Closing date for next application round:

Monday 27 May 2024

Associate Fellowship is a new membership category for the RHS, launched in November 2021. It recognises the contribution made by a wide range of historical researchers and advocates for History across many sectors. Some Associate Fellows are historians working in Higher Education who have not yet reached the extent of publications, or equivalent, required to join the full Fellowship. Others contribute to History through their work in sectors such as heritage and museums, libraries and archives, teaching, publishing and broadcasting, or through private research.

All Associate Fellows are welcome to apply for full Fellowship as their careers develop and contributions continue, and we warmly encourage this. 

November 2021 sees the introduction of two new membership categories: in addition to Associate Fellowship we now also offer Postgraduate Membership. These two options replace the previous category of Early Career Membership. Read more about these two new ways to belong to the Society. From August 2022 we are extending the benefits available to Associate Fellows of the Society.

To apply for the RHS Associate Fellowship please use the Society’s Applications Portal, and select your chosen membership category.

Benefits of Associate Fellowship

• Print and online copies of the RHS academic journal, Transactions.
• Online access to the current issue and entire searchable back archive of Transactions of the Royal Historical Society: the collection comprises 144 volumes and more than 2200 articles, published between the journal’s foundation in 1872 and the early 2020s.
• Online access to all 380 volumes of the Society’s Camden Series of primary source material, including the latest titles published in 2021 and 2022. Since 1838, the Camden Series has made primary records available in accessible scholarly editions, compiled and introduced by specialist historians. The Series is especially strong in material relating to British history, including the British Empire and Britons’ influence overseas.
• All other RHS publications offered at a substantial discount: includes the Bibliography of British and Irish History and  Camden Series volumes.
• 30% discount on all academic books (print only) published by Cambridge University Press.
• 30% discount on purchases of print copies of the Society’s New Historical Perspectives book series, offering monographs and essay collections, and produced in association with the Institute of Historical Research and University of London Press.
• 30% discount on History titles published by Oxford University Press.
• 20% discount on print subscription to History Today, Britain’s leading history magazine (£52 per annum, usually £65 full price). 20% discount on online subscription to the archive of History Today (£56 per annum, usually £70 full price).
• Receipt of the weekly ‘RHS News Circular’ (this example, August 2023): regular update on RHS activities, plus listings of events / calls for papers from other UK historical societies and research networks.
• Copies of RHS Newsletters and the Society’s annual reports.
• Eligible for RHS training and career development events / workshops reserved for Fellows and members.
• Eligible to apply for the Society’s Research Funding programmes available to historians at all career stages.
• Access to RHS members’ events, including Early Career training​ programmes 
• Access to the RHS Archive and Library collections, and  RHS Library rooms, at University College London (UCL).
• Become part of a thriving international community of historians, of all kinds and from many backgrounds.
• Help us support and advocate for the study and practice of history in its many forms. Society income also supports our grants programme for historians at the start of their careers.

Annual Subscription

From November 2021, annual subscription rates for Associate Fellows, payable on election, are: 

• for Associate Fellows, UK-based: £45 pa
• Associate Fellows, International: £55 pa
• Associate Fellows, Hardship Rate: £10.00 pa (online access to Transactions only)

The RHS subscription year runs July to June with renewals due on 1 July of each year. 

The Associate Fellow Hardship Rate is available to unemployed and low income/wage members (self-defined) and includes unfunded/self-funded students.

How to Apply

Prior to making your application, please consult the FAQs relating to Associate Fellowship. 

To apply for the RHS Associate Fellowship please use the Society’s Applications Portal, and select your chosen membership category.

Applications to join the RHS are welcome through the year. Dates for applications in 2024 are as follows: 27 May 2024, 12 August 2024 and 14 October 2024.

Rejoining the Society as an Associate Fellow

If your Associate Fellowship has lapsed / has been cancelled, and you would like to re-join the Society, please contact our Membership department at membership@royalhistsoc.org in the first instance. We will be glad to assist you.

All applications are considered by our Membership Committee which meets five times a year. You can expect to hear the outcome approximately six weeks after the closing date for your application. Incomplete applications will be held on file until we have received all the necessary information.

All enquiries about applying for election to the Fellowship should be addressed to the RHS office: membership@royalhistsoc.org.

