The Academy's mission is to promote social sciences in the United Kingdom for the public benefit.
The Academy's Vision Statement is available here.
The Academy is composed of over 900 individual Academicians and 47 Learned Societies, representing nearly 90,000 social scientists. Academicians are distinguished scholars and practitioners from academia and the public and private sectors. Most of the Learned Societies in the social sciences in the United Kingdom are represented within the Academy. Use the Member Academicians menu tab on the right to look at our lists of members.
What does the award of 'Academician in the Social Sciences' mean?
Being an Academician means that a peer group has reviewed the standing and impact of one's work and found it worthy of the conferment of the award of Academician. Typically, the award would not be conferred until the person being nominated is in at least mid career, with significant achievements to their name, and they must have contributed to social science more broadly than the normal demands of their job. This contribution can be the area of thought leadership, practitioner applications or policy development.This peer group recognition is valued by holders of the award and has often been found to be helpful in supporting applications for new roles, internal promotion and wider standing. Academicians are entitled to use the post nominal letters “AcSS” and this too confers status and peer recognition. Academicians receive the Academy Journal, Contemporary Social Science, three times a year, the monthly eBulletin of news and events, and are able to participate in a range of events and so forth.
Affiliate membership is open to individuals and organisations who wish to join in the Academy's work but who do not otherwise qualify for membership. An application form can be downloaded here.
The Academy responds to Government and other consultations on behalf of the social science community, organises meetings about social science and seminars on topics that span social science disciplines, and sponsors a number of schemes that promote social science and enhance its value to society.
