Become a Member
How to
Support our work
The BSHS is a registered charity. As well as publishing research, running conferences, and awarding prizes we run a number of schemes to support career progression, to fund research projects and engagement work, and to help make the history of science open to everyone. Donations are essential in enabling us to help keep the history of science accessible, innovative, and relevant. Please click an option below to find out how you can help, or keep reading to hear about the impact of our work.
Thank you for supporting us.
Membership Rates
We offer a concessionary membership rate to anyone who considers themselves to be economically disadvantaged in relation to UK costs. We envisage this potentially to include students, those without a liveable salary or income, and persons in countries that are economically disadvantaged in comparison to UK costs. Please join at the level of membership (supporters, full or concessionary) that best reflects your ability to support the work of BSHS.
Note to UK taxpayers: we cannot gift-aid membership because membership offers potential personal benefits. However, additional and one-off donations can be gift-aided.
Membership is for 12 months from the date your payment is processed.
Networking
details of more specialised conference events, plus joint meetings with other societies, including the four-yearly Three Societies Meeting
electronic access of the BJHS, our quarterly journal featuring articles and reviews of the latest books in the history of science, technology and medicine. Forthcoming articles, current and back issues are available to all members (members on paper-rate additionally receive print copy of each issue as published);
Are you able to ‘pay it forward’? If you’ve benefited from the funding and the support of the BSHS in the past, or if you’re fortunate enough to be supported by an institution that covers all your conference and research expenses, we ask you to consider making a donation to the Society.
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"Winning the BSHS grant has been invaluable to my postgraduate studies. Without it, I would not have been able to undertake the Master’s. The grant not only helped practically and logistically, but also gave me confidence. I am not from a science background and have at times felt a little out of my depth on the course, but knowing that my research idea is strong and worthy of funding has kept up my enthusiasm and determination that I can offer a valuable contribution to the field."
!I am grateful to the BSHS for their support; the bursary allowed me to take up a place on UCL’s Medieval and Renaissance Studies MA. The highlight for me was the assessed ‘manuscript project’. In the British Library, I investigated the contents of a small, late 12th- or early 13th-century medical compendium that was rebound in the 15th century and which once belonged to William Scheves, Archbishop of St Andrews. This manuscript included a hitherto unknown copy of the Antidotarium Magnum, an 11th-century pharmaceutical text. I was glad to be able to bring this manuscript to the attention of Dr Kathleen Walker-Meikle, who, alongside Professor Monica Green, is producing an online edition of the AM; it has now been included in their working list of extant manuscripts of this text. To see this part of my coursework have positive effects elsewhere in academia was thrilling, and is something that I could not have experienced without the Society’s support.!
"My colleagues in my own department weren’t interested in my research, but everybody welcomed me at the BSHS."
The British Society for the History of Science is a charitable organisation that depends for its survival on donations and the voluntary work of its officers. Every year, we distribute several thousands of pounds in grants, bursaries and prizes. In particular, we give money to students who would otherwise not be able to visit archives, travel to conferences or complete their research projects. You may have benefited personally from the BSHS’s generosity, and you almost certainly know people who have. Please help the Society to continue this work by remembering the BSHS in your will.
Making a new Will
Making a will is not complicated and should cost around £200. If you need help finding a solicitor, the Law Society is a good place to start.
- Appoint a professional adviser- usually a solicitor
- Work out what you have to leave, including the total sum of your property, money, and possessions, minus any outstanding debts like mortgages or loans.
- Decide who you would like to benefit from your Will, such as your family, friends, charities or good causes.
- Choose executors to ensure your wishes are carried out. These can be professional advisers, friends or family members, or one of each.
- Finally, keep your Will safe and make sure your executors know where to find it. Give a copy to your solicitor.
Different types of legacy
- A monetary or pecuniary bequests leaves to the BSHS a specified sum of money (which can be index-linked to make sure its value is not reduced by inflation).
- A residuary bequest leaves to the BSHS a percentage of the remainder of your estate, after other legacies and charges have been met.
- A reversionary bequest leaves your assets to a named beneficiary (for example, your spouse) for their lifetime, with the whole or a proportion reverting to the BSHS on your death.
- A specific or non-monetary bequest allows you to leave shares, property, stocks, pictures or furniture to the BSHS on terms that they be sold when advantageous to provide funds for the Society. If you are considering this type of bequest, please contact us so that we can discuss what you have in mind.
Using the right wording
We recommend using one of the following wordings to leave a legacy to the BSHS in your Will, as long as the bequest is straightforward
If you are leaving a pecuniary bequest (a fixed sum of money), please consider index-linking it using the following form of words so that it preserves its value over time:
- “I give to the British Society for the History of Science (registered charity no 258854) the sum of £(amount) (the Legacy) free of tax and indexed as below for the general charitable purposes of the Society and I declare that the receipt of the President or other authorised officer for the time being of the Society shall be a good and sufficient discharge to my Executors I direct that the sum due to the Society under this gift shall be the sum of money produced by dividing the Legacy by the index figure in the Index of Retail Prices for the month in which this Will is executed and (having allowance for any re-basing of the Index which may have happened in the meantime) multiplying it by the index figure in that Index for the month in which my death occurs. If when the time comes the second of these figures is not available (because that Index has ceased publication or for any other reason) my Executors (making use if they wish of any other index which may seem to them relevant and obtaining any advice which they may think desirable) shall reach a decision (which shall bind the Society and everyone interested in my estate) as to what in their view that index figure would have been if it had been available and shall use the figure on which they decide for the purposes of the calculation’’
For a basic pecuniary bequest (non-index-linked) please use this form of words:
- “I give to the British Society for the History of Science (registered charity no 258854)the sum of £(amount) free of tax for the general purposes of the Society and I declare that the receipt of the President or other authorised officer for the time being of the Society shall be a good and sufficient discharge to my executors.”
For a residual request (percentage of estate), please use the following form of words:
- “I give to the British Society for the History of Science (registered charity no 258854) the residue of / ( proportion) of the residue of my estate/the sum of £(amount) free of tax for the general purposes of the Society and I declare that the receipt of the President or other authorised officer for the time being of the Society shall be a good and sufficient discharge to my executors.”
Updating an existing Will
If you already have a Will, but you have decided that you would like to leave a gift to the BSHS, there’s no need to rewrite it completely – you just need to add a simple codicil.
A codicil doesn’t have to change the terms of your Will: it is a supplement, which changes or amends part of the Will. If you decide to change your Will substantially, we would suggest that you contact your solicitor for advice.