Life Members
Senior members of the Institute who have given sustained and distinguished service, recognised by the National Council outside the elected Council structure.
What is Life Membership
Life Membership is the highest honorary recognition conferred by the IIESMS National Council. It is awarded to members who have given sustained and distinguished service to the Institute over many years, and whose contribution has helped to shape the organisation's direction, continuity or public standing.
Life Members are proposed and confirmed by the National Council. They sit supernumerary to the Council: they are not counted in the sixteen elected Council seats, do not hold voting rights on Council matters, and are not subject to election cycles. They remain full members of IIESMS and retain all other rights and benefits of membership.
Life Membership is a recognition, not an office. Life Members may be consulted by the Council on matters of institutional memory, continuity or governance, but do not hold executive responsibility.
Current Life Members
Members on whom the National Council has conferred Life Membership in recognition of long service to the Institute.
Daniel Vaughan, F.IIESMS
Life Member of IIESMS. Daniel served as Secretary of the Institute for many years, sustaining the organisation through successive periods of transition from its origins as the Irish Work Study Society, through the Irish Work Study Institute, to today's IIESMS. He stepped down from the Secretary role at the 2022 AGM. In recognition of that sustained service, the National Council subsequently conferred Life Membership on him. He also nominated Victoria Wilmott as the Institute's first female President.
How Life Membership is conferred
Any member of the National Council may propose a candidate for Life Membership. The proposal sets out the candidate's service to the Institute and the reasons for which Life Membership is recommended. The proposal is tabled at a Council meeting and requires Council approval to proceed.
Once conferred, Life Membership is held without a fixed term and without the annual membership fee that applies to the graded categories. New Life Members are announced in the Institute's annual report and recorded on this page.
Life Membership is not an application-based grade. Members cannot nominate themselves, and it is not part of the fourteen graded categories open to the general membership.
Explore the Institute's Membership
Life Membership is a recognition separate from the fourteen graded categories. If you are considering IIESMS membership, view the grades, fees and application pathway.
Frequently asked questions
A recognition conferred by the National Council on members who have given sustained and distinguished service to IIESMS. It is honorary and not part of the fourteen graded membership categories.
No. Life Members sit outside the elected Council structure and are supernumerary to the sixteen elected seats. They do not hold voting rights on Council matters and are not subject to election cycles.
No. Life Membership is not an application-based grade. Proposals are made by members of the National Council and confirmed by Council vote. Members cannot nominate themselves.
No. Life Membership is held without an annual membership fee. It is a permanent recognition, without a fixed term.
Yes. Life Members retain all the rights and benefits of their existing membership grade, including post-nominal letters, CPD participation, sector group involvement and representation. The Life Membership status sits alongside the original grade rather than replacing it.