Our governance

Constitution and principal activity

The Science Council was established under Royal Charter in October 2003. An amended Charter received Privy Council seal in December 2015. Royal Charters are awarded to organisations that work in the public interest and demonstrate that they are pre-eminent in their field.

The Science Council’s purpose, as defined in its Royal Charter, is ‘to promote the advancement and dissemination of knowledge of and education in science, pure and applied‘. The Science Council was registered as a charity with the Charity Commission in September 2009 (Charity number: 1131661).

How we are funded

The Science Council is funded through three sources of income.

• Membership fees – Member Bodies pay an annual membership fee calculated on the number of paying members in your membership.
• License fees – Members Bodies that are awarded a license to award the Science Council designations to its own members is required to pay an annual license fee.
• Registration fees – all registrants pay an annual registration renewal fee, which is collected by the Member Body and passed on to the Science Council.

Grant funding is occasionally sought for specific projects. Most recently the Science Council has received grant funding from the Gatsby Charitable Foundation for the purpose of promoting professional registration for technicians.