Closing date for next application round:

Monday 27 May 2024

The Postgraduate Membership is a new category for the RHS, launched in November 2021. It is reserved for those studying History, or a cognate subject, at a higher level (from Masters to PhD) in a UK or overseas institution. Postgraduate Members join a group of researchers, many of whom will seek to work in a field relating to History. In creating this new category of membership, the Society recognises the particular experience of higher degree students. The Postgraduate Membership seeks to provide tailored support, for example in training events and grants, to assist students during a degree and immediately afterwards.

Postgraduate Membership is linked to student status and may run for as long as the member is registered for a postgraduate degree and one additional year thereafter. 

From November 2021, the Society also offers an Associate Fellowship for historians who are no longer studying for a further degree but whose career stage and or contribution to history. Some Associate Fellows are historians working in Higher Education who have not yet reached the extent of publications, or equivalent, required to join the full Fellowship. Others contribute to History through their work in sectors such as heritage and museums, libraries and archives, teaching, publishing and broadcasting, or personal research.

These new membership categories – of Associate Fellowship and Postgraduate Membership – replace the previous category of Early Career Membership. Read more about these two new ways to belong to the Society. From August 2022 we are extending the benefits available to Postgraduate Members of the Society (see below).

To apply for the RHS Postgraduate Membership please use the Society’s Applications Portal, and select your chosen membership category.

Benefits of Postgraduate Membership

• Online access to the current issue and entire searchable back archive of Transactions of the Royal Historical Society – from the journal’s foundation in 1872 to the early 2022.
• Online access to all 380 volumes of the Society’s Camden Series of primary source material, including the latest titles published in 2021 and 2022. Since 1838, the Camden Series has made primary records available in accessible scholarly editions, compiled and introduced by specialist historians. The Series is especially strong in material relating to British history, including the British Empire and Britons’ influence overseas.
• All other RHS publications offered at a substantial discount: includes the Bibliography of British and Irish History, Camden Series volumes and New Historical Perspectives print volumes.
• 30% discount on all academic books (print only) published by Cambridge University Press.
• 30% discount on purchases of print copies of the Society’s New Historical Perspectives book series, offering monographs and essay collections, and produced in association with the Institute of Historical Research and University of London Press.
• 30% discount on History titles published by Oxford University Press.
• Receipt of the weekly ‘RHS News Circular’ (this example, August 2023): a regular update on RHS activities, plus listings of events / calls for papers from other UK historical societies and research networks.
• Eligibility to apply for RHS grants and funded fellowships.
• Eligible for RHS training and career development events / workshops reserved for Fellows and members.
• Eligible to apply for the Society’s Research Funding programmes (including Scholarships and Fellowships) available to historians at all career stages.
• Access to the RHS Archive and Library collections, and RHS Library rooms, at University College London (UCL).
• Become part of a thriving international community of historians, of all kinds and from many backgrounds.

Annual Subscription

From November 2021, annual subscription rates for Postgraduate Members, payable on appointment, are: 

• Postgraduates, UK-based and International: £20 pa
• Postgraduates, Hardship Rate: £10.00 pa (online access to Transactions only)

The RHS subscription year runs July to June with renewals due on 1 July of each year. 

The Postgraduate Hardship Rate is available to unemployed and low income/wage members (self-defined) and includes unfunded/self-funded students.

How to Apply

Prior to making your application, please consult the FAQs relating to Postgraduate Membership.

To apply for the RHS Postgraduate Membership please use the Society’s Applications Portal, and select your chosen membership category.

Applications to join the RHS are welcome through the year. Dates for applications in 2024 are as follows: 27 May 2024, 12 August 2024 and 14 October 2024.

Rejoining the Society as a Postgraduate Member

If your Postgraduate Membership has lapsed / has been cancelled, and you would like to re-join the Society, please contact our Membership department at membership@royalhistsoc.org in the first instance. We will be glad to assist you.

All applications are considered by our Membership Committee which meets five times a year. You can expect to hear the outcome approximately eight weeks after the closing date for your application. Incomplete applications will be held on file until we have received all the necessary information.

All enquiries about applying for election to the Fellowship should be addressed to the RHS office: membership@royalhistsoc.org.

Presidents of the Royal Historical Society serve a four-year term. That of the current President, Professor Emma Griffin, will end in November 2024. The Council of the Royal Historical Society is now beginning the search for its next President to serve from November 2024 to November 2028.

