Fellowship of the BHRS(FBHRS)

What is Fellowship of the BHRS?

Fellow membership is the highest level of BHRS membership. It is public recognition of the accomplishments and impact of an individual on their field, and confirms their position as a leading professional at the forefront of arrhythmia care. Fellow membership is awarded to individuals who have sustained high levels of achievement and professional service for a prolonged period; for example through exceptional leadership and influence, research and innovation, or education and training.

The collective experience, knowledge and understanding of BHRS Fellows will strengthen the voice of the society. As individuals or as part of Fellows Working Groups, Fellows may be invited to inform and advise the BHRS Council on issues such as workforce, education and training, regulation and registration, position statements on contemporary issues and consultations with stakeholders – expanding the capacity and experience of the council, responding to the needs of our members.

Fellowship and Honorary Fellowship

There are two types of BHRS fellowship: fellowship and honorary fellowship

Fellowship: Fellows must be a BHRS member (in good standing) at the time of nomination with the title applicable until the end of their membership. Fellows must have current professional registration with the appropriate body.

Honorary Fellowship: Unlike standard fellowship, honorary fellowship can be conferred on people who are not members of the BHRS and there are no financial or other obligations. Honorary fellowships are life-long.

Honorary Fellowships can be awarded to lay people, retired or overseas medical professionals, or those who have made a significant contribution from allied field such as pharmacology or surgery.

Who can be considered for Fellowship?

Nominees must be people of established status and reputation who have made a substantial contribution to the study or treatment of arrhythmias- going beyond the normal requirements of their role. It must be clear that they merit the esteem of their peers for the excellence of their work -reaching a senior position is not sufficient.

A suitable nominee will be a leading figure in their field and have already left a clear mark on it; for example, through service development, leadership, exceptional research, education, or the introduction of innovative approaches or new methodologies. They may have developed policy or practice that has been widely adopted and is clearly attributable to them. Loyal service to BHRS on its own is not sufficient reason for the award, but it can be a contributing factor.

Criteria used for Evaluating Applications

Fellowship is an individual honour and criteria for Fellowship cannot be too closely prescribed. Election to Fellowship involves peer review; criteria should be viewed as general guidelines rather than a checklist of achievements – the key attribute of successful applicants will be that they can give evidence of exceptional achievement sustained for a period of five years or more. Doing a competent job as the head of a department or a service, will not in itself be sufficient– there must be evidence that the person has achieved in at least two (and usually no more than three), of the following areas:

Original research resulting in international recognition:

  • Important published work that increases knowledge and/or benefits patients
    • Papers (as principal or senior author) and/or
    • Other public output, for example, books, book chapters etc.
    • Citations and reviews articles
  • Significant research grants and funding
  • Success in supervision of research students and management of  research staff
  • Patents, or other formal recognition of invention
  • Dissemination of work
    • Invitation onto conference organising committee, conference Chair, Keynote speaker etc.

Note: It is clearly the case that some professional roles provide greater opportunity to make a research contribution than others. Therefore the profession of the nominee will be considered when evaluating research contribution (e.g. the number of publications and impact factor of journals).

Personal responsibility for significant clinical, technological or service delivery innovation providing demonstrable benefits for patients:

  • Large scale and/or high impact
  • Related patents, peer-reviewed papers, international conferences and other public output
  • Development or implementation of models of care, technology or software that improves patient care

Public recognition of standing:

  • National and international awards such as decorations and honours
  • Fellowship (or equivalent) of another Professional institution
  • Awards from BHRS, British Cardiac Society and other national/international professional bodies (eg ESC, EHRA, HRS)

Operational responsibility for significant programmes, activities and resources within an organisation*:

  • E.g. regional or national clinical activity, academic , charity, society
  • High level role within an organisation, with a significant number of people, including those of high status within the organisation that report directly and indirectly to them
  • Significant budget, and they hold great influence and responsibility in setting it and spending it
  • Large size and scale of projects or activities delivered
  • The programme or activity has delivered  key achievements

*Organisation would not normally be interpreted as the candidates employing Trust

Outstanding service on national and international professional bodies:

For example:

  • Significant contribution to the ideals, formation, development or running of BHRS
  • Standards Committees and international organisations
  • Chair of Committees or Boards.
  • BHRS representative on major external body

A senior role that sets, directs or significantly influences an organisation’s vision and strategic aims, or a leader of corporate or specialist activities across a wider organisation:

  • Large number of professionals that report directly and indirectly to the candidate
  • Wide sphere of influence within an organisation
  • The candidate represents an organisation externally at a high level
  • Accountable for institutional actions and resources
  • Responsible for standards, policies and procedures
  • A role in ensuring compliance with national/international legislation, regulation and standards
  • Roles investigating major accidents/incidents
  • Originating and completing transformational projects
  • Engagement with people – developing, motivating, and releasing potential
  • Challenges the status quo
  • Required to take calculated risks

Someone who has an established reputation as a teacher regionally or nationally:

  • Acknowledged expertise in developing new courses or teaching methods
  • Significant contribution in organisation conferences and other teaching, training or educational activities
  • Substantial experience in an external examiner capacity
  • Writing questions for national or international examinations

Other activity that meets expectations for Fellows but is not covered by other criteria.

