Memorandum by the Royal Society (HON 81)
I am writing to submit the enclosed documents
on behalf of the Royal Society as evidence to the Select Committee's
inquiry into the Honours System. As the Physical Sciences Secretary
of the Royal Society, I oversee, together with the Biological
Sciences Secretary, the nomination and election process for the
Fellowship of the Royal Society
A couple of your oral evidence sessions have
referred to the procedure through which individuals are elected
to the Fellowship of the Royal Society. Some of the evidence is
open to misinterpretation, so I thought it would be helpful to
provide you with a summary of the nomination and election process,
together with a copy of "The Year Book of the Royal Society",
which contains the statutes and standing orders governing the
process.
In particular, I would like to draw your attention
to the fact that the memberships of the 10 Sectional Committees
that advise the Council of the Royal Society are in the public
domain and listed on pages 234-5. In fact, of all the individuals
involved in the process, only the names of the candidates and
of the referees who provide references about candidates are kept
confidential.
INTRODUCTION
The Fellowship of the Royal Society is composed
of about 1240 of the most distinguished scientists from the United
Kingdom, other Commonwealth countries and the Republic of Ireland.
Fellows of the Royal Society are elected for life and designate
themselves through the use of the letters FRS after their names.
In 2004, 44 new Fellows will be elected through a peer review
process that culminates in a vote by existing Fellows. The main
criterion for election as a Fellow is scientific excellence.
Current Fellows include Jocelyn Bell Burnell,
Francis Crick, Richard Dawkins, Stephen Hawking, Harry Kroto,
Tim Berners Lee, Paul Nurse, John Sulston and Maurice Wilkins.
There are currently 25 Nobel prize winners among the Fellows (including
one Peace prize winner) and many other holders of other equally
prestigious awards. Previous Fellows include Isaac Newton, Christopher
Wren, Charles Darwin, Ernest Rutherford and Dorothy Hodgkin.
In addition, the Fellowship includes about 125
Foreign Members who are eminent for their scientific discoveries
and attainments. Foreign members are also elected for life and
designate themselves through the use of the letters ForMemRS after
their names. Each year, up to 6 Foreign Members are elected through
a peer review process that also culminates in a vote by existing
Fellows. There are currently 43 Nobel prize winners among the
Foreign Members (including one Peace prize winner).
The election process for Fellows and Foreign
Members is extremely rigorous and is based upon the established
practice of peer review. Although the identities of the candidates
for election remain confidential, the identities of all members
of committees involved in the election process, together with
the full regulations governing the process, are published annually
in the "Year Book of the Royal Society", copies of which
are available for purchase.
CRITERIA FOR
CANDIDATES FOR
THE FELLOWSHIP
According to the Society's statutes, candidates
for election to the Fellowship must have made "a substantial
contribution to the improvement of natural knowledge, including
mathematics, engineering science and medical science". Unusually
for a national academy, the Royal Society does not restrict its
Fellowship to British nationals. The pool includes candidates
who hold any Commonwealth nationality or Irish nationality as
well as non-Commonwealth nationals resident in Commonwealth countries.
THE NOMINATION
PROCESS
Each candidate must be nominated by two Fellows
of the Royal Society, who sign a certificate of proposal. The
certificate includes a statement of the principal grounds on which
the proposal is being made. The certificate is available for inspection
by other Fellows of the Royal Society until the day when and if
the candidate is elected. All completed certificates of proposal
must be received by the Royal Society by the annual closing date
of 30 September. There is no limit to how many candidates may
be proposed or seconded by a Fellow.
The number of new nominations made in any year
is unlimited. Once nominated, candidates remain eligible for election
for seven years. If not elected within this period, an individual
may be proposed as a candidate again after a break of three years
and then remains eligible for election for a period of three years.
This three year cycle may be repeated without limit. There are
535 candidates for election as Fellows in 2004. The Society does
not provide details of the identities of nominated candidates
to anybody outside the Fellowship, except those individuals consulted
in confidence during the refereeing process.
