Board

1 / Board Members 2 / Presidents blog 3 / Awards

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

2024 - 2025 Board Members

Immediate Past President

Keiran Joseph

Treasurer

Laura Finegold

Board Director - Conference

Lauren Willis

Board Director - Regional Groups

Dawn Bramham

Board Director - Membership

Saira Hussain

Board Director - Education

Jason Smalley

Board Director - Professional Development

Dr Michelle Foster

Board Director - Profession Affairs and Workforce

Catherine Magee

Board Director - E-Learning

Laura Turton

Board Director - Policy & Campaigns

Adrian Carragher

Board Director - Promoting Audiology & Publications

Jane Deans

Board Director - Service Quality

President's Blog - 17th March 2025

Monday 17^th March 2025

Last week, the RNID published an update on their previous wax campaign. The new report highlighted the inequity for patients across the UK, with over half the people who need wax removal not being able to access this service on the NHS. Whilst we know this is causing frustrating backlogs in NHS Audiology and ENT services, it also leads people to try potentially risky DIY methods to remove their wax. For a significant proportion of people, private wax removal is unaffordable. They are left with no option but to try self-administered methods; the report states that 1 in 3 will try cotton buds and 1 in 20 ear candles or hairpins. All these can potentially worsen their situation or, in some cases, cause permanent harm.

BAA is backing the RNID’s Stop the Block campaign, which aims to encourage the Government to intervene to ensure everyone who needs wax removal can access it on the NHS.

We are also aware that a by-product of the unavailability of NHS wax removal services is the increase in wax removal training being offered and other non-audiology or ENT professionals training to deliver a private service. We are still working with the National Aural Care Strategy Group to address this, with minimum training standards, regulations, and education for the public about the risks of going to someone who may not have the full audiological knowledge backing their services.

If you offer wax removal, either as part of your NHS role or as a private provider, I encourage you to join the Academy of Healthcare Science’s community of interest—this is the first necessary step towards proper registration and regulation within this part of our community.

We are endeavouring to be more transparent with many aspects of the work we undertake on your behalf. One way we will do this is by sharing some insight into the meetings we are invited to participate in. You can read about a few of these meetings from the last couple of weeks here: BAA Board Meetings

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

President's Blog - 3rd March 2025

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President's Blog - 17th March 2025

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President's Blog - 17th Feb 25

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President's Blog - 3rd Feb 25

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President's Blog - 20th January 2025

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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.