I am very pleased to say that last week I was awarded fellowship of the Institute of Physics (IOP).  This is something I have worked towards since finishing my first degree and I am very proud to be able to say that I am now a fellow of the IOP. 

Fellowship is the highest grade of membership in the IOP, if you want to know more about fellowship of the IOP: https://www.iop.org/membership/join/fellow/page_51405.html

I have been a member of 4 different professional bodies over my career, joining and leaving as my job has altered.  The one staple in the last 20 something years has been the IOP. I joined the IOP during the first week of my physics degree, to be fully honest I didn't realise exactly what they did at that point, but they offered me a monthly physics magazine, the best paper diary I have ever used and all for £16 for a 4 year membership. Bargain. Yes, this was back in the 90's when paper diaries were a thing and no, they haven't sent them out for years.  However, I was very glad that I decided to join as the benefits are far wider ranging than I could have imagined. 

I am going to discuss a few benefits of belonging to your professional body and some specific examples where I have benefited.