"Man is gifted with pity and other kindly feelings: he has also the power of preventing many kinds of suffering.  I conceive it well within his province to replace Natural Selection by other processes that are more merciful and not less effective."  Sir Francis Galton, 1908

Introduction

The Galton Institute is concerned with the rich complexity of human life, the biosocial fabric, with so many biological and social interconnections. Its main work lies in promoting research and understanding in the biosocial sciences in the most liberal sense and, with these broad aims in mind, adopted in 1988 the name of the man who did so much to encourage the rational study of biosocial matters.

The Galton Institute derives from the Eugenics Education Society which was founded in 1907. Since those early days there has been marked change and recent rapid advance in the knowledge of genetics and human behaviour, so that biosocial studies have evolved to a position where biologists, clinicians, demographers, sociologists and other professionals can work in a mutually productive manner with the aim of increasing understanding of our own species and its problems.

The Galton Institute sees its function to be the encouragement of progress towards a position in which individuals and groups are well informed in making decisions on matters that concern them and society as a whole. The Institute is a registered charity and, as such, does not act as an advocate of particular political views.

Aims

a) The Institute promotes and supports the scientific study of human heredity and of its social implications.

b) The Institute promotes understanding of the ethical and moral implications of human genetics, and of its social implications.

c) The Institute promotes the public understanding of human heredity and of its relevance to human well-being in the broadest sense.

d) The Institute promotes the study of the historical origins and development of the above subjects.

Activities

a) The Institute has a wide range of inter-disciplinary interests which include the measurement and description of human attributes, human heredity, genetic counselling, the influence of the environment and the causes of disease, the family unit, birth control, differential fertility, marriage guidance, infecundity, artificial insemination, voluntary sterilisation, termination of pregnancy, demography, population problems and migration.  In a variety of ways the Institute promotes investigation of, and informed comment on, such matters.

b) The Birth Control Trust of the Institute supports practical initiatives in birth control, especially programmes to increase access to women's health care services in developing countries.

c) Each year the Institute holds a major conference in which a biosocial topic of current and international importance is explored by authorities representing different disciplines. The Galton Lecture is delivered during the symposium and the proceedings of the symposium are subsequently published.

d) The Institute sponsors the annual Darwin lecture in Human Biology and, in association with the Royal Statistical Society and the Master of Pembroke College, the biennial Caradog Jones lecture.

e) The Institute publishes quarterly its Newsletter.  It is available by subscription but is received free of charge by members. The contents include articles, editorial comment on items of topical interest, notices and memoranda on the Institute’s activities and book reviews.

f) The Institute publishes, in addition to the proceedings of its conferences, occasional books and pamphlets on subjects relevant to its objects.

g) The Institute supports conferences and other activities of kindred organisations relevant to its objects.

Membership

The membership of the Institute is international and consists of Fellows and Members. Fellows are those who contribute by their work and writings to the advancement of knowledge in the biosocial sciences. Members are drawn from a wide area of biosocial interests.