Setting up a society

Practical suggestions on setting up and maintaining a local society.

Before you consider setting up a society, check if there are any existing societies in your School/Centre that you could join. If there isn't a current society, the following videos from other society members might give you some useful tips on how to set up a society and how to deal with common challenges, as well as where to find funding.

Further advice

• Check out other research staff societies on the 'About research staff societies' page.
• Find out who else would be interested in helping you organise and run a society.
• Speak to the relevant Centre or School staff e.g. Head of Centre/School, School Administrator, any senior managers with responsibilities for research issues, etc, to gain their support and views.
• Ask everyone interested what they would want from a society, and set out a brief statement of what you are hoping to achieve.
• Use Setting up a society (PPT) slides to discuss ideas, identify purpose and structure and move forward to establishing a society.
• Get ideas for events on our ‘Showcasing society events page’.
• The UKRSA have produced A Guide to Research Staff Associations, with detailed advice and examples of how to set up and run a society.

Funding for societies

You may need to think about obtaining specific funding.

Speak to your School/Centre to see if they have any funding available; you may also consider applying to the IAD's Action Fund