at any stage of your career.
Early Career: If you are an undergraduate student, or are still within 5 years of your graduation from a primary University Undergraduate degree pertinent to Anatomy you can apply as Early Career Member (15 GBP/year). When you apply for Early Career Membership, if you have already graduated and, during the period post graduation have had to take a prolonged period of absence for a major reason (e.g. parental/carer duties, long illness etc), you have the opportunity if you wish, to flexibly extend your EC time beyond the 5 years after graduation to match your period of leave. This may, on the one hand, delay your progression to Full Member, but on the other it will give you the benefit to enjoy the full 5 years of Early Career Membership whilst you are active in Anatomy with access to opportunities specific for EC members. If this applies to you, you should state it in your application when you will give your statement on why you wish to become a member of the Anatomical Society.
Progression from Early Career Member to Full Member: This will happen automatically, 5 years after graduation in a primary University Undergraduate degree pertinent to Anatomy. Existing EC members who have had a prolonged period of leave due to major reasons (parental/carer duties, long illness etc) after their graduation, have also the opportunity to extend their EC membership of an appropriate period of time commensurate to their leave period beyond the 5 years post graduation. This may, on the one hand, delay progression to Full Member, but on the other it will give EC members the benefit to enjoy the full 5 years of Early Career Membership whilst active in Anatomy with access to opportunities specific for EC members. If this applies to you, you should informally write an email to theteam@anatsoc.org.uk stating that you wish to extend your EC membership and specifying the reason for this. This will be considered at the following Council. The membership fee for Full Members is 70 GBP/year.
Fellowship and Honorary Fellowship. We recognise achievement in the anatomical field and award Fellowships (FAS) and Honorary Fellowships (HonFAS). Honorary Fellowships are awarded and proposed directly by Council. Conversely, all existing Full members can apply to become Fellows after at least 7 years of Full membership. Applications will be evaluated by Council and, subject to satisfaction of the requirement, will be awarded. More information on application to Fellowship is here.
Reduction of fees for long standing membership: Full Members and Fellows who have been either Full Members or Fellows (or a combination of both) for at least 30 years, or, that, at retirement have been either Full Members or Fellows (or a combination of both) for at least 15 years, are entitled to reduced membership fees (currently 10GBP/year).
Complimentary membership: Individuals who submit a membership application after the March council meeting of the Anatomical Society (usually held in late March) will receive complimentary membership of the Society until the following September, once their membership is approved. Non-member participants attending the Anatomical Society winter meeting in December will receive complimentary membership of the Society until the following September once their membership is approved, provided that they submit a membership application during the January that immediately follows the meeting.
Waiving membership: All existing members who have a career break (e.g. maternity leave, or being between jobs) can request waiving of their membership fees for a year. An informal request should be made by email to the address below. PhD students who are recipients of studentships by the Anatomical Society will have their membership fees waived for the duration of their funding.
Please note: The Anatomical Society requires that every member stating an association with the Anatomical Society (e.g. in CVs, websites etc.) should use the correct wording of their membership grade, i.e. either Early Career Member, Full Member, Fellow, or Honorary Fellow as stated in the record, and, not generically “Member of the Anatomical Society”.
Support from Referees
To join the Anatomical Society, we request that the applicant supply the names of two referees, who are current, fully paid-up Anatomical Society members.
Why are we asking for referees?
We know that Anatomy is a fascinating subject, not least because we often work with bequeathed human materials at our institutions. This has often piqued the interest of many. While the Anatomical Society welcomes genuine applicants from all fields allied to Anatomy, we would like to ensure that we do not admit individuals who may not be genuinely interested in our Society’s aims, or who may bring disrepute to our Society. One way of doing this is to request that two current Anatomical Society members support your application.
If you are an applicant and have been asked to find two referees, please click here for more guidance.
If you have been asked to be a referee, please click here for more guidance.
For all enquiries related to membership (new member applications and existing members) please contact our office:
Email: theteam@anatsoc.org.uk
Join the Anatomical Society here
Members Area
- You can meet some current Anatomical Society members here
