Sarah Blackford is the Head of Education & Public Affairs at the Society for Experimental Biology. Here she answers a question from the 2015 London Naturejobs Career Expo on the decreasing interest in learned societies.
Further reading
Scientific communities: Build your own.
How to make the most of professional societies
Guest contributor Alaina G. Levine
Professional societies bring together like-minded people in a scientific discipline.
Although professionals may know about their own professional society, many people do not consider the wealth of career advancement, networking and self-promotion opportunities that they offer. Yes, they know about the conference and maybe they read the newsletter, but there is so much more that you can experience from being a member or simply demonstrating your interest in membership.
A professional society is typically a non-profit dedicated to advancing the profession and the professionals of a given discipline, field, industry or sector. (In fact, this is essentially the tagline of the American Statistical Association.) In science and engineering in particular, professional societies are often are founded with the original intent of bringing together like-minded individuals to discuss topics of interest and potential collaborations, and to provide a collective voice for policy, advocacy and even funding concerns. As they grow, these same societies strive to provide opportunities for professionals in the community to become involved in the governance of the societies as official, or paid, members. Continue reading