Membership of the SRA

To learn more about the SRA and benefits of membership click here. (pdf 103k) Membership of the SRA is open to anyone interested, or involved in social research. It is primarily an association of individual members, although we offer the opportunity for research organisations outside the UK and Ireland to affiliate as corporate members, and there is a group membership discount available to UK companies with five or more members. The Association continues to grow and has over 1,100 members including social researchers in central and local government, higher education, large commercial social and market research companies, the voluntary sector and independent institutions as well as freelance consultants. The SRA has branches within Scotland, Wales and Ireland. Membership For details of member charges for 2012 click here (pdf 10k) Currently membership costs £84.00 per year for full-time workers, £52.50 for part-time workers and retired, and £25.00 for unwaged and full time student members. How to Join If you wish to join the SRA download, print out and complete our membership form (.doc 73k) returning it with payment to the SRA. Membership of the SRA entitles you to: Free Newsletter four times a year. For previous editions of our members newsletter see: SRA Newsletter Discounts on SRA Training Days, Seminars, Social Events and Conferences Reduced subscription rate for the International Journal of Social Research Methodology - see www.informaworld.com/tsrm. A form to claim for your discount is available at www.tandf.co.uk/journals/offer/tsrm-so.asp 20% discount and free postage and packaging on Sage books for SRA members - please quote your membership number and The SRA at www.sagepub.co.uk 20% discount on selected titles from The Oxford University Press - see www.oup.co.uk/sale/sraoffer08 20% discount on all Wiley-Blackwell books please go to www.wiley.com and quote promotional code V9374 50% discount on a range of journals from Elsevier - see here for details (xls 23k) discounts on attendance at events organised by the Academy of Social Sciences as publicised for members of Learned Societies within the academy. Also potential for nomination to Academician status through the SRA. Join a SRA LinkedIn group focused on specialist activity, such as working as a free lance researcher Group Membership The SRA offers the benefits of group membership to organisations with five or more members. From 2012 this provides a 10% discount on overall membership fees, with a simplified ‘once a year’ for all payments system. Please contact admin@the-sra.org.uk for further information. International affiliation and membership The SRA welcomes individual members from countries other than the UK and Ireland and has recently created a ‘corporate affiliate scheme’ at the cost of £100 per year for social research organisations outside the UK and Ireland to receive information on SRA activities and other benefits. Please follow this link for more information.Corporate Information (pdf 211k) and Corporate Membership form (doc 47k) Professional Indemnity Insurance The SRA has arranged with WPS insurance brokers a new benefit exclusive to members of the SRA. This will provide public liability cover for £5m and professional indemnity insurance for £250K for £300 pa ( +IPT). Other amounts are available. This benefit will be particularly useful for not only free lance and independent researchers, but also for those working in research companies bidding for public sector tenders. Higher levels of cover are also available. One of the main attractions of this cover for anyone who has previously applied for PI insurance, is the brevity of the information required on the form. ( Click here for the application form). Please note that this offer is available only to individuals and to SRA members. If you have any further queries about the nature of the policy or the cover provided please contact admin@the-sra.org.uk . Guidance when completing the SRA Membership Form 2011 We hope you will find this form to be straightforward to complete. There are one or two free text questions and to simplify our task of coding, please note; In boxed questions with contact information we are seeking your job title. This question has previously led to 243 different ones among current SRA members. Please use a generic title where appropriate e.g. ‘research manager’ if that is what your function entails. Question 2 refers to the sector your employer is within, even you work on projects within a different sector. Question 4 areas of research expertise and interest. We previously provided a long list to choose from. Instead we suggest you use whatever categorisation best describes your areas. It could be for instance ‘criminal justice’ or a specialism within this area such as ‘penal policy’. This information will help us to target potential events to groups of members. We are always interested to get feed back on what works for members. If you have any comments on how this form can be improved please let us know. Membership Renewal We have a rolling renewal system. This means that your SRA membership is valid for 12 months from when you first join or renewed your membership. Data Protection Act 1998 The organisation will only use the information you provide on this renewal form for the purpose of membership administration and to provide you with membership benefits. The SRA will not release, sell or make available your personal information to any other organisations without your express consent. Members’ personal information is held on computer and on paper in secure conditions. Should your membership lapse, your personal information will be securely archived for five years. During this time, the SRA might send you information about SRA membership benefits and other information of interest to social researchers. After this time, your personal information will be destroyed.