I wanna be an F.R.E.S. ---- how do I sign up ?

[trehopr1]

Now, I imagine at THIS moment somebody British is chuckling VERY loudly to himself. That statement did get your attention ! But, seriously British friends I've always pondered how that lofty title is bestowed. Is it like a "knighthood " bestowed upon an exemplary individual in the science ? Does a member (fellow) have to put your name forth before a governing board ? Oh' do tell us all something of this most British sort of thing....

[Paul K]

❓

[trehopr1]

Sorry to those of you out there not quite up to speed !
F.R.E.S. is short for: Fellow of the Royal Entomological Society

[nomad]

To join this society, you have to be nominated by a member. The nomination will go to a committee to see if they approve. I expect dunc will know more as his friend is a F.R.E.S. 

[Deleted]

That's correct Peter, someone who is already a member has to put you forward and state the reason that you should become a member, it's not as straight forward as you think, my friend discovered a species of butterfly and is also one of our foremost experts on British moths along with his friend Bernard Skinner, he also does entomological classes and lectures plus moth trapping nights on his farm.

[Adam Cotton]

Things have changed since I was elected as a FRES when I was an entomology student. I seem to remember that in those days you needed to be nominated by two Fellows. I guess my nomination was assisted by the fact that one of them was Prof. Southwood.

Nowadays there are two tiers of affiliation to the Royal Entomological Society, Members and Fellows. Firstly you need to be nominated for membership, and if elected you may eventually be nominated as a Fellow. It seems that a doctorate is almost a prerequisite of Fellowship now, and when I visited the old office and library in Queensgate, South Kensington in 2006 (the Society subsequently moved out of London to St. Albans) everyone insisted on calling me "Dr. Cotton" despite my informing them that I don't actually have a PhD. I found it rather embarrassing really. Perhaps I would never actually become a Fellow nowadays.

Adam.

[nomad]

All interesting. Thanks. I never knew you were a F.R.E.S Adam. What is their main entomological journal today and do you still receive them. 

[Adam Cotton]

Technically I can put FRES after my name along with my degree but it seems rather pompous to do so, and I prefer 'Adam' anyway.

I take Systematic Entomology since that's my interest, but the RES publishes 6 other journals:

Agricultural and Forest Entomology
Ecological Entomology
Insect Conservation and Diversity
Insect Molecular Biology
Medical and Veterinary Entomology
Physiological Entomology

I also receive Antenna (Bulletin of the RES), which is more a magazine than a journal, although there are sometimes interesting papers published there too.

Adam.

[timmsyrj]

Adam it is, not Dr. Cotton or anything else!

Rich

[Adam Cotton]

Mar 7, 2015 11:48:42 GMT timmsyrj said:

Adam it is, not Dr. Cotton or anything else!

Rich

Good, that's that settled then.

Adam.

[Adam Cotton]

Getting back to the topic of this thread, I should add that actually there are Members and Fellows all over the world. I guess that a fair number of the non-British citizens studied in the UK and were nominated then.

Adam.

[trehopr1]

I have found all of your comments very informative !
Would anyone know "roughly" how many members or fellows are nominated each year?
Or, for that matter how many fellows there are presently?
Also, does this clan have say a yearly "meet and greet" for new members as well as established ones?

[Adam Cotton]

You can find information about meetings, and lots more here:

www.royensoc.co.uk/

Adam.

[trehopr1]

Thank you very much Adam !