Our Mission

- AIMS
The Genetics Society was founded in 1919 as the world’s first society devoted to the study of the mechanisms of inheritance. Famous founder members included William Bateson, JBS Haldane and AW Sutton. Membership is open to anyone with an interest in genetical research or teaching, or in the practical breeding of plants and animals.

- MEETINGS
The main annual event of the Society is the Spring Meeting. This has at least one major symposium theme with invited speakers, and a number of contributed papers and/or poster sessions. One day mini-symposia are held during the year in different regions so that members from different catchment areas and specialist groups within the society can be informed about subjects of topical, local and specialist interest. Like the spring symposia these include papers both from local members and from invited speakers. One of these meetings always takes place in London in November.

- GENETICS SOCIETY PROMEGA YOUNG GENETICIST OF THE YEAR
(PhD Students & Junior Postdocs only)
The award will be part of the Annual Spring Meeting with Young Geneticists submitting abstracts for review by the Society. A selection of successful applicants will be chosen to present their work as an oral presentation during the parallel sessions of the main Annual Meeting. Oral presentations will be judged by the Society plus a Promega representative and the awards will be presented at the Conference Dinner.

- INVITED LECTURES
The Mendel Lecture, in honour of the founder of modern genetics, is given usually on alternate years at a London Meeting by an internationally distinguished geneticist. To encourage younger geneticists, one of our members under the age of 36 is nominated each year to give the Balfour Lecture (Named after our Founder President) at the Spring Meeting.

- INTERNATIONAL LINKS
The Society has many overseas members and maintains links with genetic societies in other countries through the International Genetics Federation, the Federation of European Genetic Societies and through the International Union of Microbiological Societies.

- PUBLICATIONS
The Society publishes two major international scientific journals: Heredity, concerned with cytogenetics, with ecological, evolutionary and biometrical genetics and also with plant and animal breeding; and Genes and Development, which is jointly owned with Cold Spring Harbor Laboratories and which is concerned with molecular and developmental aspects of genetics. Full and student members are entitled to reduced subscriptions both to these journals and also to Genetical Research, published by Cambridge University Press, to Trends in Genetics, a monthly journal published by Elsevier with review articles of topical interest aimed at the general reader, Nature Genetics, published by Nature Publishing company (MacMillan Magazines Limited), Current Biology journals, BioEssays and Chromosome Research. A newsletter is sent out three times a year to inform members about meetings, symposia and other items of interest.

- SPECIALIST INTERESTS
Six specialist interest areas are covered by elected Committee Members: Gene Structure, Function and Regulation; Genomics; Cell & Developmental Genetics; Applied and Quantitative Genetics; Evolutionary, Ecological and Population Genetics; Corporate Genetics and Biotechnology. The Committee Members are responsible for ensuring that the various local and national meetings cover all organisms within the broad spectrum of our members' interests.