Access to dedicated member funding

ARA membership gives you access to dedicated member funding: bursaries to help members attend our conference and overseas conferences, training funds, cost of living support funds for those struggling with the economic context, research grants. Being a member of ARA also gives you opportunities to get discounts and free training from our training partners and a hefty discount on our annual conference

Financial Support for your career

• ARA Career Development and Support Fund

• Cost of Living Support for Member Fees - supporting our members who have been hit hardest by the cost of living so that they can continue with their membership

• Cost of Living Training Support - supporting our members with the cost of paid for training if they are struggling due to the cost of living crisis.

  • International Bursaries - ARA members may apply for bursaries to support:

    attendance at international conferences

  • training which will assist members in establishing international networks and enable them to take advantage of the global workplace

  • members carrying out international roles

  • international projects

• Free membership and support for apprentices

Bursaries and Grants

• ARA Conference Bursaries

  There are usually at least 11 bursaries for our annual conference. In 2023 these were worth £7,645. Bursaries provide full conference attendance, accommodation in the conference hotel and a contribution to travel expenses (£100 in 2023).

• CPD Fund

• DPC grant opportunities and organisational membership

• ARA Research and Advocacy fund - The ARA research and advocacy fund aims to support projects within the archives and records sector which:

  • Improve and widen education, training and continued professional development

  • Develop and spread guidance on standards for archive-related working

  • Investigate and develop improved methods for administering, preserving and making archives accessible

  • Gather and disseminate information on archives and archive-related operations

  • Advocates to stakeholders, policy makers and the public the importance of the preservation and provision of appropriate access to records and archives

Discounts and Preferential Booking

Many of ARA’s events and training sessions are free to our members, where fees are charged members get a discounted rate and preferential booking.

Through partnerships with other organisations we can also offer exclusive offers for free or discounted training:

• Learning Through Data offer a 10% discount on all their courses for ARA members

• Through our institutional membership of DPC we can offer members access to their resources

• Preservica have worked with us in the past to offer free training opportunities to our members

We are regularly offered discounts on publications (often authored by members) and these are publicised via ARA Today.

Members also get a discount on advertising in our publications and on the website.