Registered charities that fund, or intend to fund, medical and health research in the UK as one of their principal activities and are actively working towards meeting the Association’s Full membership criteria.  

Who can become an Introductory member? 

Introductory member charities must still meet the following eligibility criteria:  

• Your organisation must be registered as a charity in England and Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland
• One of your charity’s principal activities must be to fund, or intend to fund health or medical research in the UK
• Your charity must commit to work towards meeting Full membership requirements within two years including: 
  • Working in line with our standards in Expert review
  • Having a published research strategy
  • Having a written policy on conflicts of interest specific to research funding
  • Endorsing our position statements on the use of animals in research and the importance of involvement in medical research

Introductory membership is only permitted for two years whilst your organisation works towards Full membership. Charities cannot hold Introductory membership more than once. 

During the Introductory membership the charity can apply for Full membership at any point. If Full membership is not attained within the Introductory membership term, the Introductory membership will be terminated. However, the charity is still able to apply for Full membership at any point in the future.  

What are the benefits? 

By becoming an Introductory member you will have influence, opportunities to connect and collaborate, support to fund the best, most impactful research and researchers, and access to resources. 

You will also receive support in working towards Full membership, which universities, government, and funding bodies use as an indicator of quality research funding.  

Read more about our Introductory member benefits on our Member benefits page. 

How does it differ from being a Full member? 

Introductory members do not yet meet the Full membership criteria including working in line with our standards in peer review, having a published research strategy and having a written policy on conflicts of interest specific to research funding. For this reason, Introductory members are not yet accredited by the AMRC and do not take part in any Full membership criteria audit activities and are not permitted to display the AMRC logo.

Introductory members do not take part in our annual data collection and are not included in AMRC infographics and reports. 

How much does it cost? 

Your subscription fee is based on an average of your charity's UK research expenditure over the preceding three financial years. This represents a 20% discount on the Full member subscription rate. Find out more on our membership fees page.

How do you join? 

You will need to fill out an application and grants form. We also recommend you discuss your application with a member of the AMRC team, who will make a preliminary assessment of your charity’s research funding activities. Please get in touch with Shefa at [email protected]. 

Once the application is finalised, Introductory membership will be approved by our Membership team and our Executive Council will be notified.