Vice President Board Director Objectives
Saima was elected by the BAA Board as Vice President with effect from November 2024. The objectives she will be focusing on in 2025/2026 are:
Objective 1: Support Delivery of BAA’s strategic priorities and internal board functions
Supporting Actions
- Provide ongoing support to SH in delivering the Education portfolio.
- Engage actively with cross‑professional workforce groups to ensure audiology is represented in wider healthcare workforce planning.
- Support the President in delivering the broader Board strategy and progressing President‑level objectives.
Objective 2: Strengthen cross‑professional collaboration across the audiology sector
Supporting Actions
- Maintain and strengthen partnerships with BSA, BSHAA, AIHHP and other relevant bodies.
- Participate in regular structured meetings with BSA and explore extending this model to BSHAA.
- Sustain engagement in joint initiatives, including the joint dementia statement.
- Promote the value of cross‑professional collaboration as a pathway towards a future College, ensuring members understand the tangible benefits.
Objective 3: Support national policy and advocacy activity
Supporting Actions
- Support timely, high-quality responses to national consultations and external policy documents.
- Work closely with the Executive Team to support Board Directors and ensure all Board‑agreed objectives are actioned and monitored.
- Provide leadership in planning and coordinating World Congress activities to ensure smooth and successful delivery.
- Deputise for the President when required.
About Saima
Following her graduation with a BSc (Hons) in Audiology from University College London, Saima obtained her PhD in Auditory Perception at Aston University. She is a AHCS-registered Audiologist and HCPC-registered Hearing Aid Dispenser, with experience in the NHS and private sector. Currently, Saima is the Deputy Head of School (Resources & External Engagement), School of Psychology, Sports and Sensory Sciences at Anglia Ruskin University. She has experience providing education at various levels (university certificate to Masters) to students in full time education and on work-based learning courses (including apprenticeships). This has provided Saima with a broad understanding of their differing requirements and needs of the sector. She maintains her clinical practice at Cubex Audiology and is a Fellow of the British Society of Audiology (FBSA).
Saima’s research interests include auditory stream segregation and speech-in-noise perception, deafblindness, improving access to hearing healthcare for adults and children, and healthcare workforce development. She is a member of the Research Centre for Better Living at ARU, and the Cambridge Hearing Group.
Outside of work, Saima enjoys floral design, cooking for loved ones and finding a quiet corner to lose herself in a good book.