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About us - a balanced overview of the Royal Society

Recognising and rewarding excellence

Dr Catherine Cesarsksy
ForMemRS of the
2005 intake

Each year we award Royal Society Fellowships to 44 of the best scientists in recognition of their scientific achievements. It is the highest accolade a scientist can have, short of a Nobel prize.

Fellows of the Royal Society include Colin Pillinger, who led the British Exploration of Mars with Beagle 2, Stephen Hawking who works on the basic laws that govern our universe, leading neuroscientist Dame Nancy Rothwell and astronomer Jocelyn Bell-Burnell who, as a student, discovered pulsars.

We also award 10 medals, 5 prizes and 8 prize lectureships, to honour excellence in a range of fields of science, engineering and technology.

Funding future excellence

We are also investing in future excellence by funding more than 1600 young scientists every year to develop new thinking in areas such as robotics, the AIDS crisis in Africa and sources of renewable fuels. Not only will this help improve the quality of all our lives, but it enables young scientists to develop the skills, experience and ideas to become the FRS and Nobel prize winners of the future.

Sharing and debating science

A Royal Society
discussion meeting

As developments in science have an increasing impact on our daily lives, it is becoming even more important that we all understand and have the chance to discuss these innovations.

The Royal Society has an important role to play in this and we organise a programme of activities to encourage non-scientists to get involved with science - whether it's through reading one of our Science Briefs, finding out more about cutting edge research at our annual Summer Science Exhibition or through discussing and influencing policy on issues such as genetic testing or cyber-trust in one of the Forums that are held as part of our Science and Society programme.

Educating tomorrow's scientists

The Royal Society is keen to support scientists of the future and we recognise that this begins in the classroom. Our education programme aims to influence science policy and curriculum development and to support science teachers in delivering these important lessons.

Science and government

As the UK's leading independent science organisation, the Royal Society is able to provide advice to government on all aspects of science. Issues that we have recently advised upon include nanotechnology and GM plants.

We are also dedicated to ensuring that UK science plays a full role and is at the leading edge of international research. The Royal Society funds three major international research projects and helps UK scientists to take part in international conferences and collaborations.

MP - scientist pairing scheme

The MP pairing scheme aims to improve science policymaking in the UK by giving members of the UK parliament and scientists the chance to find out more about each others work and the demands they face, exploring ways in which they can work together to improve links in the future.

History of science

The Royal Society has a huge archive of science history material dating back to 1660. The archive includes material from historically significant events such as the early experiments to demonstrate Newton's Law of Gravity and Harvey's theories of circulation, as well as the drawings that Charles Darwin produced while he was developing the theory of evolution.

Professor Stephen Hawking FRS - Big Bang and Infinity

Professor Stephen Hawking was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1974.

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