There is no constraint on the type of activity that might be considered to fulfil this criterion but this could include:

For example:

  • Roles in National or international charity/not-for-profit organisations
  • Peer-acclaimed contributions to the public understanding of arrhythmias
  • Presence on National or international legislative, executive or advisory bodies.
  • Organisation of major public event (s)

This section may be useful for honorary fellow candidates who are not medical professionals. Individuals working in the commercial or voluntary sectors can be considered to be making a significant contribution if they demonstrate they have been advocates, and have enhanced the public understanding or increased the impact of arrhythmia management.

Contributions to the development of the field by people funding research in government, research councils and charitable bodies can be seen as significant if they have, as individuals, taken the lead in supporting and encouraging innovative work by the creation of a strong infrastructure, by promoting the benefits of arrhythmia management to wider audiences, or helped to embed findings from arrhythmia research into policy and practice.

Communicators, in the media and elsewhere, can be seen to have made a significant contribution if they make regular use of scientific knowledge, acknowledge and promote the findings of research, and enhance the public understanding or impact of arrhythmia management.

LIST OF HONORARY FELLOWS

  • Professor John Camm

  • Dr Richard Charles

  • Dr Wyn Davis

  • Dr Stephen Furniss

  • Ms Sue Jones

  • Dr Janet McComb

  • Professor John Morgan

  • Dr Edward Rowland

  • Professor Richard Sutton

GENERAL ENQUIRIES

  • 24A Market Street
    Disley
    Cheshire
    SK12 2AA

OFFICE HOURS

Monday – Friday 9:00 – 17:00

QUICK LINKS

The Nomination Process

Each candidate for Fellowship must be nominated by two current members of BHRS (a proposer and seconder), who sign a certificate of proposal. The nomination must include a CV of the nominee and statement of the principal grounds on which the proposal is being made. The statement must lay out how the candidate has the BHRS mission to improve and extend the lives of patients with arrhythmias.

The proposing members are responsible for informing the candidate that he or she has been nominated and the candidate must sign to confirm that they are willing to be considered for fellowship and they meet the requirements.  The proposers must ensure, in consultation with the candidate, that all information relevant to the nomination is up to date

BHRS will not provide details of the identities of nominated candidates to anybody outside the BHRS council, except those individuals consulted in confidence during the refereeing process.

Who can nominate?

  • Proposer and seconder must be BHRS members
  • Proposers must belong to a different institution or organisation from the nominee (and should not have worked in the same institution for at least the last three years)
  • The seconder must belong to the same institution as the nominee
  • Proposer and seconder should declare any conflict of interest

The Selection Process

Selection is a two-stage process

  1. Review of applications and selection of appropriate nominations by the Nominations Committee to go forward to council
  2. BHRS Council ratifies selected nominees by a secret ballot

Following receipt of the application and two references, the Nominations Committee will examine the application and one of the following outcomes will result:

  1. The application makes a very strong case, is unequivocally supported by referees – the nomination is forwarded to a council vote
  2. The application is not judged to have met the criteria and is declined
  3. The Nominations Committee wishes to obtain additional evidence to reach a decision

Each candidate is considered on the basis of an overview of their achievements, impact statements, full curriculum vitae and references. The Nominations Committee will make their judgement in the context of the evidence presented to it, the recommendation of the proposer, past decisions and current policy. The decision of the Council is binding and there is no appeals procedure. . If not elected, an individual may be proposed as a candidate again after a break of three years. This three year cycle may be repeated without limit.

After a review of the application at a BHRS council meeting, a secret ballot of council members will be held. A candidate will be successful if he or she secures two-thirds of the votes of council members.

Fellowship Application Form – coming soon

British Heart Rhythm Society

British Heart Rhythm Society (formerly known as Heart Rhythm UK) is dedicated to improving all aspects of arrhythmia care and electrical device based therapies along with acting as a unifying focus for those professionals involved.