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Fellows application criteria

Fellow is the Royal Economic Society’s highest level of membership and is granted to those who have made a significant contribution to the discipline. RES Fellows hold positions of influence in our community and demonstrate invaluable economic knowledge, expertise and a commitment to promoting the vision, objectives and values of the RES.

The Fellows panel meets twice a year to review applications. The next Panel meeting will take place in May 2026.

The annual fee is £200 although to ensure that financial constraints are not a barrier to becoming a Fellow, RES will offer a bursary rate of £50 for individuals with an annual income of under £35,000. If this applies to you, you will have an opportunity to indicate this on the online registration form. Applicants for RES Fellowship must review the Fellows application criteria before applying. A non-refundable application fee of £30 (plus VAT) is required. Payment details must be provided at the time of application, but no charges will be made unless the application is successful. RES does not store payment details; these will be securely processed and managed by our payment providers.

Becoming a RES Fellow means: 

  • Recognition of your achievements: the use of the post-nominal letters FREcon after your name
  • Building your network: an opportunity to attend the annual Fellows dinner, and inclusion in the Fellows directory
  • Opportunities to share your expertise through mentoring, speaking at RES events or getting involved in the Society’s various activities
  • Advocating for economics by supporting our efforts to promote the profession and the Society
  • All the benefits of being a RES member including RES journals and newsletter access, submission fee discounts and discounted conference registration.

 To apply to become a RES Fellow you will need to provide the following:

  1. A completed online registration form
  2. A current CV
  3. A completed application statement form of up to 1000 words, setting out your eligibility against the criteria below
  4. A one-off application fee of £30, which is non-refundable.

Fellowship eligibility criteria

You will be asked to demonstrate significant achievement through your work and or other activities that support the RES vision for economics to be ‘understood, advanced and applied for the maximum benefit of society and the world around us’. Against each criterion, please provide concrete examples or evidence where you have gone beyond the routine responsibilities of your job. Fellows will often be in a senior position such as professor, senior researcher, head of department, head of subject, head teacher, manager or director. Sector specialists such as teachers will be considered where they can demonstrate how they have met the criteria. A range of criteria is provided to account for the broad nature of the economics community. Applicants must demonstrate evidence of their specific contributions, achievements and impact in two and no more than three of the criteria described. You are not expected to demonstrate experience against all criteria. 

  1. Sustained and effective contributions to the advancement of the discipline through your work or in another capacity e.g., through supporting the work of RES or demonstrating the value of an economics education. You should be able to evidence a consistent record of impact in economics, with specific examples and evidence of how you demonstrate this impact. You should provide specific examples, explain your contributions and how the activity enhanced the discipline. You must describe the impact of your contributions. 
  2. A significant contribution to advancing the discipline through original research. You should give an overall explanation of your research and how it has contributed to the advancement of economics. You should then select a few specific cases to explain in more detail, clearly describing the extent of your involvement in the research and the positive impact it has had.
  3. Creation or development of a successful business, charity or enterprise with clear links to economics. You should provide details of your work in creating and developing a business, such as an economic consultancy, think-tank, charity or enterprise and describe its purpose and the role of economics within it. Then you should explain how it has had a positive impact, connecting with the RES vision and/or strategic objectives.
  4. Established reputation as an economics school, further education college or university teacher at local, regional or national level. This criterion is for teachers in schools, further education colleges and universities. For this criterion, you must demonstrate your reputation and impact at a local, regional or national level and how your contribution has supported one or more of the RES strategic objectives, and has gone over and above the normal expectations for your role.
  5. Effective contribution to diversity and inclusion and/or widening participation in economics. You should describe and provide specific examples of your work, or events or projects you have been involved with that have had significant impact on diversity and inclusion in economics. You should explain the extent of your contribution and the positive impact that resulted.
  6. Effective contribution to the training, development or mentoring of the next generation of economists. You should evidence a sustained record of training, development and/or mentoring activities. (Note that teaching contributions at school, further education college or university level come under criterion 4.) You should give specific examples and explain the type of people you trained or supported, e.g. colleagues, interns, junior staff, etc. You should also explain how your contributions enhanced the development of the people involved and go beyond those routinely expected for your role.
  7. Demonstrable expertise in developing innovative new economics courses or teaching methods. You should provide examples of when you have developed methods of teaching that have greatly benefitted your students, at school or university level. Examples should be innovative and easy to discern as methods you have developed or enhanced. You could also use examples of innovative new courses that you have developed which have had positive impacts for your school, college or university. You should explain your process for developing the courses, the innovation involved and how the impact it’s had has been evaluated.
  8. Service on national or international professional committees or boards relevant to economics. You should detail your roles and provide examples of how your participation has had a positive impact on economics.  This can also include any peer review panels you may sit on.
  9. Effective contribution to the public understanding of economics. You should describe your work and provide specific examples of when you have participated in events or projects which have had a direct effect on the public understanding of economics. Explain the extent of your involvement and the type and size of the audience. We are looking for a considerable and sustained body of public engagement, with evidence of impact and/or a range of audiences.
  10. Effective contribution to national or international economics policy, whether in relation to education, research or other aspects of the discipline. You should describe your work in this area and provide specific examples of where you have directly contributed to national or international policy. This could be through being a board member, a consultant, as part of an advisory group or in another position of influence. For each example, it should be clear how the resulting policy has positively impacted the relevant area.

Evaluation of applications

Applications will be reviewed by a panel appointed by the RES Trustee Board. Unsuccessful applicants will be provided with feedback and may re-apply after 12 months. The application fee will be non-refundable.

As a condition of membership, Fellows are required to abide by the RES Code of Conduct.

Benefits

  • An invitation to join and initiate relevant working and policy groups to support the strategic direction of RES
  • Use of the post-nominal letters FREcon after your name. Terms and conditions here.
  • An invitation to the Annual Fellows Dinner
  • A certificate signed by the RES President
  • Your details added to the RES Fellows Networking Directory
  • Opportunity to share research (and information) on the Fellows Portal within the Directory
  • The opportunity to give back as a mentor to aspiring economists.