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. Approved candidates are elected at open meetings of the Society following proposal at Council Meetings.

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 included as copy recipients in the email when submitting your membership application form to validate their signatures.

Please note that your membership of the Society will commence the date you pay your first subscription of £20.  

Subscriptions can be paid by a bank transfer to the Society's bank account, (please refer to the Subscription form below for bank details), cheque or standing order.  If paying by bank transfer, please send an email to philosoc@group.cam.ac.uk to confirm when you have paid and the reference you have used (ie surname or your CSRid), this will enable us to trace your payment on our bank statement. 

Fellows pay an annual subscription of £20, due in advance on 1 January each year. If you are elected in the Michaelmas Term, in any year, you will not be required to pay the subscription which became due on the preceding 1 January.  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. 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. In these cases, the journal will be delivered to their College or Department for Mathematical Proceedings and by online access for Biological Reviews by request to the Executive Secretary.

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)