Learn more about our Company

The Worshipful Company of Scientific Instrument Makers

Moving forward, giving back

  • Welcome to our Company

    We are a charitable community of makers and users of scientific instruments who include scientists, engineers, academics and students.

  • Charitable and Educational Trust

    Our education and charitable trust has been built up over the years through regular donations from Liverymen and from generous endowments.

  • Moving forward, giving back

    We have a thriving apprenticeship programme and we also support post graduates and post doctoral students.

  • A very social livery company

    Our members get together to share knowledge and experience; influence opinion; and enjoy good fellowship.

Welcome to the home of the Worshipful Company of Scientific Instrument Makers

Featured pages from across the site

Come and meet us

We are recruiting members so if you are involved in design and construction of instrumentation or commission projects that rely on instrumentation, we would welcome you to one of our evenings.

Master Charles Holroyd

A message from the Master

Let me, as Master, give you a very warm welcome to the Worshipful Company of Scientific Instrument Makers. I am delighted that are visiting this website.

Our Livery Year

The Livery year starts in late October with the Admission Court. At this Court meeting the new Master, Senior and Junior Wardens are installed into their offices.

Grants and Awards

As a relatively ‘young’ company (in City terms) we have been fortunate over the years to receive generous donations from Liverymen and legacies from deceased members which form the bulk of our funds. However the need for philanthropy is as strong today as it ever has been and we welcome contributions however large or small. Potential members should note that there is an expectation that members will donate annually a minimum of £75 through gift aid.

Read more about Grants and Awards

News from the Company

Testimonials

A selection of quotes from Scholars, Apprentices, Freemen and Liverymen.

As my apprenticeship with SIM has now, sadly, come to an end, I would like to take this opportunity to express my immense gratitude for the care and support that I have been shown by the Company over the past five years, both financially and academically.　It is no exaggeration when I say that this support has been of huge value to me. The financial support has had very direct, obvious benefits (rent in Cambridge is expensive!), but, perhaps more importantly, the academic support and advice that I have had from you has definitely helped inform some fairly big decisions for me over the years, and also kept me motivated when things have seemed difficult.
Apprentice Josh Abrahams
My Arkwright grant funded a residential Maths camp and, at an engineering taster day at Cambridge, I learned about the mechanics behind the ‘chain fountain’ phenomenon. An Arkwright visit to a company called TTP opened my eyes to the possibility of working as a researcher in industry. Through WCSIM I also attended a fascinating lecture on the science of invisibility by Professor John Pendry, which covered the topic of meta-materials with negative refractive index, encouraging me to explore this area further.
Apprentice Jo Warren
I became part of the company when I was young and unsure of my career direction, at the time the company informed and guided me. Six years on this is still the case today, and I also benefit from the great contacts I develop at events and dinners. The company enabled me to find out first hand what it was like to be at different stages of an engineering career, this helped me decide what to study at university and what career path I was best suited to.
Freeman Daniel Orford
Moving forward, giving back
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