Election to Fellowship of the Learned Society of Wales will be open to men and women of all ages and from all ethnic groups:

• who have a demonstrable record of excellence and achievement in any of the academic disciplines or who, being members of the professions, the arts, industry, commerce or public service, have made a distinguished contribution to the world of learning;

and

• who are resident in Wales, or who are persons of Welsh birth but are resident elsewhere, or who otherwise have a particular connection with Wales.

By focussing on the criteria of excellence and achievement, the Society will ensure that its Fellowship will authoritatively instance (although never exhaustively represent) the very best of which Wales is currently capable in all the major disciplines of human knowledge.

In the first instance, for the selection of the Founding Fellows, there was a deliberate decision to focus on Fellows of the Royal Society and of the British Academy – in other words, on undoubted scholars whose membership would establish beyond question the intellectual excellence and exceptional quality of the Society and give it prestige and impact.

The Society is conscious that there is a significant number of further distinguished potential Fellows in Wales (and considerably more when the Welsh diaspora is taken into account), including many who are already members of other learned societies.  The intention is,  to add to the present number of three hundred Fellows, using appropriate, transparent and fair but exacting procedures (including refereed nominations and specialist selection panels to identify talent in different areas).

The Society also intends to extend the Fellowship beyond academia to include people from other areas, including medicine, law and other professions, business and the arts – provided always that they fulfil the Society’s agreed criteria for election.