The Board of Directors is responsible for the overall strategic and operational work of the BAA. Board Directors are both responsible for specific work areas and act as a liaison between a committee or work group. The current Board has 14 Directors, supported by our Marketing & Communications Manager and our PA. The Board meets quarterly and holds an annual strategy day to review the forward plan. Board minutes are published on the BAA website.


Executive Team

During the last eighteen months, we have developed a more active executive team to focus and maintain momentum between Board meetings. The President meets regularly with the Vice President, Past President, Treasurer and Marketing & Comms Manager. Each member of the executive team holds lead responsibilities for key objective areas and in supporting other Board Directors. These areas of responsibility are –

• President – Chairs the Board, is President of the Academy and supports the Board Directors of Membership and Professional Development.
• Vice President – Supports the President and supports the Board Directors of Education, Early Professionals, and Professional and Workforce Support
• Past President – Supports the President and the Board Director of Service Quality Committee
• Treasurer – Supports the President and the Board Director for E-Learning
• Marketing & Comms Manager – Supports all Board and links with the Board Directors for Conference, Regional Groups and Promoting Audiology & Publications

 

20242024 Board Members
President's Blog - 6th January 2025

Monday 3rd February

Last week we held the first Board meeting of 2025. As well as updating all Board Directors on what has happened over the last few months we held an objective setting session for all portfolios in the afternoon. Each Board Director now has at least three priorities set for 2025 to ensure the momentum is kept throughout the year. For some, we will be looking for new committee members, so there are opportunities for you to volunteer and become involved in the work we do to support the profession.

We are also in the process of updating our website, so each Board portfolio will have a section where you can go and see what work is ongoing. Whilst we transition to the new style website, we will be featuring different portfolios and their objectives in Horizons. By sharing what the Board is up to more widely I hope you will get to see the scale of the behind the scenes work everyone is involved in on your behalf. These profiles will start to appear over the morning weeks. Please do get in touch if you would like to volunteer on a committee or feel we are missing anything in our plans.

After much careful consideration at our Board meeting, we have made the decision to increase our membership fees for the first time in 14 years. This change will come into effect on 1st April.

Why are we making this change?
Over the past decade-plus, we’ve worked hard to keep our membership fees stable, despite significant rises in operational costs and materials. Unfortunately, after absorbing these increases for as long as we could and relying on conference keeping us solvent, it’s no longer sustainable for us to maintain the same fee structure.

The new membership fees will allow us to continue offering the high-quality services and experiences you’ve come to expect. This adjustment will also ensure we can invest in further improvements and exciting new developments for our community in the coming years.

I will write to you individually to explain more and how you will ultimately benefit from the small uplift.

As ever, you can contact me or any of our board directors here: admin@baaudiology.org

Take care

Claire

BAA President

Read our Joining a BAA Committee Policy

Interested in joining a committee? Complete this please: Expression of Interest form

Board Annual Awards

British Academy of Audiology Annual Awards

Every year at the BAA annual conference, we take the time to acknowledge those individuals and teams who have excelled or shown exceptional commitment to the Audiology profession over the past year.

Previous award winners can be found here.

This award will recognise an Audiology clinician who has gone above and beyond to improve the experience for a patient. The award is focused on patient care, and we particularly welcome testimonials and case studies from patients or colleagues, highlighting the reasons they should be nominated.

This award is presented in honour of Peggy Chalmers.  She contributed immeasurably to Audiology, improving professional standards and training, and supporting hundreds of students from the UK and overseas. Her hard work and enthusiasm inspired many professionals in Audiology. With this award, we hope each winner will continue to inspire with their excellent work.

The prize is awarded to a team that has worked together to improve the quality of service in their area, in particular showing innovative and original ideas.  Teams that work within an audiology department, in education, in research, or in an organisational capacity, are all eligible.

The BAA Team of the Year Award was created in 2004 to celebrate the coming together of different professions within Audiology.

This award will recognise a clinician who has gone above and beyond to provide a supportive learning environment for students in placement, providing leadership, guidance and inspiration. The award is focused on the mentoring of students, and we particularly welcome testimonials and case studies from students, colleagues and university placement teams highlighting the reason a particular person should be nominated.

The award is presented in honour of Paul Doody, an extraordinary Audiologist committed to training. He made a huge difference to the lives of numerous Audiologists.

The award is given for the best contribution to a BAA publication.  The recipient is chosen from all articles printed in the previous year’s publications, and is chosen by the BAA publicity and communications team.

This award is presented in honour of Jos Millar, who showed a long-standing dedication to Audiology.  He started his career in audiology at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast, and later in his career, he embarked on a challenge to set up a paediatric service in his hometown of Ballymena.

This award is given to the person who has exceptional feedback during the examination process of the Higher Training Scheme. The HTS committee selects the winner based on examination feedback.

This award is presented in honour of Richard May, who loved Audiology.  He was a student in the first intake of the MSc Audiology course in ISVR in 1972, and was the first Audiological Scientist in the country, at the Sussex Throat and Ear Hospital in Brighton.  He died suddenly in 1982, aged 32, and was described by his family as a wonderful, kind and clever man.

This award is presented for outstanding research by a student or early professional.  The award winner will be selected from all free papers presenting at the BAA conference, delivered by a student or early professional. A student is classed as anyone training and not yet qualified in Audiology, e.g. PTP, STP students, those doing apprenticeships, and an Early Professional is classed as those up to 5 years post-qualified.

This award is presented in honour of David Baguley, who loved to share knowledge. He was a prolific publisher of his research, and he spoke at conferences for professionals and the public to share that knowledge for the benefit of those with Hearing Loss and Tinnitus.

One of David’s passions was to encourage and support trainees and young professionals. He gave freely of his time to support others in their research, and this award, aimed at early professionals, is a fitting tribute to a man who will live on through the impact his writing and research has on the audiology community.