Follow in the footsteps of some of our most brilliant scientific minds – become a Cambridge Philosophical Society Member.

Become a member today

Membership of the Philosophical Society is open to graduates of the University of Cambridge, and graduates of other universities who at the time of application are resident in or near Cambridge. Members are also known as Fellows. In order to be elected a Fellow of the Society, a person must be recommended by a proposer (who must have been a Fellow for at least three years) and by a supporter (who knows the candidate in a professional capacity). The supporter is to be a person of appropriate standing (e.g. academic staff member in the place of work of the applicant). They do not have to be a member of the Society, but must know the applicant personally. As an example of how to identify a supporter and a proposer, PhD students would be expected to liaise with their PhD Supervisor and enquire at postgraduate offices within their Department and College. When all other avenues have been explored, applicants are welcome to contact the Society Office for advice. Approved candidates are elected at open meetings of the Society.

Completed membership application forms should be submitted with electronic signatures by a .pdf attachment to the Society’s email at philosoc@group.cam.ac.uk.  The proposer and the supporter must be copied in the email when submitting your membership application form to validate their signatures.

The completed application form should be accompanied by confirmation of payment of your first annual subscription. On election as a Fellow of the Society, your membership will be endorsed as having commenced on the date of your first payment. In the case of an unsuccessful application the payment will be returned.

Subscriptions are invited by a bank transfer to the Society's bank account: please refer to the Subscription form below for bank details. To validate your payment, please send an email to philosoc@group.cam.ac.uk advising when you paid and the reference you have used (e.g. surname or your CSRid). If you have paid your first subscription, please also complete the information in the Subscription form and attach it to your e-mail.

Fellows pay an annual subscription (currently £20), and you may wish to consider setting up a standing order to ensure timely payment. Reminders will be sent annually and membership will lapse if subscriptions are not paid in a timely way. A Fellow may apply for readmission on payment of all subscription arrears.  A Fellow, or Fellow-elect, may compound for all annual subscriptions with a single payment of £150.  A Fellow of ten years' standing may compound for all future annual subscriptions with a single payment of £100.

A Fellow may choose to receive either Mathematical Proceedings or Biological Reviews, currently £30 for Mathematical Proceedings and £15 per annum for Biological Reviews (in addition to the annual membership subscription). If a Fellow is a registered Postgraduate Student, resident in Cambridge on 1 January of any year, there is no additional charge, for that year, for whichever of our journals is deemed relevant by their Supervisor. Please contact philosoc@group.cam.ac.uk if you would like to request a journal subscription.

A Fellow who has reached the aged of 67 and has been a Fellow for 25 years may request the Council to remit future subscriptions. Any Fellow wishing to take advantage of this bye-law should contact the Executive Secretary.

Application Form

• Download application Form (Word)

Subscription Form

• Download Subscription Form (Word)
• Download Subscription Form (PDF)