In addition to its own search, the Society’s Council here issues an open call for nominations for the Presidency, 2024-28. Fellows of the Society are invited to nominate potential candidates. Nominees for the RHS Presidency must be current Fellows of the Society, resident in the UK.This email provides further information on the position of RHS President and the required specifications and attributes of this role.

Nominations of potential candidates may be sent to the Council’s Presidential Selection Committee via president.selection.panel@royalhistsoc.org, and should arrive on or before 27 August 2023.

Questions about the role and the process, from either nominators or potential nominees, may be directed to the Selection Committee: president.selection.panel@royalhistsoc.org.

About the role

The President of the Royal Historical Society has two distinct responsibilities: to work with trustees to support and enable the direction, vision and values of the charity; and to work with the Society’s professional staff to oversee good governance, financial management, compliance with charity law etc., and to implement the trustees’ broader vision for the Society. For the first, the President requires stature, dynamism and eloquence sufficient to hold the trust and respect of Council, and in turn to inspire confidence from the membership and wider profession. For the second, the President needs an active, hands-on, collaborative stance in order to work effectively with a small team of professional staff.

The President is a leadership role for a broad profession. The incumbent needs to be able and willing to speak in ways that demonstrate leadership, while remaining within the boundaries and role of a charity and respectful of the wide diversity of opinions and values amongst our membership.  S/he requires the confidence and willingness to speak with policy makers within and beyond HE, as well as to establish new partnerships and relationships as required. Recent Presidents have effectively developed, in collaboration with Council and other stakeholders, new strategic initiatives for the Society. We are looking for someone with a coherent and realistic ambition for the Society of their own, which is realisable over the four-year term of their Presidency and through working with Council and staff.

The President is also the face of the Society. The RHS delivers a wide range of events both online and in-person – at its UCL premises and elsewhere in the UK. The President is the host/chair of the majority of its events and needs to be a confident chair of academic and public events. The President represents the Society at various external events, conferences and other outward facing contexts. S/he needs to be willing to speak on behalf of the Society and to network in a variety of professional and academic settings, both national and international. The President will join a Society with a recently restructured Office and staff and be committed to the following:

• advocacy for the discipline and profession;
• innovation (new activities in line with the Society’s charitable purpose, and activities);
• expansion (in terms of membership, activities and audiences);
• equality and opportunity for all practitioners of the discipline/profession;
• balance, appreciating and sustaining the Society’s socially and intellectually diverse membership;
• professionalisation, of the Office, communications with members, operations.

Within this broad current framework, and working with Councillors and staff, the role affords considerable scope for the new President to develop their own vision and distinctive strands of activity.

Nominees and nominators for the President role must be current Fellows of the Society.  The successful candidate will likely have some prior experience of a leadership or management position within the RHS or within a historical society or organisation with similar structure and values.

Management responsibilities

Considerable people-management is required for the role, and we are looking for an individual with the tact and diplomacy to manage multiple relationships and (potentially) conflicting demands effectively. The new President will have the confidence to support committed and energetic Councillors and staff within their roles and remits and to champion the respective requirements / contributions of both the Office and Council. They will have the personality and skills to work professionally with both academics and staff and a willingness to delegate to others in the organisation. The President works closely with, and line-manages, two senior members of RHS staff, and with them shares responsibility for the smooth running of the Office.

Personal and professional qualities

• Capacity to create, maintain and lead a sufficiently representative Council body to ensure Society activities reflect the needs and profile of the profession and membership;
• Proactivity to create new initiatives, partnerships and opportunities;
• Tolerance of a wide range of opinions for the sake of the Society;
• Understanding and generosity to handle enquiries and requests for support from Fellows and Members;
• Appreciation of the diversity of the profession and membership within and beyond Higher Education;
• Readiness to engage with the oversight of the day-to-day management of the charity, supporting and enabling the work of the CEO and Academic Director, and chairing the Council in its responsibilities for overseeing the Society’s financial management, audit and compliance with charitable regulation;
• Patience for line-management responsibilities and resilience for handling any interpersonal conflicts that may arise.

The Presidency requires a considerable time commitment.  It is an active, hands-on role, not an honorary position.  The role is unpaid, but, where feasible and/or necessary, the Society can offer a stipend paid to the incumbent’s employing institution to help free them from institutional commitments.

The current President, who is not part of the selection committee, is happy to talk to interested candidates about the role. To do so, please email: president@royalhistsoc.org.