Membership of the IRC is open in principle to anyone who shares the IRC’s aims and objectives and can demonstrate an active commitment to research and scholarship in a relevant subject or across a number of fields. All members who are regularly contributing to our day-to-day activities are entitled to attend, and vote at, the General Meetings. The different membership categories below thus merely reflect individual members’ position in relation to University structures and processes.

Staff members will normally be Heriot-Watt University staff in the School of Social Sciences (SoSS) who demonstrate an active commitment to the work of the IRC on a regular basis as part of their research portfolio.

Postgraduate members will normally be research students in the SoSS; postgraduate membership is also open to students taking a research-based Master’s degree (e.g., MRes) in SoSS or studying for any taught postgraduate degree offered under the aegis of the IRC.

Affiliate members are normally staff and research students from other parts of Heriot-Watt University who are contributing actively to the work of the IRC. Affiliate membership is also open to staff on Teaching & Scholarship contracts who may be aiming to transfer to Research & Teaching, or who may wish to be involved in the IRC as an element of their Scholarship portfolio. 

IRC research leaders, with the approval of the Executive Committee, may from time to time appoint external researchers as Associate members to work with their Research Group on specific projects, on strategic programme development, or other approved activities.

For the above categories, the key criterion for sustained membership is a member’s ability to demonstrate an active, on-going commitment to the work of the IRC.

The Director, in consultation with the Executive Committee, may from time to time

• nominate individuals to be appointed by the University as Visiting Professors; in the specific context of the IRC, such nominations will normally reflect a specific, major contribution to the IRC’s strategic aims and objectives, details of which are normally agreed in writing as part of the individual’s formal appointment.
• admit other individuals to IRC membership, such as Visiting Fellows or Interns.

A full list of IRC members can be found here