The nominations process was made easier in 2001
by reducing from six to two the number of Fellows' signatures
required on a certificate of proposal. This change was introduced
because it was felt that the larger number of signatures might
discriminate against minorities in science, such as women, those
in new and emerging subjects or those in institutions and organisations
with few existing Fellows.In addition, the President of the Royal
Society periodically writes to Vice-Chancellors, and Chairs and
Chief Executives of Research Councils, to encourage them to put
forward names of potential candidates. Any suggestions generated
through this route are considered before 30 September by the President,
Vice-Presidents and one or more members of the Council of the
Royal Society. These suggestions, if thought suitable, then follow
the normal nomination process, with the proposing and seconding
of a candidate by existing Fellows.
The Society has also broadened the scope of
candidates to encourage nomination and election of scientists,
technologists and engineers whose major contribution to their
subject has been other than through original research, for example
by leadership, inspiration or furtherance of science in a senior
managerial or administrative capacity, or through science communication.
The proposing Fellow is responsible for informing
the candidate that he or she has been nominated. The proposer
must ensure, in consultation with the candidate, that all information
relevant to the nomination is up to date.
THE ELECTION
PROCESS
The election process is extremely rigorous and
is based on the scientific system of peer review. The annual cycle
begins after the closing deadline for nominations on 30 September
and ends with a formal Admissions Day the following July.
An alphabetical list of all candidates, together
with the names of the proposing and seconding Fellows and the
statement of the main grounds for the proposal, is prepared after
the closing deadline of 30 September. This list is circulated
in strict confidence to all Fellows of the Royal Society.
The Council of the Royal Society oversees the
generation of the list of the 44 strongest candidates for election
in that year's cycle. Two Officers of the Royal Society (the Biological
Sciences Secretary and the Physical Sciences Secretary) are responsible
for the smooth running of this process, and the Council appoints
ten Sectional Committees to advise it about the selection of this
list.
Each Sectional Committee deals with a specific
set of disciplines and consists of up to 15 Fellows, one of whom
is the chair. Some of the members of each Sectional Committee
are replaced each year, such that no Fellow is a member for more
than three consecutive years. This eliminates as far as possible
the impact of any personal biases among members. A chair is elected
by each Sectional Committee, and may serve for up to three years,
although not usually more than two years. The identities of the
members of the Sectional Committees are published annually in
"The Year Book of the Royal Society".
Candidates are classified as Mainstream, Applied
Science or General. At a meeting in November of the chairs of
the Sectional Committees with the Biological Sciences Secretary
and the Physical Sciences Secretary, each candidate is assigned
to an appropriate category and to one or more of the Sectional
Committees.
Mainstream candidates are those who have been
nominated primarily for their contribution to scientific knowledge
and understanding.
Applied Science candidates are those who have
been nominated for applying existing scientific or technical knowledge
in an innovative way. Such candidates may, for example, have made
major contributions to the invention or development of new devices,
constructions, products or processes.
General candidates are those who have been nominated
mainly for contributions to science other than in areas of original
research. They satisfy one or more of the following criteria:
— they have made a contribution to
natural knowledge by leadership, inspiration or by furthering
science in a senior management or administrative capacity;
— they are distinguished for analysis
or synthesis;
— they have raised public understanding
and/or appreciation;
— they have in other ways rendered
conspicuous service in the cause of science.
Each candidate is considered by the relevant
Sectional Committee on the basis of a full curriculum vitae, a
research resumé, a list of all their scientific publications
and a copy of their 20 best scientific papers.
The Sectional Committees meet initially in January
to make a preliminary assessment of the strength of the Mainstream
and Applied candidates whom they have been asked to consider and
to prepare a long-list. Typically fewer than half of the candidates
considered at this stage make it on to the long-list. Each Sectional
Committee then seeks references from individuals (who do not have
to be Fellows) acquainted with the contributions of Mainstream
and Applied candidates on the long-list.
General candidates are also considered at these
meetings and a preliminary assessment of their strengths made.
