Join Us

AIRI provides a variety of valuable services to members, including a strong presence on Capitol Hill and the opportunity to share common concerns with individuals from similar institutions across the United States. AIRI is a nationwide association of over 80 independent, not-for-profit research institutes, and has been in existence for since 1962. It is the only organization that focuses solely on the issues of independent, not-for-profit research institutes, as opposed to the larger realm of universities and hospitals. AIRI provides valuable services to members on both the political and mutual assistance levels.

Membership has an impressive array of benefits and is an Institutional Membership, which means that all staff from an institute can reap the benefits of the Institute’s membership.

Here is just a sample of AIRI member organizations:

Click here for the full list of institutional member organzations.

AIRI is represented in Washington by Lewis-Burke Associates LLC, a government relations firm with extensive experience on topics related to biomedical and behavioral research and health care. The firm works closely with AIRI leadership to keep members infirmed of new developments in Congress and Executive agencies including the National Institutes of Health (NIH); to educate policymakers about contributions from independent research institutions to leading edge health care and economic development; and to alert AIRI members of actions they might take to improve communications with Washington. This is particularly valuable when determining how others are dealing with common problems. Our members strongly rate networking as the major benefit of membership. AIRI provides members the Weekly Washington Reports with the latest information. 

Each fall, AIRI members participate in an annual meeting which includes renowned speakers, workshops on timely topics and intensive seminars on issues important to independent research institutions. In addition, AIRI provides a forum throughout the year for electronic discussions about personnel, visa issues, salary scales, benefits, recruitment, retirement plans, and other topics. The directors, managers, and scientists at AIRI institutions often rate this opportunity for “networking” with their colleagues as one of the most important benefits of AIRI membership.

AIRI also offers a summit for our IT members, originally every other year, is currently yearly due to the popularity of this member benefit.

In addition, a yearly compensation survey is provided for all member organizations who participate in the survey.

Steps to Apply for Membership

  1. Check to see if your organization meets the Membership Criteria (also includes membership dues categories).
  2. If yes, apply by downloading and completing the AIRI Membership Application. (Adobe Acrobat (not Adobe Reader) required to edit directly in PDF form.)
  3. Submit your application along with the required documents and email to our Executive Director, David Issing. Files should not be large than 1500 KB to ensure e-delivery.
  4. Once the application and all requirements are received, our membership committee will review the application and we'll let you know as soon as possible whether the application has been accepted.

If you have any questions, please contact David Issing.