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RSS membership terms and conditions

Updated 03-09-24

These terms and conditions outline what you sign up to when you become a member of the Royal Statistical Society.

All members:

Membership of the RSS does not confer ‘representative’ status; unless specifically designated, you may not act on behalf of the Society (including via any messaging, public speaking, social media)
When attending any Society events or meetings, you will be bound by the activity and event conduct policy

Fellows (including professionally qualified members):

Code of Conduct and use of postnominals

By signing up to, or renewing, fellow membership, you agree to abide by the Society’s Code of Conduct
Postnominals are reserved for Data Analysts, Graduate and Chartered Statisticians, as well as for holders of the Data Science Professional and Advanced Data Science Professional certificates. There is no recognised postnominal for fellows, but you are welcome to spell out in full that you are a fellow of the Royal Statistical Society
Once your membership ends, you must refrain from using any postnominals or describing yourself as a fellow

Annual membership subscriptions

The membership year is 12 months from the date of joining or renewing. When you sign up to, or renew, membership of the RSS, you agree to do so for a full year, regardless of the payment method used, including quarterly Direct Debit
If the first subscription is not paid within three months after the date of joining, the membership shall be considered void
Membership costs are subject to change on an annual basis every January. The following year’s fees will always be shown on our website from the previous December, and we will send you a membership renewal notice (normally via email) indicating the fee one month before your membership renewal date
If no payment is made within three months of the membership renewal date, all services will be suspended and any professional member status (Data Analyst, GradStat, CStat) or certification (DSP, AdvDSP) will be defaulted
If no payment is made within six months of the membership renewal date, fellow membership will lapse

Membership cancellation / refund policy

If you wish to cancel your membership at any time, please email membership@rss.org.uk
All paid membership subscriptions will be subject to a 30-day cooling-off period from the date of joining or date of renewal. Any fees paid will be refunded in full to you once a written request to cancel or lapse your membership has been received within the 30-day cooling-off period. All emails must be sent to membership@rss.org.uk

See our full refund policy on the membership FAQs page

If you pay by Direct Debit, your annual membership will be automatically renewed as per your renewal notice unless you give us at least ten days written notice of your intention not to renew. All emails must be sent to membership@rss.org.uk
Please note that refunds will not be made to members who retrospectively indicate that they could have been in a lower cost membership category, e.g. a standard rate member who could have been entitled to the retired rate. The onus is on members to inform the RSS of any required changes to their circumstances prior to their membership renewal

Your personal data

We use the personal data you provide to us as a member for the purpose of servicing your membership. It is provided as legitimate interest. The RSS, or authorised representatives, may contact you to discuss your membership or any of the services we provide
Our privacy policy describes how we protect your personal data, the reasons and methods we may use to contact you, and the trusted partners we may share data with to deliver services to our members
If you have any questions or concerns about how we use your data, please contact gdpr@rss.org.uk
If you change your email address, or if any of the other information we hold is inaccurate or out of date, please log into My RSS and update your details there, or email us if you need help: membership@rss.org.uk