Abbreviation AHS Type Nonprofit organisation | Formation 2008 President Hari Parekh | |
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Purpose Supporting atheist, humanist and secular student groups Region served United Kingdom and Ireland | ||
The Atheist, Humanist, and Secular Students (AHS), formerly known as the National Federation of Atheist, Humanist and Secular Student Societies, is a national umbrella organisation for free-thinking, atheist, humanist and secular student societies in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Its aim is to provide a national voice for free thinking student societies in the UK and help coordinate national activities.
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The AHS is a membership body composed of student societies in higher education institutes across the UK and Ireland, and is the student section of the British Humanist Association (BHA), the UK charity which promotes Humanism and secularism in Britain. It is also affiliated with the National Secular Society (NSS), the UK's other national organisation promoting secularism, and is also a member of International Humanist and Ethical Youth Organisation (IHEYO), which is the youth wing of International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU).
Aims and objectives
The AHS was set up to support both established and newly-forming atheist, humanist and secular student groups and give voice which could be heard nationally. It hoped to achieve this by providing a network, resources and a joint platform for these societies through which they could make their needs and views known on both a national and international level.
According to their own website the AHS' vision is "to see a thriving atheist, humanist or secular student society in every institute of Higher Education in the UK and Republic of Ireland". They do this by running a variety of events, providing useful information to societies and representing its members on a national and international scale.
Organisational structure
The AHS is run by a committee composed of representatives from each society, namely the president and an elected representative. From the committee the executive, composed of a president, secretary, membership officer, and treasurer, are then elected to form the core leadership body of the organisation.
There is also a sovereign decision making body within the AHS called the "Caucus". This consists of two representatives from each member society, the executive and the board. They are responsible for electing the executive to manage the organisation on their behalf, determining and directing major policy choices and ratifying applications for membership.
It is one of several sections of the British Humanist Association, alongside others such as Young Humanists (the 18-35s section of the BHA, with which the AHS's remit overlaps), LGBT Humanists UK (an LGBT section), and Defence Humanists (for military personnel).