Welcome to the Cybernetics Society

Cybernetics is a science of design, of effective action, and of how living nature works in its self-organizing responses to contexts. It enables understanding and regeneration of ecologies and design of change that works. It reintroduced and confirmed purposeful and directive (goal-oriented) behaviours into science. It gives new insights in to human behaviour and psychology. It has been a radical force influencing innumerable disciplines in its short postmodern life. it has also supported a family of disciplines including perceptual control theory, autopoiesis, management cybernetics, and design thinking. its influences reach into systems biology and sociology, psychiatry and philosophy, business and government. 

The Cybernetics Society holds scientific meetings, conferences, and social events, and engages in other activities to encourage public understanding of science and to extend and disseminate knowledge of cybernetics and its associated disciplines. The Society aims to support the Continuing Professional Development of its members. The Cybernetics Society is a member society of the International Federation for Systems Research and is affiliated to the World Organisation of Systems and Cybernetics. The Cybernetics Society is authorised by an Act of Parliament and reports its affairs to the Financial Conduct Authority.

The Cybernetics Society is one of the few organisations where people can meet to discuss a wide range of interdisciplinary subjects ranging from Artificial Intelligence, the Internet, the sciences, engineering, design, system organisation, consciousness, architecture, medical topics. Our regular events (online) and the annual conference, along with special interest groups and website facilitate interest and shared learning. We use one of cybernetics' own concepts, variety, in our policy to welcome all kinds of people with equal respect and irrespective of their various ethnic, gendered and religious characteristics. We normally only accept adult members, however.

Membership can derive from any of the many fields in which cybernetics is an influential discipline, or from an interest in learning cybernetics. Cybernetic applications are very wide. They range from management to biology, psychotherapy to sociology, design to AI, ecology to economics.

In your application provide details of any relevant research projects, employment, publications or other contributions, and any other associations you have had with cybernetics or its applications. Providing a CV (resume) is a useful way of giving this information. If this information is available on the web, you only need to provide the web address/addresses. However, we also invite other links and information sources that help us in assessing membership suitability. We have two membership grades to apply for — Associate (e.g. for students or generally interested people) and (full) Member, for those with academic and/or other (learned/expert) credentials in cybernetics. The Council awards certain individuals with the status of Fellow. This typically requires a PhD in cybernetics or equivalent in action learning.

The Cybernetics Society takes its obligations under GDPR seriously and will not pass member's details on to any other organisation. For the formal definition of the purposes for which we ask for membership data (and the associated data deletion policy) please see the introduction at the top of the membership form.

You can also visit the Society's website and find out more details about membership.