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The University of Southampton
Institute for Life Sciences

University academic becomes first ever podiatrist to receive Chartered Scientist Award

Published: 26 June 2014
Catherine Bowen

Dr Catherine Bowen, podiatrist and Health Sciences senior lecturer at the University of Southampton, is the first of her profession to receive a Chartered Scientist (CSci) Award by the College of Podiatry.

Not only is this a personal achievement for Dr Bowen, but it is hoped the award will inspire other podiatrists to follow in her footsteps and further enhance the scientific credibility of the profession.

The College of Podiatry has only just secured licensed body status from the Science Council enabling it to confer Chartered Scientist upon appropriately qualified members.

The College's motivation for joining the Science Council, and subsequently seeking licensed-body status, was to help educate the public and other professions concerning the nature of the scientific discipline of podiatry.

Dr Bowen was required to meet nine qualification criteria relating to the scientific aspects of practice and demonstrate compliance within them. 

The Chartered Scientist Committee then made its judgement on Dr Bowen being able to meet the criteria, and passed her name to the Science Council for entry onto its Register of Chartered Scientists.

On receiving notification of her award Dr Bowen said: "It is a real honour to be the first CSci podiatrist, but more importantly, that our profession is recognised as an evidence-based scientific discipline."

CSci represents a single chartered mark for all scientists and recognises high levels of professionalism and competence in science. There are currently around 15,000 Chartered Scientists working in a vast array of settings and across all scientific and related sectors.

The mark gives an assurance of current competence through annual monitoring, and encapsulates the interdisciplinary nature of science in the 21st Century

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