Academician of the Social Sciences

The Academy of Social Sciences is a representative body for social sciences in the UK. The Academy promotes social science through its sponsorship of the Campaign for Social Science, its links with Government on a variety of matters, and its own policy work in issuing public comment, responding to official consultations, and organising meetings and events about social science. It confers the title of Fellow upon nominated social scientists following a process of peer review. The Academy comprises over 1000 Fellows and 41 learned societies based in the UK and Europe.

The Academy’s origins lie in the formation of a representative body for the social science learned societies in the early 1980s, the Association of Learned Societies in the Social Sciences. From 1999 to 2007 it was called the Academy of Learned Societies for the Social Sciences before changing to its current name. The Academy is run by a Council of 21 members, with Professor Roger Goodman FAcSS as its current Chair, and Professor Sir Ivor Crewe FAcSS, Master of University College, Oxford, as its current President. 7 Council members are elected by the Academy’s Fellows, 7 by its Learned Societies and 7 are appointed.

The Academy advocates social science by interacting with Government and other organisations, and co-ordinates the responses of social scientists to Government consultation documents. Past consultations include:

The Academy also puts forward suggestions to the Government about which social scientists should carry out its Foresight research projects, which look at important issues and how these might change over the next 20 to 80 years.

A developing part of the Academy’s work is to bring researchers and organisations using research closer together to improve the evidence upon which public policy is based and to increase the impact of research.

The Academy has produced a series of ‘Making the Case for the Social Sciences’ booklets which give examples of important social science research which has made a difference to policy or practice. These are: Wellbeing; Ageing; Sustainability; the Environment and Climate Change; Crime; Sport and Leisure; Management; Scotland; Longitudinal Studies, Mental Wellbeing, Wales and Dementia. Further titles are in preparation. The Academy also publishes a cross-disciplinary peer-reviewed journal, . The Academy holds regular events, such as conferences on the ethics of social media research and the future of the Research Excellence Framework. It holds an Annual Lecture each summer, and its President's Lunch each winter. It also arranges (with the British Library) a public lecture series Enduring Ideas.

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