British Ecological Society

Who we are

We are the British Ecological Society: the oldest ecological society in the world. We were established in 1913 and we have been fostering the science of ecology ever since. We have 7,000 members around the world and bring people together across regional, national and global scales to advance ecological science. Our vision is for nature and people thrive in a world inspired by ecology.

We rely on the commitment of hundreds of volunteers to help us – from the editors who work on our journals, reviewers in our Grants Review College, the teams behind each of our Special Interest Groups, the trustees and members of our Board of Trustees and committees to the helpers at our Annual Meeting – we could not do what we do without their effort and passion.

We actively value the diversity and wide range of perspectives that people from different backgrounds bring to their work, to ecology and to our Society. We are always willing to discuss potential collaborations and innovations, so please visit our staff page to find the most appropriate person to contact.

Our culture and values

The BES benefits greatly from many people giving their time and commitment. We hope they benefit too from being part of a vibrant community of volunteers supporting the science we love.

The Society continues to develop and enhance how we value and support everyone who contributes their time.

There is more to do and we are working on:

• Developing a clear, consistent and equitable approach to recognising voluntary contributions
   
• Applying a consistent approach to evaluating and learning from the volunteer experience
   
• Monitoring who volunteers with us so that they represent the diversity of our membership and society as a whole.

Equality, diversity and inclusion policy

It is our policy to ensure that no member, volunteer, potential author, award or grant applicant or recipient, job applicant or employee, visitor or event participant is disadvantaged or receives less favourable treatment because of factors including but not limited to: age; physical and mental disability; physical appearance; gender identity; marriage or civil partnership; pregnancy, maternity or paternity; race, nationality, religion and belief; gender; sexual orientation or socio-economic background.

Our commitment to address inequalities, published by our Equality & Diversity Working Group in June 2020, echoed the voices around the world saying Black Lives Matter. This statement expressed our support for the Black community, acknowledged that there is systemic under-representation of Black people in the ecological sciences and set out a series of questions we need to ask ourselves as a Society.

Everyone at the BES has a role to play in ensuring that individuals are valued, treated with dignity and respect and that discrimination does not occur. Every member of staff and the Board of Trustees are responsible for implementing relevant policies, objectives and working practices linked to equality and diversity to ensure equal opportunity at all stages of engagement with the BES.