This information is forwarded to the Biological Sciences and Physical
Sciences Secretaries for consideration. The Secretaries prepare
a long-list of General candidates after receiving further advice
about General candidates from the Sectional Committees and the
other Vice-Presidents and members of the Council of the Royal
Society. The Biological and Physical Sciences Secretaries then
seek references from individuals (who do not have to be Fellows)
acquainted with the General candidates on the long-list.
Each Sectional Committee meets again towards
the end of March, when its members vote to produce a final short-list,
with a ranking of the strength of the Mainstream and Applied Science
candidates, to be submitted to the Council of the Royal Society.
Each Sectional Committee also offers advice about General candidates
based on the references received. The short-lists of the Mainstream
and Applied Science candidates are then considered by Council
at the end of March, alongside a short-list of General candidates
produced by the Biological and Physical Sciences Secretaries,
and the final list of 44 candidates to be Fellows and 6 candidates
to be Foreign Members is drawn up.
This list is prepared on the basis of the strength
of each candidate, irrespective of discipline. However, as a very
rough general guide, the regulations suggest that this list should
include 17 candidates from the physical sciences, 19 candidates
from the biological sciences, and 8 candidates who are classified
as General, Applied or jointly from both the physical and biological
sciences.
At its meeting in April, the Council confirms
the list of candidates. The final list is then circulated in the
form of a ballot sheet to all Fellows. Overall during the election
cycle, 113 Fellows plus 21 Council members, not to mention hundreds
of referees, are involved in the process of producing the final
list of names from the list of candidates.
Fellows attending the Business Meeting in May
vote by secret ballot. Only Fellows attending the meeting are
allowed to vote. A candidate is elected if he or she secures two-thirds
of votes. Candidates do not attend the Business Meeting.
New Fellows are formally admitted to the Society
at the formal Admissions Day ceremony in July, when they sign
the Charter Book and the Obligation of the Fellows of the Royal
Society.
THE RIGHTS
AND RESPONSIBILITIES
OF FELLOWS
OF THE
ROYAL SOCIETY
On admission, each new Fellow signs the Royal
Society's Charter Book and subscribes to the following Obligation:
We who have hereunto subscribed,
do hereby promise, that we will endeavour to promote the good
of the Royal Society of London for improving Natural Knowledge,
and to pursue the ends for which the same was founded; that we
will carry out, as far as we are able, those actions requested
of us in the name of the Council; and that we will observe the
Statutes and Standing Orders of the said Society. Provided that,
whensoever any of us shall signify to the President under our
hands, that we desire to withdraw from the Society, we shall be
free from this Obligation for the future.
Once elected, Fellows pay an annual contribution
to the Royal Society and have the right to stand for election
to the Council and to participate in electing new Fellows. All
other aspects of the Society's work are open equally to non-Fellows
and Fellows.
Fellows and Foreign Members may be expelled
for conduct that is "injurious to the character or interests
of the Society". The Council of the Royal Society considers
such cases and if necessary may require a Fellow to resign. In
such cases, if the Fellow does not resign, Council can call a
Special General Meeting of Fellows to put forward the proposal
to expel the Fellow in question. The Fellow is expelled if two-thirds
of the Fellows present at the meeting support the proposal. We
have no record of when, if ever, this has previously occurred.
GENDER PROFILE
OF THE
FELLOWSHIP
There are currently 1244 Fellows, of whom 53
(4.3%) are women. Of the 210 Fellows who have been elected in
the last five years, 23 (11.0%) have been women.
However, it remains true that the number of
women Fellows in the Royal Society is disappointingly low and
reflects the under-representation of women at senior levels of
science in higher education and industry. According to the Higher
Education Statistics Agency, of full-time and part-time professors
in science subjects at UK universities, about 9% are women. Therefore,
the proportion of female Fellows now elected reflects the small
percentage of female professors in university science subjects
from which Fellows are elected. Although the under-representation
of women is more acute in science disciplines, it is a serious
problem at senior levels across the whole higher education sector.
In August 2002, the House of Commons Science
and Technology Committee published the report of its inquiry into
the Government funding of the scientific learned societies. The
report concluded: "We do not think that the present low level
of female Fellows in the Royal Society and Royal Academy of Engineering
represents any discrimination against women."
April 2004
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